You could unstack the washer and dryer. Put both on the far wall, dryer next to the exterior for exhaust venting. Put closed door storage above both. Raise the coat rack up about a foot so that coats clear the shoe rack. Consider putting a stool, bench, or chair in the doorless closet that you can sit on to put on or remove shoes.

Add wallpaper. See

https://www.houzz.com/magazine/bold-wallpaper-brings-color-and-fun-to-the-laundry-room-stsetivw-vs~80779095

My favourite before-and-after laundry room, style-wise. https://www.houzz.com/discussions/3792622/sad-ugly-laundry-room

Does the dryer need to go near the window wall to vent, or just be turned to the side? My complaint about closed shelving over the washer and dryer is that it can be hard to reach the higher shelves, so you only really get good useful space for the lower ones.

apple_pie_order, I am impressed! I never thought of unstacking them and didn’t know what to do because of the window. That would definitely make the room look less like a long hallway.

partim, the dryer is just too far away to safely vent so we need to change it. Right now my cupboard is very high so at least the first shelf would be more accessible than what I have. I would store seasonable items in the higher shelves.

I haven’t wallpapered for years so I didn’t think of that. If I did choose to wallpaper, which wall(s)?

You could always put a small ladder somewhere in the room to make higher shelves more accessible. Especially since you have 10 foot ceilings, it is a shame to waste that high-up space.

It's a fairly small room. I would wallpaper the walls I marked in brown.

Maybe a crazy idea, but what do you use your 2 foot wide closet for? Maybe remove the wall and put a different type of storage there. Another bench? Shallow pantry unit?Not sure how this would affect the wall that has the light switch - if that wall could be shortened even better, but it may affect your basement step safety. It would open up the room. Especially since you are planning to re-do the floor anyway, it's the time to do it if you can.

Partim's ideas are excellent. It'd open up the room if you remove the closet walls.

Ideally, the laundry detergent is reachable from standing in front of the washer. If you use the bottles with spouts that require a cup underneath, then an open shelf is needed. If you transfer detergent from a big bottle to a smaller bottle for convenience in handling, you could do closed storage. A lot depends on how tall you (and other users) are. A small 2-step folding ladder (as Partim suggests) is easy to keep in a laundry room with high storage.

A benefit of un-stacking the washer and dryer is that it gives you a convenient spot to sort and fold clothes, on top of the appliances. As you have it now, I don't see that you have a good place for that. It's nice not to have to do it bending down to the floor. Some good ideas here. This one looks so much like your arrangement with the window and width of the room, although if it were me I wouldn't put use those metallic boxes, but rather leave the full depth for laundry sorting etc.

A room like this can be a bit more fun and less serious than a living room or kitchen e.g. if not wallpaper then a fun colour for the walls or cabinets. I love the one with the pale blue cabinets in the link above.

I see you don't have a laundry tub in that room. Depending on your family's needs, it might be a good addition for muddy/messy things coming into your house. Or even a lower-placed slop sink or dog washing station. This one is just a simple shower pan. A hanging bar can go over either a high or low sink, for dripping wet things. Just throwing out ideas here.

Depending on how much storage you add, the cost of storage cabinets can add up. It can even get pricey to buy fancy storage boxes for open shelving. Resale places like ReStore are one option, and paint them to your liking. Since this is not going into your kitchen you don't need to be that fussy about the quality of the paint finish. Or use open storage and put a short cafe-style curtain across each shelf to hide the contents.

I love these ideas! Even my skeptical husband is looking at these pictures and ideas and is quite impressed. He said he was just disappointed that he didn’t think of them himself 😬. He called a contractor today who will be out early next week to give us an estimate on what we are not able to do ourselves. We can definitely move the washer/dryer, and we are looking at those short walls. Currently I have shelves there with seasonable items and cleaning supplies. I would love to have a sink if we could fit it in. I checked and we have even have enough vinyl plank left over from our basement to do the room and still some left if ever needed. I am really excited about getting going on this!

Please post an update when you are ready.