Room of the Day: Reconfiguring an Entry and Laundry Room
Creating a mudroom from closets and opening up a laundry room make a big difference for this family in Canada
Shoes were taking over the entryway of this multigenerational Toronto-area townhouse, and the adjacent laundry room was dull and drab. And the person it was bothering the most was homeowner Jason Lam, who lives here with his wife, Amy Chan, his parents and their newborn son. With the help of the pros at Bentoreno, he got busy making plans to transform the narrow hallway into an efficient mudroom and laundry room space that will work for the whole family.
BEFORE: “This is quite a busy area, with people leaving at the same time. It was cramped, and we were all holding onto walls while we put on our shoes,” Lam says.
BEFORE: And shoes and boots were what the area had become all about. During Toronto’s winters, everyone kicks them off by the door. “While my father and I have about two pairs of shoes each, my wife and my mother tend to leave all sorts of shoes they don’t even use here. After the seasons change, no one will just put them away — apparently I was the only person this bothered,” he says with a laugh. Trying to modify this behavior was a losing battle, so they came up with another solution.
They removed the small closets to create a mudroom. At first, the family planned on hooks and cubbies over the bench, but the designer at Bentoreno had a shoe-focused solution in mind. Shaker-style cabinets with transitional hardware keep a neat look.
The cabinets are outfitted with racks to fit all the shoes and boots. The shoes that are out of season go in the top cabinets, and the tall boots can be stored in the bottom cabinet on the right and beneath the bench. Ah, a bench: a place to sit and put on and take off all those shoes and boots — no more leaning on the wall and struggling.
This rendering helps you see how the spaces relate to one another; the door to the garage is on the top left, the new mudroom is on the bottom and the laundry room is on the top.
BEFORE: The laundry room was outfitted with only machines and a utility sink. The lack of storage space created clutter atop the machines.
By removing the door into the laundry room and expanding the opening, and by knocking out half of the wall between the laundry room and the entry door, the space is much brighter and feels twice as large.
More cabinets have made the space functional and efficient. Because the family has three dogs, they have oversized machines for washing dog beds. This left room for a large folding counter made of a laminate that looks like reclaimed wood on top of the front-loading machines.
More cabinets have made the space functional and efficient. Because the family has three dogs, they have oversized machines for washing dog beds. This left room for a large folding counter made of a laminate that looks like reclaimed wood on top of the front-loading machines.
A new light over the sink helps brighten the space, while frosted glass cabinets bounce the light around and prevent a wall of cabinets from feeling oppressive.
The family keeps a stepladder stashed nearby to access the higher cabinets. The first level contains laundry supplies, while the uppers contain dog toys, coats, collars and leashes as well as Lam’s tools. The top cabinets store out-of-season items and other knickknacks.
The family keeps a stepladder stashed nearby to access the higher cabinets. The first level contains laundry supplies, while the uppers contain dog toys, coats, collars and leashes as well as Lam’s tools. The top cabinets store out-of-season items and other knickknacks.
Here’s a closer look at the pattern in the laminate.
The half wall makes it easy to bring in large items from the garage entry.
There’s even a cheery print of three clothespins over the new sink.
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What happens here: Entering, exiting, putting on shoes, storing boots, dropping off keys, doing laundry for a multigenerational family of five and their three dogs
Location: Markham, Ontario, near Toronto
Designer: Bentoreno
As you can see from the plans, the entry from the garage into the townhouse is on the top right corner. The hallway was made narrower by two closets (left red box) across from the laundry room (right red box). The full wall between the laundry room and the entry made the space feel even more compressed and made it impossible to bring any oversized items in through the door.