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laundry room in cabin

last year

This room was kind of a small catch-all space. There are the electric box/well pipes, hot water heater, and laundry. The floors were linoleum and the walls OSB. My biggest challenge was hiding the wiring and electrical box, while keeping everything accessible.

It started with the acquisition of the cabinet doors on FB marketplace, and making a “fake” cabinet box,” out of plywood. I also made a box beneath the cabinets of Luan board, which I could easily move away for access. I also Luan that to hide the pipes beneath the hot water heater. I also tiled, added drywall, and installed saloon doors so the room wouldn’t be cut off from heat (replacing the curtains).

This is a cabin and access to the utilities is here, too, so the room is something I use often. I am pretty happy with how it turned out. It was all DIY except the drywall. Sorry…. before photos aren’t that great. I wanted to forget about the room, and didn’t get great photos.

Featured Answer

bpath

last year

The white box under the new cabinet doors is moveable? Brilliant!

This turned out so great. All the utilities are accessible but safely tucked away, the floor is pretty and durable, and the entire space is not only not scary, but pleasant to be in. Well done!

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Comments (11)

Fori
last year
That's a pretty amazing transformation. I like it!
morz8 - Washington Coast
last year
When I began reading your post, I was thinking 'how lucky to HAVE a washer and dryer anywhere in a cabin'. I was very pleasantly surprised with your results. So clean looking and neat! Congratulations.
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I posted some ideas for you over on your original post.
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I agree it's hard to give a fair answer without knowing the layout/seeing photos and understanding the reasons why DH and others suggest combining. With that said, the big negative, for me, would be the noise. Our laundry is in an adjacent room to the kitchen/living room and it's hard to hear the TV/each other with the laundry running. Being able to close a door on that sound is a big help. If you can manage to only do laundry at off times, I guess that wouldn't matter. The second negative depends on how you do laundry. Do you have dirty clothes sitting around in the laundry space? If so, I would opt to isolate that mess/dirt/smell in another space. We are childless so we don't collect laundry in our laundry room.... so, that wouldn't be an issue for us/everyone but it's something to consider. The positives, potentially, are a larger feel to your kitchen..... and more countertop space. What are the positives your DH sees?
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We remodeled (a smaller house than yours) and moved laundry to upstairs. We don't have a dedicated laundry room (didn't have one before either). But, we have more than a stackable-size only closet for laundry. My laundry closet that is convenient to bedrooms is 3 1/2 feet deep by about 9 feet long with 8' of bifolding doors that make the "closet" open into a room-size when those doors are open to the hallway. It feels room-like to me. And, there is plenty of room for utility type stuff--a counter top, space to put the laundry baskets, laundry detergent, etc. What you show in those images, I see no practical space for laundry detergent, hang-drying, etc. So, does it need to be a dedicated room? No. But, more space than a tower closet for a family house (2900sq ft is larger than my family sized house).
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It looks like you prefer to have the right tool for the job, so you have lots of tools. :) I think that your storage pieces (hooks, wall hanger, etc...) are too small for the things they are holding. See if you can find a way to increase the space between hooks, get a larger rack for next to the light switch so that the things on the rack are inside the rack and not spilling over. Do you use those cabinets for storage or for things you use frequently? You shouldn't stress over this, I can see you have a baby and that means lots of work. But if you are in the mood to decorate as well as rearrange, try to add your favorite color, maybe in a way that defines an area for coats, an area for detergent storage, etc...And get hooks that are identical, maybe in the favorite color.
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Cavimum
last year
last modified: last year
Wow! It is gorgeous. I really like the tile floor, too.
Olychick
last year
Beautiful and so clever!
Elmer J Fudd
last year
last modified: last year
Not intending to be Debbie Downer, but in many locations, having cabinet doors or any other obstruction in front of a breaker panel would be impermissible by code. Same could be true of this - if the thing in the back left corner that appears to have lit red numerals on it is a water heater, the normal requirement of having unblocked access to same wouldn't be met because of the obstruction caused by the washer and dryer.

Sorry, but lastly it looks like several junction boxes (one labeled "well pump") appear to have been buried behind a wall too. If so, that's also both an unsafe condition as well as usually being impermissible by code.
Elmer J Fudd
last year
Addendum:

I just noted there are two yellow handled water shutoff valves that appear to have been buried under sheetrock. Holy smokes.
ShadyWillowFarm
last year
Clever! Love it!!
Fori
last year
It might not be strictly to code to hide these things, but they are not buried under sheetrock. They are hidden behind a movable box or doors.

Dunno about the water heater but it's no less accessible than it was before.
Elmer J Fudd
last year
last modified: last year
"It might not be strictly to code to hide these things"

Does that mean it's allowed, or not allowed?

Plumbing and electrical codes exist for safety under broadly accepted standards, not as choices to make. So that future owners and occupants know that work was done in compliance with such standards and that emergency access meets requirements.

When doing a remodel with building permits, we wanted to put a panel on a wall that would be behind a door when it was opened. That wasn't allowed.

"water heater but it's no less accessible than it was before.."

Clearance past the washer - in photo #2, nearly three tiles wide. In photo #4, less than the width of one tile.
lms_1209
Original Author
last year
Thank you for the comments. I did not even know the post was live because I was having trouble with the photos. The cabinet “ box” is really not a box but a wooden frame that can lift off. As well, the cables are not buried behind Sheetrock. It is open, and the white cabinet beneath weighs about 3 pounds so can easily move. So, while it is small, it did pass inspection as the washer and dryer (different ones) were there when I bought it. I do appreciate the concern for safety. The room was just dark and dingy, but one I used frequently so it feels more friendly now. Thanks again!

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