Creating a Perfect Space for Laundry with a Small Space

Today I am going to deviate from my normal page topics to tell you about a project that has been happening in my house. I hated my laundry room. I mean really hated it. It was narrow and barely usable. It was a small portion of the house that hadn't been renovated and I couldn't hide it behind closed doors.

My husband thought I was insane when I mentioned this project, but in the end we both agree that it has not only improved out lives but also the value of the house. I love doing laundry now! Never thought I would say that.

The first thing we did was remove the broken dryer (oh yeah that was the reason this all started) and the washer machine. Next came down the cabinet that was on the wall. When we removed the cabinet it was discovered that the wall was not drywall but fiber board, so down came the wall.

The picture to the right are the before & after - I can actually get to my dryer now.

WAIT a minute - that would be an outside wall without any insulation! I can only imagine what the rest of the house looks like.

The plumbing needed to be moved over to the other wall for this idea to work. My husband lovingly (all right not so lovingly and more out of obligation and resent) got a friend to help him figure out the project.

We moved the plumbing outside of the wall because it was easier than making holes in the studs and figuring out the stability. We are after all amateurs at this. We also had to move the washer drain. Keeping it at a specific incline we moved it over to the corner.

Next it was time for a new floor. I choose an easy to install floating floor that was easy to stick together. I did this install in about 2 hours. I had a few tricky corners or it probably would have gone a little faster.

The counter top for the lower cabinet was just a stock laminate counter that I cut down to size using a circular saw. Just make sure your blade is sharp and tight and it will cut through it like butter.

The new machines were delivered and unfortunately we learned the hard way that dryers only come with a 6ft electrical cord. Seeing at the dryer is 77 inches off the floor and our electrical outlet was near the baseboard we had a problem. I purchased the materials from the hardware store to create my own electrical cord. It worked perfectly but my husband was nervous about my electrical abilities and purchased a 10 ft cord on amazon.

I did end up adding some handles to the lower cabinet once everything was moved in and working properly. Now the laundry room function as both a mud room, laundry room, pet room, and entry for our family. Since the room is directly off of our garage entrance this space needed to be multi functional and needed the additional square footage so that we could all enter and take our shoes and jackets off without falling on top of each other.