Mmmmm, if you're thinking about adding lavender accessories to the bedroom, what about my favorite BM paint color in the world, Wet Concrete? It's a soft grayed-lavender that is surprisingly neutral and it sounds like you have little wall space anyway. It goes very nicely with gray, white and cream. (Greens play well with it too, as do browns.) It comes in a sample jar, so why not get one and play with it?

It also sounds like you don't have a door on the laundry room - think about putting a curtain in a lovely fabric on a sturdy tension rod on the doorway so that you can hide the space when you just don't feel like looking at it, but you could keep it tied back most of the time.

johnmari, I loved the color BM Wet Concrete in your living room (if that was your room that was posted on the other site that is so pretty) but I think you have windows and light in that room. My laundry room has no windows so I think the color may be a little too dark for the room? If it comes in a sample jar, I would be happy to try it. See the pictures attached in the link below that I forgot to attach before. I am also thinking a lavender or purple color may be nice for my laundry room since I have been so conservative in my other rooms so far for fear of making a mistake since I have lived with white walls in all my apartments since I was 18 and then moved into this white modern pretty 3 bedroom townhouse.

My white house this past month has been painted BM Bone White and RL Deep Cream with the following rooms not yet painted: My garage, my very small bedroom that I use for back clothing storage and exercise equipment, my small bedroom that I use for office filing cabinets and bookshelf storage, and my laundry room.

I LOVE my laundry room since I used to have only a small closet with a tiny stacking apartment size machine in my last place for 3 years that I had rented. I did love that stackable machine since before that since I was 18 and moved out of my home, I had to go to the laundry mat.

I have owned and lived in my own home now for 9 years now (owned for 3.5 years longer than lived here since the prior owner refused to move ... long story...) and I am 44 so you know that this laundry room that is across from my Master Bedroom is one of the reasons that I fell in love with my townhouse among many other reasons including the privacy I have in my backyard since there are woods behind me.

I remember narrowing my search to a house in a different neighborhood that was not in a location that I liked that much versus this townhouse in a very pretty location surrounded by nice houses and some farms and access to many highways but so country like and near so many stores. This was the right move for me. Both houses were around the same price at the time but the townhouse has gone up more in value due to the better location. It felt like it was mine the minute I had stepped inside and I had looked at so many places before this one.

Two years ago, my washer and dryer that came with my place finally totally broke down after ruining most of my towels and many of my clothes. I guess it was a blessing it stopped working since I then found this Gardenweb.com forum and found the laundry room site and decided on the Whirlpool Duet Washer and Dryer. I just love my washer and dryer and no longer hate doing laundry. :) Maybe a pretty laundry room would be nice. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Laundry Room Pics 12-19-06- Not Fixed Up Yet

Well, my LR does have windows (a single 5x3' bay window) and gets light a very few hours a day because of our wooded lot, when the sun is at just the right angle - I wait to take my pictures until that "prime time" because otherwise they are too dim to see much and the colors are badly skewed, but even then I have to supplement with the overhead and floor lamps! LOL Ironically, when there are no leaves on the trees in the winter, the sun is at the wrong angle to come in the LR window, so we just can't win. :-) That's what made it tough to pick a color, we had to find one that looked just as good under artificial light and fairly dim conditions as in nice natural light. (Actually, I think it can sometimes be a wee bit too much when brightly lit, it's NOT a color I would use in a very sunny room at all!) I was looking at beiges and sagey greens which all just died in the lighting conditions, my DH was the one who suggested trying the violet colors from my curtains - he knew my favorite color is purple but I'd never have the nerve to go for it on my own. Seriously though, there are some pictures in my living room album taken under less ideal lighting conditions, take a look at the three with no furniture which were taken at night with only the overhead light and camera flash.

I shouldn't fret too much about the color being too dark, though, you really don't have that much wall space and there's a lot of white what with the machines, the ceiling/trim, hampers. (Side comment: think about some bins on the shelves to put your "stuff" in, both to make it look less cluttered and also to minimize the competing colors.) You have a nice patch of wall over the hampers for a big framed poster or print, which will break up that one small expanse of color. Save up (or watch the cheapie sources, since it sounds like you don't want to spend much) for a great light fixture... there is absolutely no reason why you couldn't have a little chandelier in your laundry room if you wanted to, and if it made you smile every time you went in to sort your socks, so much the better. You could put it on a dimmer so that when you needed bright light for treating a stain, for example, you'd have that, but you also could have a lower, more pleasant light for just switching loads or getting a few rolls of TP. :-)

And FWIW.... The LR was the first room in COLOR that I had done since I was about 15 (when I drove my parents berserk by sponge-painting white over a navy blue background - it looked like a snowstorm at midnight and took five coats of dove-gray paint to cover up, cured me of even thinking about color for a very long time!)... we had painted the guest room in a very pale yellow shortly before that but that was a pastel, not very adventurous. (Although C2's pastels do have more oomph than the usual run of pastels because of their different pigment system, it was still not exactly what you'd call daring.) Before that had been some 15 years of rentals, virtually all variations on "apartment white", and I was quite nervous about getting into color. It took a lot of buttkicking by folks on Home Dec - most of whom are gone now, this was back in 2004 - to get me to even try color on the walls, but you can see in the first pics of that album just how miserable and cold the LR was in the "basic off-white" the POs painted it for sale. We had to do something, it was a horrible room we hated being in, but when we moved into this house I was terrified of color (and yes, of screwing it up) and rather resistant to anything more aggressive than light beige... Now I'm firmly esconced on the Dark Side when it comes to color, hee hee. So I do completely understand where you are coming from. This is a little bitty room and a little bitty room is a great place to both take a risk (because it's a lot less work to paint over if you hate it!) and to use that which you might find overpowering in a larger room but in a small dose is just right. Kind of like those "Death by Chocolate" desserts, where a couple of bites are wonderful but more is horrible. :-) And besides, won't it be fun to have this modern, neutral townhouse and then hidden away is your private little crazy PURPLE room, that no one would ever, ever expect?

Now, speaking of laundry, I had better go throw a load in myself so that DH has something to cover his behind when he goes to work tomorrow! LOL

Hi Johnmari, thank you for sending the additional pictures of your beautiful warm living room. What an amazing difference color makes! I love the BM Wet Concrete Color on your walls which is what that room needed, along with the great prints on the wall.

By the way, I meant I owned my townhouse 3.5 more months than I lived here. I accidentally typed 3.5 years. :)

My biggest fear is that I can see my laundry room clearly from my hallway and my bedroom since I keep the door open to keep it aired out due to not having any windows in that room. I love how the rooms blend with one another right now. But maybe it will look alright since there is not much wall space?

I agree, it would be nice to experiment with color in such a small room with not much wall space. You are right, a new fixture would look nice there as well as baskets. I will also try to cover the hoses and paint the trim, ceiling and shelving (including making sure the hardware is all white) white.

Do you think looking in from the Bone White hallway at a color that doesn't blend that great with Bone White, will look alright? I have always wanted a lavender/purple room. I can always paint my spare exercise room lavender or purple and do my laundry room in a color that blends better with the rooms around it since my exercise room/prior season clothes is not really noticed being that it is on the far end of the upstairs hallway.

I just took my ironing board out from hanging on the wall behind the door so now the heater vent is not covered in the room. But now I have nowhere to put the ironing board. I still can't open the door all the way due to one of the hampers being in the way but it opens most of the way. I know I am blessed to have a laundry room. I just wish it was a foot longer.

Thank you Johnmari again for helping me try to get out of my white/beige rut that I am still having my fears of trying something I may make a mistake on. But even the Bone White and the Deep Cream on the walls with white trim is an amazing difference for me since now I have a contrast that I never had with all off-white flat walls that matched the trim and ceiling. I love my Pearl Finish on my walls and the Bone White color and the Deep Cream color in the pearl finish for me is so much warmer in my rooms than the flat off-white that I had in all the rooms.

Thanks again for sharing the beautiful pictures of your warm living room.

Hi Lynn2006 -

I see that you have front loaders. I too live in a small house and saw a great idea in two magazines. The idea was to put a counter over front loaders in order to maximize surface area.

I did that in my laundry room during my kitchen remodel. Because my laundry room is also the main hub of heating and plumbing, I was not able to create a permanent counter top. So I used birch plywood cut to size, painted it black, and screwed on cut-to-size table legs. The plywood was cheap $40, but the table legs were about $250. I got them at www.tablelegsonline.com. In spite of the cost, what I did was so worth it to me. I now have a surface area for my microwave, coffee maker, and toaster.

I have included the link for my overall kitchen remodel which includes both before and after of the laundry room. I believe your laundry room is a much nicer space than mine, as you don't have all the utilities in there.

Rachel

Here is a link that might be useful: my kitchen and laundry room

Rachel,

I love the remake of your kitchen and utility room. What fun happy colors you used that all blend so well. I love the backsplash turquoise color that goes so well with the booth and all the accessories you used in that color. I love the new black refrigerator, microwave, dishwasher, etc.

My refrigerator is on its last legs since it is almost 17 years old and has been making noises so it was great to see some creative ideas. Thank you.

I love the table you made over your front loaders. What a great idea and excellent usage of space. What a professional job you did in making that table over the washer and dryer. Thank you for sharing all the pictures and caring to reply to help me.

My washer and dryer are only 2 years old. When my old top loaders broke down, I went to the laundry site and after reading all the reviews I decided that the front loaders would be great for me in cleaning my comforter, less wear and tear on my clothes, cleaning my toy dog's doggie beds, etc. I just love my machines so much. I got a great deal on them also with no interest for one year from PC Richards & Sons.

Lynn2006 wrote: "I have owned and lived in my own home now for 9 years now (owned for 3.5 years longer than lived here since the prior owner refused to move ... long story...) and I am 44 so you know that this laundry room that is across from my Master Bedroom is one of the reasons that I fell in love with my townhouse among many other reasons including the privacy I have in my backyard since there are woods behind me. "

Sounds like there's a good story there. Care to share?

Rachel,

My kitchen is/was an identical layout as yours, just flip it over. I love seeing yours and how we can work with our small areas. Also love the colors and keeping with your home's history.

The laundry area is open to my kitchen, I suspect they removed the wall you have. They left a half wall where your furnace is and added a wall/door facing the outside door. This left the laundry open to kitchen. The furnace area is a fairly large space/room, but I was able to install the water softener in there and also use it for storing brooms, ironing board, etc.

My door to the living room is on the opposite wall as yours so there are cabinets/counter up to this door forming an L shaped kitchen. Ceiling heigth cabinets were built on the kitchen/furnace room wall which took away any eating area. I removed them, big wasted space and now have a dining area there.

With all, I still had the same dilemma as you with the water heater. Mine is right in the open and next to the WD. This couldn't be enlcosed with the furnace as it would not have allowed enough walking area between cabinets/counter which were built to the outside door. If these were not new and/or take a lot of work to change, I'd put the wall back up to close off the laundry area....have my days when a laundry in kitchen view isn't my thing.

With the WH sitting right next to my washer/dryer, I used one of the ceiling height cabinets taken from kitchen to enclose it (surprising, it fit perfectly). The back is open for circulation, doors can be open for access and it can be moved if needed. The other cabinet fit perfectly beside the opposite side of W/D. Pure luck...still have the storage.

I can't tell how much room you have between the washer and furnace. But you could enclose all of this with folding shutter doors...keep the air circulation needed...from wall to wall across the laundry, which would give you a large hidden storage area. They now have full ceiling height shutters/doors availabe at HD and are inexpensive. Since the furnace filter area can't be covered, it looks like there isn't enough room, one of the doors could be added from ceiling/wall down to the filter. At least all the duct work and plumbing would be hidden and you can still get to everything if needed.

Hopefully this doesn't sound like rambling....it is pure creative tasks in making our small homes look/feel right.

Thanks Lynn for the compliments. Good luck on your laundry room update. If you replace the open shelves with cabinets, you could triple your storage space.

Thanks emaengineer -

I have thought about ways to cover up the monstrosities. But on some level I am too lazy. I have thought about using louvered closet doors to surround the water heater and furnace, and probably should do that. I think you are suggesting the same thing. But as you know, we all reach that $ limit, and run out of steam. Once I do something, I will probably kick myself for not taking action sooner. BTW, do you have a bedroom with a door on an angle? Do you have a Sears House?

Now who the heck says Wet Concrete doesn't combine well with Bone White? Piffle. :-) I just double-checked with my fan deck, but they look nice together. (As you can see, the room adjoining the LR - my kitchen - is still off-white, you can see one bit of wall in the pictures of my LR. Not quite Bone White, more like "Grubby White" LOL, but close. Although the kitchen's going to be green eventually, the lavender does look just fine with the off-white.) If by "doesn't blend that great" you mean "the colors don't nearly disappear together in a semi-amorphous smear if you squint" then yes, they don't blend... and if that's what you truly, honestly want, and aren't just chickening out ;-) then throw away the idea of using any actual color at all and bust out that leftover can of Bone White, because no actual color is going to "blend" in that sense. But as I said, get a sample jar and try it out for yourself.

If you're not entirely comfortable with leaving your laundry room door open all the time and looking at all that clutter and "stuff", you can have a ventilation grille installed in the wall above the door, which is not that expensive. Or replace the door itself with a louvered one (yes, you can get them in normal door widths, by special order), which is more expensive but may be more aesthetically pleasing, especially if you don't have a forced-air heating system that also uses grilles in the walls. (If you do have forced-air, the ventilation grille would end up just looking like part of that system.) The louver-and-panel style is dressier IMO than the all-louvered.

Hi Johnmari,

I have decided I really like to leave the door of my laundry room open. My bedroom door is right across from it and the room never is musky smelling since it is always aired out. I am going to paint it bone white with bright white trim, shelves and ceiling and get a bright red rug since I like the red with the bone and white and gray from looking at the room by standing in my bedroom. I am finding I really like BM Bone White paint in the pearl finish so much since it is so neutral and picks up shades of colors that it is around and it warms up the rooms.

I experimented with colors of clothes on top of my green bathroom rug that I put in my laundry room temporarily to see what the look would be with different colors and what was peaceful to my eyes in going from one room to another.

I will try the BM Wet Concrete, other shades of purple and lavender as well as the color Believable Buff in my small spare room that is on the other side of the hallway that I never see and usually keep the door shut in that room. That room has two windows on one wall facing the backyard so will have some light when I am in there since I do not need as much privacy there so shades can be open. Right now the mini blinds broke so there are no blinds or curtains on the two windows. It has clothes in there from other seasons in plastic black drawers, as well as small two drawer 30" putty file cabinets for personal files such as my medical bills and mortgage paperwork, a stereo with speakers, a retro record player, and a stepper that I should start using again now that I am getting rid of all the boxes in that room to make it nice to exercise in. The closets are mirrored closets. That room, I can make a mistake in since it will not be seen constantly and the flow does not matter since it is away from the other rooms upstairs.

If my laundry room was where my "stepper bedroom is", I would definitely be more brave and do my favorite color purple or lavender but one of the reasons I fell in love with my townhouse is how the rooms were so open and flowed into one another giving me a peaceful feeling.

I still am not in love with the Deep Cream in my Master Bathroom and want to paint that room a darker color with less lemon yellow in it for warmth.

Thank you.

Lynn: I saw a room in a magazine painted with Ralph Lauren Architectural Cream, and it might be perfect for your Master Bathroom. I've attached a link (it's near the bottom, on the right).

Here is a link that might be useful: RL Architectural Cream

Thank you organic_smallhome for the nice color suggestion. I like it lot.

This time I will get the sample from Home Depot and not have it matched by BM until I know if like it. Since I keep wondering if BM did not match the Deep Cream exactly. Then if I want BM to match it, I will know if they did an exact match.

Well, after my busy season, I want to repaint my laundry room since the bone white may be wonderful in so many of my other rooms, but does nothing in that room and I want another color. Maybe I will go with a lavender or another color. I now wish I did the room in bright white with a lavender rug and some lavender flower pictures. It is OK and I do not hate it. I love the white ceilings and the white rim and door but it is just is too boring.

Lynn2006, I just stumbled across this discussion and noticed you were unhappy with the view of your hoses. I have Maytag frontloaders and to make loading laundry easier for my back, I had a platform built (approx. 9 inches) to raise the machines up. Doing so meant the machines cover the mechanics behind and the hoses aren't visable now. Just a thought.

Colleen

Lemon_point, thank you for your advice. I may visit some stores and see if the platforms would be good for me since I am petite and not quite 5 feet. But maybe I will have extra storage that way and still be able to fold my laundry on top of my machines? Or maybe I should just find another place to fold laundry. I bought my Whirlpool Duet Front loading washer and dryer a little over 2 years ago. I love how the top is great for folding things while my top loading washer had to have the top free of things. But you are right that would be a great way to cover the ugly cords and gain storage space. Thank you for the great suggestion.