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Building a Home

Master Closet/Utility tie in - Laundry hamper

14 years ago

We are in the framing stage of our build. Yesterday, while walking with my sister through the home, she had a great idea. We were previously wanting a laundry hamper in the Linen Closet across from the toilet area in the Master Bath. Since the utility adjoins the Master closet, my sister suggested some sort of laundry chute/hamper. I'm envisioning a swinging hamper door on the closet side, which drops into the utility room. In the utility room, DH suggested building the laundry hamper inside one of the broom closets. Then, DH said we could ask the GC to have a "top" to the hamper so that we could sit cleaning supplies ontop of the hamper. The hamper we have in the current home is 40"H x 27"W x 13"D.

I think I'd still like to keep the closet door. Then, I suppose the hamper would still need cabinet-type doors to retrieve the clothes.

Any other thoughts before I get with our GC? Pros/Cons?

Thanks so much!

Here's the plan of the area:

(There's no cabinets above the sink...we had a late change to flip-flop the W/D and the sink. I photo edited the plans to switch them)

Featured Answer

Lil B
Original Author

13 years ago

Update to my original post. Here's the vision come true...construction completion date still over 45 days away, but I think you can visualize the outcome.

Closet side. There will be hanging clothes above the hamper. (Rods aren't yet installed)

Laundry Room side. The closet that contains the hamper will have a door, which is currently off the hinges.

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Comments (11)

phillipeh
14 years ago
If you have cabinet type doors that allow you to toss dirty clothes into that closet (with a hamper built in), you'll lose any hanging rod space you might have had in front of the cabinet doors. What if you just put a door from the closet into the laundry room? Then you can go both ways -- toss dirty clothes into a hamper in the laundry room (or directly into the washer) and carry clean, folded towels and clothes back into the closet, instead of going all the way around.
gopintos
14 years ago
My son's bathroom is next to his closet. I am just having them make a little door in the bathroom and he can drop clothes into a hamper in his closet. He can hang shorter stuff above it so he wont lose much space.

I figure he would have the hamper in his closet anyways, so he isnt really losing any space at all.
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I love seeing your closets!! We have his and hers closets in the master, and I'm not satisfied with them (and we haven't even moved in yet). Our trim carpenter suggested a simple layout for rods and shelves, which looks great. Then I asked for shoe storage like rows of cubbies (meaning get more shoes in less space). He put in a slanted shelf along the baseboard. He was so proud of it, I didn't have the heart to tell him that it wouldn't meet my needs. Now, I'm kicking myself because I'm too wimpy to insist that he rip it out and redo it. Also, the floors have been finished now. I'm to the point where I have to pick my battles. Anyway, our best storage plans for our master are to de-clutter before moving in and to keep as much as possible in our huge cedar closet (for out of season clothing and shoes).
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Our laundry room seems to generate a lot of lint or dust. My concern would be all that lint/dust getting all over clean clothing that hangs in the closet. Would your closet have a floor drain? If a hose should burst will it spray all the garments in the closet? You can see I'm not a fan of the concept.... I am a fan of laundry chutes, though, when the W/D are downstairs from the bedrooms. We don't have on, or need one, but that seems very practical. Even more practical is a dumb waiter, if you can afford it. They are wired electrically to raise and lower the dirty and clean stuff, as well as anything else, including the kids. LOL.
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We had one in the hall/kids' bath when I was a child. My mother loved it. That bathroom had a vanity that consisted of a 36" tilt-out hamper directly under the sink, with a bank of drawers to either side. It was very convenient for our clothes and towels and for sheets when changing the beds. Nothing smelled, and this was in FL back when A/C was used only in July and August, not all the time the way people do now. (There was an annual argument and whinefest about when it was hot and humid enough to turn on the A/C.) The whole hamper assembly could be lifted out if they needed to get to the plumbing, but IIRC, it took two people to do that. EDIT for typo on hamper width--it was 36", not 48". Still pretty big, given the depth of it. This post was edited by writersblock on Mon, Jul 1, 13 at 11:20
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Yes, that is the one. I do have small loads. That's partly why I only wanted a compact washer...even with a compact washer I have a hard time getting to a full load unless I'm doing the sheets and towels. Your situation may be very different. But I still like the idea of not having to cart all of the laundry around when you only want to do one load. Usually I get up in the morning and check to see if there is enough laundry in any one of the baskets and if there is then I take it to the washer and get it started while my coffee is percolating... I think adding a folding space to your laundry area is an excellent idea. Is there any reason you can't just put countertop right across the washer and dryer as they are and stack your laundry baskets instead?
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sweeby
14 years ago
I think it's a great idea, with many possible variations:

- tip-out basket
- pull-out basket
- cabinet door to basket
- full-height door walk-through
- 'hole-in-the-wall' chute

What type of space can you most easily give up in the master closet?
Lil B
Original Author
14 years ago
Although the idea of a full door between the closet and Utility is intriguing, I don't think I want to give up all the space in my Master Closet for that door. I think the hole-in-the-wall chute on the Master Closet side would allow our trim guy to still build in shelving above and below that chute. On the utility side, I will need a way to retrieve the clothes - probably cabinet doors. I was thinking if the entire hamper on the Utility side is no taller than 40", then we can still have shelving in that little utility closet to store cleaning supplies, lightbulbs, etc. We will still have a full height closet on the other side of the mud bench for storing vacuums and brooms.

I'll be talking to the GC soon. I'm so glad my sister thought of this, and y'all agree that it's a good idea!

Thanks!!
pps7
14 years ago
we're trying to do the same thing. Haven't figured out exactly how to do it.
pps7
13 years ago
Turned out great!! We're doing the same thing but right now we just have a big hole in the wall.
les_bailey
13 years ago
wow what a great idea......
pps7
13 years ago
Ours is finally done. On the laundry room side:

On the master closet side:
jhs2010
13 years ago
Your sister had a great idea, that is so neat - glad it turned out so well! Thanks for sharing.
montel (CA US 10b/Sunset 16)
13 years ago
We may look into something like this - out master closet has a wall shared with the utility room...thanks for the photos

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