–This post contains affiliate links–
Our laundry room is one of those awkward little spaces tucked right between the kitchen and the garage. When we first moved in, it had two doors swinging into the already tight room, which barely had enough space for the washer, dryer, and a narrow walkway. It was such a pain. Anytime we were folding clothes straight from the dryer, someone would come through the garage and swing that door open right into us, unless we remembered to lock it. Not exactly ideal. (excuse the blurry listing photo, but it’s the door there to the right)
A few years ago, we took off the door between the kitchen and the laundry room because it was always in the way, and honestly, the noise from the washer and dryer never really bothered us. We stuck the door in the shed for about a week just to test it out and make sure the sound wasn’t going to drive us crazy before fully committing. Once we realized it basically sounded like the dishwasher, we went ahead and pulled the casing trim stop and gave the door away. When we removed the door stop I had to sand it down and fill in the damaged area, then I filled it in with drywall putty. I also replaced the door frame on both sides. Once it was dry I sanded it again and then primed and painted it. Once I was done it looked like it was always meant to be this way. You can read more about that project in this post.
This laundry room was actually my first unofficial DIY project. I painted the cabinet Tricorn Black by Sherwin-Williams, took down the old shelving, and added some prettier, more functional shelves. I also painted the walls Swiss Coffee by Benjamin Moore, a popular white at the time that I wanted to try out. Later on, I ended up painting the rest of the house Alabaster by Sherwin-Williams, and I always planned to go back and repaint the laundry room to match. But since it’s separated by a doorway, you really couldn’t tell the difference, so I just left it. Alabaster is a bit creamier than Swiss Coffee, but honestly, they’re both beautiful whites.
Fast forward to now, I’d been dreaming up this official laundry room remodel for years! I even debated switching to front loaders, but those get pretty mixed reviews. Some people love them, but a lot complain about mildew smells. I was originally going to go with a front loader tower system by LG and drew up the plans for that. I was trying to decide if I needed counter space or not. I really love the look of the counter space and the floating shelves, but in all honesty I was thinking it would probably become a catch all and the storage cabinet to the right is where I wanted to put my Tineco vacuum and mop and I couldn’t do that with the shorter cabinet and the counter.
Then I came across the all-in-one washer/dryer units! LG, GE, and Samsung all make them, each with their own pros and cons. We watched a YouTube video comparing the three and originally decided on the GE model, it checked a lot of boxes for us: faster load times, decent capacity, a conveniently placed lint trap in front, and a reasonable price. So we headed out to see it in person and left pretty sure that’s what we’d go with. I needed to know for sure since the layout of the new laundry room depended on the unit we chose.
But a couple days later, when Tyler went back to buy it, the GE had jumped up several hundred dollars! The LG version, on the other hand, was now cheaper and shorter, so we pivoted and went with that one instead. The only real downside is the lint trap is on top, and I had planned to add a countertop over it after all. But since the unit is shorter, the countertop can sit lower, so that’s a plus.
In the new sketch below, you’ll see that the cabinet on the right goes all the way down to the floor. That’s because our new washer/dryer combo just needs a water hookup, no vent required, and in our house, the water hookup is on the left.
I have a Tineco vacuum and mop, both of which need to stay plugged into their charging stations. Right now, they’re just hanging out in the hallway, which isn’t ideal, it’s both annoying and an eyesore. We haven’t had a good place to store them that also has a nearby outlet… until now.
The plan is to build a pull-out drawer in the bottom of the right-side cabinet where the vacuum and mop can live and charge out of sight. There’s a standard outlet on that back wall, but it’s closer to the middle and not super convenient for the drawer setup. Luckily, there’s also a dryer outlet, and Tyler found a converter on Amazon that transforms it into 3 regular household outlet (whatever the technical name is for that). That’s what I’m planning to use to power the Tineco charging stations.
When my friend Michelle came to visit from Fresno, CA, and I figured it was the perfect time to start demoing the laundry room! We made a whole event out of it and had so much fun filming a funny video, with a little help from my daughter, of course. It was the perfect mix of chaos and creativity, just the way I like it…maybe more chaos than creativity to be honest!
And now… the chaos in action! Here’s the funny video we filmed during demo, consider this your behind-the-scenes entertainment.
Once we finished goofing around, we got serious and knocked out the rest of the laundry room demo, with Tyler’s help. That cabinet was super awkward (and heavier than it looked), so I was definitely glad to have him around. Plus, he wasn’t thrilled about me climbing on top of the washer or dryer, so I let him handle the hard-to-reach stuff. I wasn’t much help here, haha!
With the cabinet and shelves out of the way, I figured, why not sketch it all out on the wall? Seeing the design to scale made it way easier to imagine how it would come together. It also made me change a few things I had originally planned, like setting the upper middle and left cabinet back some instead of coming all the way out like the right cabinet will.
It definitely helped Tyler see where I was going with the vision I had in my head!
While I was away on a flight attendant trip, Tyler went ahead and sold the old washer and dryer so the room would be ready to go when I got back. He was ready to get that new washer/dryer combo installed and to put it to use!
What do you think about the idea of having a washer/dryer combo??? Most the people who hate the idea have only heard that they are terrible and don’t work well, almost everyone I know that actually has one loves it!
And just for fun, I had ChatGPT whip up a render of what I imagined the laundry room would look like when it was all finished. Gotta love a good visual!
I’m super excited for this build since it’s such a high-traffic space, it’s right in the heart of our home and just off the kitchen!
Up next… let’s build some cabinets!
Leave a Reply