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Laundry Room The Old House DIY

How to Update Laundry Nook

last year

Hello! Soon to be new homeowner looking for inspiration and advice to slowly update a house from 1959. Below is a Laundry Closet that appears to be original to the model where modern washer/dryers are larger than the space provided. I'd ideally like to have it covered or atleast encased in the closet space. Behind the wall is mostly the powder room and likely pipe/wires...

Does the community have similar experiences or advice to share? Many thanks in advance!

Featured Answer

salonva

last year

For the first time, I have a laundry nook/closet. It has bifold doors to close it. It's in the hallway upstairs. It looks sort of like the before in nhbasket's post with the wire shelf above. I keep my ironing board next to the dryer.

I like having the wire shelves to hang up clothing to dry, though I do often use the shower rod in the hall bath or an extra closet in the guest room.

It occured to me when we recently had guests stay over ( which hardly ever happens) that I was glad to have the wire rack to hang the stuff not to be dried.

Still it's not ideal so I am looking at this thread for inspiration.

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Comments (13)

Toronto Veterinarian
last year
How deep is it, from the back wall? I prefer a stacked washer/dryer pair, so I'd want to pull the shelved, put in stacked machines, and then put shelves or a cabinet to the side of the machines. Then add a door.
Stacy thanked Toronto Veterinarian
ci_lantro
last year
Compact stackables might work. Bosch 300 series are 24 `1/4" deep. The machines. I don't know how much addt'l space you need behind the machines for hoses, vents, electrical connections.. Small machines, though. Maybe not suitable for family sized laundry.
Stacy thanked ci_lantro
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I am not familiar with current model numbers but if your dryer is a condensing one, you should not be running it with doors closed, even if they are louvered. If it's vented than it probably doesn't matter. The condenser sheds a noticeable amount of heat and moisture which I wouldn't want confined in a small space. (Our condenser dryer is in the bathroom that my husband uses in the morning. If my laundry plans work out, I sometimes set the delay-start timer on a load to begin tumbling just before he awakes which warms the room very nicely for him.) I have nearly 20-y.o. Askos (washer and slightly younger cond. dryer) that I am happy with. There some things that I wash in the Asko in preference to the two Miele washers next to it. I think the delicate/wool cycles on the Asko are superior to Miele's. I wash full (to the top) loads in the Asko regularly - weighing at least the 11-lbs dry weight that they are rated for. I don't dry sheets in the dryer, preferring to hang them out. For all sizes of sheets (on rare occasions when rain messes up my outdoor drying) there is the potential for balling up if you have more than one tumbling at the same time. Other things tumbling with the sheets are fine, but big flat things remain a problem, particularly in my dryer which does not reverse tumble. This applies ONLY to the dryer. I can wash a couple of pairs of sheets (plus cases, shirt, towels, etc.) in the washing machine in one load. Parts can be ordered online, if necessary and repairs are easy to do. HTH, L.
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But first, if you haven't seen these before, they'd make a great stocking stuffer. After I did the topic on wanting to add decor items to the shelves, I came down with Covid & did nothing to it until today because of trying to Christmas decorate. Remember how I wanted to use one of my rectangle plant stands? I found something better, thanks to Mr. Lobo who started the habit of urinating on the wood floor right in front of the smoke stand every couple of weeks. I put the stand in the middle of the floor in the back of the LR. He left it alone and still used the same spot, sans smoke stand. While trying to decorate the room today I got a bright idea. I know he won't notice it. The shelves are disorganized because of Christmas decorating messes.
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PRO
RL Relocation LLC
last year
Stackables is going to be a good answer for you . This should allow you to put doors back on and not really look at anymore.
Stacy thanked RL Relocation LLC
ci_lantro
last year
Or compact machines, side by side. Which would be my preference since I fold as I remove items from the dryer and use the top surface of the machines to fold & stack. Compact front load machines may give you enough room to put doors back up. You will gain 3-5 inches in depth over the typical top load machines like you have.

You'll will have to do the measuring and math since we don't know how deep the niche is. Nor how the dryer is vented. (A non-vented condensing/ heat pump dryer may be part of the solution.)
Stacy thanked ci_lantro
Sigrid
last year
You could put up a curtain or doors at the top. It wouldn't be as good as adding full-sized doors but covering the top bit would reduce the laundry closet vibe.
Stacy thanked Sigrid
wdccruise
last year
@RL Relocation LLC: "Stackables is going to be a good answer for you . This should allow you to put doors back on and not really look at anymore."

The problem is with the appliances' depth. He has full-size appliances and he'd have to replace them both with compact models to fit them in the closet. It wouldn't matter whether they were stacked or both sat on the floor.
Stacy thanked wdccruise
Stacy
Original Author
last year
Thank you all for your great suggestions! Will update this post to see how we make out once we make decision! Cheers!
nhbaskets
last year
We recently purchased an LG Wash Tower for our laundry closet. Love these full size machines!

Before

After
Stacy thanked nhbaskets
ci_lantro
last year
Again, the Washtower will not work. Too deep. 30" depth on the Washtower which is probably deeper than the top load washer that is in the niche in OP's picture. Those machines in OP's pix look like Whirlpools...which are 27" deep.
PRO
RL Relocation LLC
last year
But what constitutes not getting ones that fit in the space? front loaders on pedestals, with a butcher block top
PRO
RL Relocation LLC
last year
fissfiss
last year
The small Bosch units will probably work, but they are European in capacity. I’ve given up on doors, one more thing to clank and bang and get in the way…but my laundry area is out of sight.

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