Kind of OT: Laundry room
Comments (36)
kateskouros
15 years agonomorebluekitchen
15 years agoRelated Discussions
will my new first floor laundry room have a "laundry " smell?
Comments (9)the basement laundry smell might have more to do with insufficient air movement ..... every basement i was ever acquainted with... lacked a cold air return at floor level ... so the furnace never really moved air down low .... leading to that wonderful basement scent ... maybe its just a MI thing ... but i am thinking upstairs.... you just arnet going to be dealing with that kind of dead air ... also.. if it does start bugging you ... something like a bathroom exhaust fan would be simple to install in the ceiling... unless you have a second floor ... also ... the dryer will be sucking air outside.. and it has to come from somewhere ... so it will probably exchange the air also ... one thought for sure.. i wouldnt close the door to the cubby while doing laundry .... good luck ken...See MoreOT: Laundry room main floor or second floor?
Comments (38)In our first house we had one level, and W/D near the garage entry. Next and current house is 2-story with laundry room on 2nd floor, and I love it. But, it just depends on how you live and how you actually "do" your laundry. For us, by that time, our girls were school-aged. So I was not tending a baby and folding lots of little baby things. The upstairs is just great since the laundry is in the middle of the hall, with baths and BR's on either end, so all linens and clothes just go there. You can dash and get something from the dryer to put on, or a warm towel. I don't think it's as simple as "where you spend your time" with the exception of watching small children, but maybe more about how you attack the clean clothes, and whether you have bedrooms on 2 floors or all upstairs. Or maybe as pointed out, if you do 10 loads of laundry in one day, you then are having a real laundry project, like a cooking project, and tending it most of the day. So those habits and preferences will affect what works best. I spread my laundry loads throughout the week, and so tending 1 or 2 loads in a given evening overlaps with other trips up or down stairs to do other things. With the upstairs laundry, I bring a hamper to my room and fold clothes and towels and put them directly in the closets/drawers. I may use the bed to make piles of folded stuff. I listen to radio or talk with my husband or just, you know, think deep thoughts. (Girls (esp in past years) take hampers to room and who knows what they do then? Not my problem). There is room in the laundry to fold there, so I might do some towels there, but otherwise I don't, since I would then have to just stack stuff in hamper and bring back and dig out again. So, I prefer my current system to an off-the kitchen system in which I'd haul stuff upstairs or fold stuff on the sofa. I don't have a mudroom and wish I did. I think that definitely influences laundry gameplans, since then you have other advantages of the mudroom and how your organize the flow of clothes and stuff. If one or more family members have to deal with dirty work clothes/uniforms, or maybe just active kids and sports stuff, that can be an advantage if you are organizing the clothes and shoes off upon entry. I guess you have to put on a robe or something to come trouping through the living room after stripping? But for those who have less frequent "toxic" clothes, you could just have a drop-off hamper at the entry point. I think it's less universal than kitchen design, which while still very personal, has the somewhat universal issues of work triangles and door-openings and things for the basic layout, and then moves on to more preference-based issues for how and where you eat, do homework, watch TV....See MoreSemi OT -- laundry room question for buyers
Comments (23)Well, gee. I didn't get any emails and didn't know I was getting replies. I'm surprised by the replies that seem to have gotten something out of my post that wasn't there. For example -- I'm not trying to find room to recess a fridge and am not sure where that came from. I'd tried to be concise but clear, and it's really hard to do. Online text has it's limitations. Sorry. So, to try to clarify -- my kitchen has already been done and couldn't change any walls. The utility room is also fixed as far as the size of the room goes. Two walls are brink on the front and driveway side of our home and there is a front porch in front of it. The other two walls back to the already redone kitchen and the dining room. The dining room wall is load bearing and cannot move. Although it is the interior wall, it holds up the second level on our story and a half. As I said above, you cannot see the laundry room from teh entry or the living areas. The foyer comes back from the front door to the living room. In front of the living room, it runs into the one hall across the middle of the first floor, running from the master bedroom and powder room on one end to the kitchen and utility on the other -- like a T. The ends of the top of the T are closed behind walls of the various rooms, so you can only see the laundry as wou walk from the master to the kitchen or if you are crossing into the living room and look over to the side. There is currently a full interior door, but that will have to change to a pocket door or split doors like the ones between our kitchen and dining room to allow room for front loaders to open fully -- the room is about 10 feet long, but narrow. I realize a lot of folks may not want or need a second fridge, but it is expected in this neighborhood, and with 2 teen boys and all 4 of us cooking, we really use it. We spend more time cooking and entertaining than doing laundry, so I think keeping the fridge is important. Making it a built-in would give us six inches of usable, moveable space in the narrow part of the room. It is just changin something that is there already -- it doesn't replace a washer or dryer. The Askos definitely get the best looking laundry award. Bosch and Meile also make smaller units that could be clased behind counter tops and doors. However, DH says no to going any smaller on the machines, and I have to say the thought of having to haul king and queen bedding, sleeping bags or other large or bulky things to the cleaners (no laundromats here) or doing twice as many loads of beach towels and laundry in general doesn't appeal to me either. And I know who'd be doing the hauling. I took a basket of towels to the store to see how I felt loading them into the stacked pair. I'm tall enough that pedestals don't really make the washer and dryer high enough for me, and then the tops become too high to really use as a work surface. Stash a laundry basket, maybe -- but no real work space. Stacking makes one better and makes one a bit worse. The floor beneath them regardless of what we do is a concrete slab -- definitely strong enough for a stacked W&D. We currently fold from the sofa or the bed, and that may not change. More important that folding though is having a place other than the laundry and or front hall floors to sort laundry. It drives me nuts to be stepping on or over laundry all the time. The onnly thing I know for sure is that the builder would have madethe kitchen, family room and the utility room a whole lot easier to work with and in if he'd made this side of the house 6 inches to a foot wider....See MoreKind of OT - Decorating room/program with FROG
Comments (8)ideefix I agree! However,I am kind of stuck. Personal tattoo aside, at one time the literacy program used the theme FROG as Family Reading Our Goal. There is alot of stuff there. It is a nonprofit and there isn't much money at all to work with. To be truthful, I need tutors more so than I need clients. The clients are there but getting folks to volunteer their time to work them is another story. I had thought of targeting older retired females and starting a monthly social/training in order to bring in that type. I appreciate your honesty and all ideas are appeciated! Alicia...See Moremindimoo
15 years agornest44
15 years agokelleg69
15 years agonomorebluekitchen
15 years agobrutuses
15 years agoworldmom
15 years ago
raenjapan
15 years agozelmar
15 years agomegradek
15 years agonomorebluekitchen
15 years agomileaday None
15 years agonovember
15 years agozelmar
15 years agokelleg69
15 years agoThanks for all the pictures! Mindimoo, I will post a picture, but it really doesn't show how overwhelming the green is. It just doesn't look like it does in real life. Honestly, I think they could be saved, but my DH hates them so much that I don't want to spend any more money on them. I just want to paint them white and add a fun wall color and rug and fun knobs.
I will also post a pic of a neat green cabinet. Mine are similar to this, but in a small space, they are overwhelming and just not that cute! I think the green cabinet in the picture works so well b/c of the mix of materials and colors.
crazyhouse6
15 years agomindimoo
15 years agoclaire_de_luna
15 years agoMine's not a room, but a closet. Does that count? As you can see, we did this right before the kitchen remodel, but it's still working beautifully. If it weren't working so well, I might be envious of your laundry rooms! I just figure it's one less room to clean. Here's the Luna Laundry System:
joann23456
15 years agocrazyhouse6
15 years agoJoann - I have mine elevated too. I think they are done like Nomorebluekitchen's. I have them deep enough to fit more laundry baskets in them, then we have an additional support board running across the back. I think it's about 10" from the back. I also have cabinets above for drying racks and more storage. I think I'll like them elevated, but they will be a pain to get at if I have problems and need to get at the back.
Thanks for the extra antivibe suggestions!
acountryfarm
15 years agoI ended up going with granite tile and a wood edge as I needed it to e quick and inexpensive. I also needed to be able to do it by myself as by the time we got to laundry room builder was fired & we were own our own. We were going to do Silestone, this would never be my first choice but it works for now and I can easily change it in the future.
Here it is painted. Laundry chute is the big corner cab, the empty stalls are for roll in baskets. This laundry is combined with mudroom and utility bath.
abbycat9990
15 years agoOur LR is the former kitchen. We saved the upper cabs on both sides, and replaced the lowers on the sink side (rot. imagine that!). The W/D are where the double oven & cooktop were; we replaced the upper cab & exhaust fan with a dowel rod (my absolute favorite part of the project), and repainted all cabs. After a great deal of consideration (again, imagine that!), we went for the Wilsonart laminate retro malt boomerang design in brown/aqua, which led to the decision to paint the cabs brown/white, and the walls brown/aqua.
The backsplash on the desk side is cork tiles, and just paint on the sink side (might do the SS panel from Ikea behind sink). While I'd love to elevate the W/D (and we can, as the countertop is removable over the W/D), I'd hate to give up the hanging space. As you can see, the perpetually messy room accommodates our painting stuff (still working on exterior trim), collectables, wine & glasses, cat food & recycling, etc. It is the hardest working room in the house!
Here is a link that might be useful: Countertops
positano
15 years agokitchendetective
15 years agogary1227
15 years agoOur new laundry room is done in Kraftmaid "willow" painted cabinets. Our counters are black granite which was made from scrap pieces leftover from our kitchen. We used commercial grade vinyl tiles for the flooring.
kelleg69
15 years agoblakey
15 years agoI had trouble finding pictures of laundry rooms, even on the laundry room forum, so I know these photos will be extremely helpful. Our laundry room is small, which is why I went with front-loaders with a counter over them where I can fold clothes, etc. There's a little grout that still has to be finished, but otherwise it's done. One thing I saw in a photo which I liked and added was a bar above the sink where I can hang clothes to air dry.
Here is a link that might be useful:
abbycat9990
15 years agopositano: We found that stool at an antique mall a few years ago. It worked beautifully in the kitchen of our old house, and is now an important part of our laundry room.
DD loves to climb up and see what's on the bill-paying section of the countertop, and she also climbs it to reach the sink when washing her hands at the LR sink. It's also handy for a toddler stool at a table. It's absolutely indispensable.momto4boys
15 years agomegradek
15 years agoelizpiz
15 years agokateskouros
15 years agojejvtr
15 years agoI have posted this several times over the past year - Always happy to post again
This was a process - A dark, dreary, dungeon - utility side of basement
1st white dry lock on the walls - then some upper open cabs hung, new machines, new drywall on the ugly work table side. New Armstrong sheet flooring
Then with the help of Bill V got up the courage & learned how to tile - used left over subways from bathroom job.
Stumbled upon some cool craft paper & purchased some FUN colors - I do so much laundry I needed a happy place
crazyhouse6