How to Design the Perfect Laundry

Are you considering a laundry room overhaul? While many people think of the laundry room as a purely functional space and not a space that requires ‘designing’, we firmly disagree. An expertly designed laundry room can be beautiful as well as practical.

A great laundry room is a space where you can both get your laundry done as efficiently as possible and appreciate the aesthetic of the space while you work. The team at Navigate Bathrooms is well-accustomed to designing spaces just like these. For your next bathroom or laundry renovations, Perth, consider Navigate Bathrooms.

Now, let’s explore how you can design the perfect laundry room.

Draw out a rough design plan

At the beginning of your laundry design journey, drawing a basic design plan onto paper is recommended. This is where you can begin to think about where your appliances, worktops, cupboards, sink, and storage are going to go. Below we’ll list some considerations you should have for these aspects of your new laundry room.

Appliances

The first design consideration is planning where your appliances are going to go. A laundry room should primarily be functional, so you’ll want to position your appliances in the optimal spots for ease of use. But you also need to think about where any existing water supply and electrical points are. To move these will incur additional costs.

Do you want the washer and dryer to stack or have them adjacent to each other under countertops? For both of these options, they’ll need to be front-loading washers and dryers. Stacking the washer and dryer can save a lot of space but it may mean one appliance is not as easy to reach. You should always check that the manufacturer has explicitly stated their appliances are suitable for stacking.

Note that it’s usually advisable to leave extra space around your appliances and below countertops as washers and dryers come in various sizes, and if you were to ever purchase new ones, it’s better to have more freedom in terms of their sizing.

Worktops

Think about how much worktop space would be ideal in your laundry, and then plan for some more. It’s almost impossible to have too much worktop space, and if the room allows for it, you’ll want to install an ample amount. You’ll want enough to be able to comfortably fold clothes and bedding. Is your space big enough to have an island worktop and counter space? Or should the worktops run along the wall? Map them out on your plan to see which worktop positions work and which don’t.

Sink

Having a sink in your laundry room can be advantageous since you can use it for washing delicate items that require hand-washing or soaking clothes that have tough stains. You’ll likely find that the laundry sink gets used frequently for lots of tasks that you might not have even considered such as repotting plants or bleaching tea towels.

To install a sink in your laundry, you’ll need to have a water supply for it. If one already exists, great—if it doesn’t, you’ll need to install one. If space in your laundry is limited, a clever idea to still have a sink but also maximise worktop space is to create a cover for the sink meaning it can double as a countertop.

The ideal spot for a sink is usually to the right of your washing machine (facing the washing machine). This is because most washing machines are hinged on the left and so open with the door being on the left side too. Therefore, with your sink to the right, you can easily and quickly grab the wet, soaked clothes from the sink and transfer them to the washer.

Storage

Laundry rooms often become the unofficial storage rooms in the house. This leads to laundries looking cluttered and unattractive. Instead of vowing not to allow your new laundry to turn into a storage room, plan for this eventuality by adding plenty of storage to your design.

You’ll of course want enough storage for things like detergents, dryer sheets, softeners, and laundry baskets. Perhaps you’d prefer to stow away your ironing board or clothes horse instead of having them out. You may want to have enough space for things like pet food, the vacuum cleaner, mops and buckets, and everything else that often ends up in laundries.

Cupboards

To comfortably store large items like a vacuum cleaner and mops, installing at least one tall cupboard is advised. Then you’ll want other smaller cupboards to store everything else. These cupboards can go under your worktops to maximise floor space.

Overhead cupboards are great since they increase your storage space but don’t decrease your floor space. They’re a great way to completely maximise the space in your laundry room and are particularly useful for laundry rooms on the smaller side.

Free-standing cabinets

You may opt to go down the freestanding cabinet route, perhaps in combination with built-in cupboards. Freestanding cabinets can provide a stylish look for your laundry and have the advantage of being movable and rearrangeable. However, it may be hard to find freestanding cabinets that match the decor of your laundry and they could end up looking out of place. Generally, free-standing cabinets end up costing more than built-in cupboards too.

Floor space

Ultimately, a laundry room should be a highly functional space. While the aesthetic is also important, it shouldn’t overshadow the practicality of the room. Floor space is key in a laundry room since you’ll be carrying loads of laundry in and out and you don’t want to be doing this in an awkwardly laid out room with minimal floor space. As mentioned, island counters look great and are definitely practical, but they should only be installed in large spaces.

Think about your materials

With a rough design plan completed, you can now move on to thinking more about the materials you’re going to use in the design of your laundry room. It’s important to consider both the look of the materials as well as the quality.

Worktops and cupboards

It’s often best to start with the colour scheme of the worktops and cupboards and go from there. Once you’ve decided on the finish for these, you can then move on to things like the colour of the walls and the floor design to ensure everything works together.

Flooring

What sort of floor would suit your laundry room best? Popular choices are tiles, wood, and laminate flooring.

Tiles

Tiles are a trusted type of flooring for laundry rooms. Tiles are generally very durable and can last many years without any maintenance. With such a variety of tile designs available on the market, you’re guaranteed to be able to find a tile design for your tastes.

The tiles you settle on could be a subtle stone finish or a patterned design that provides a retro finish. The great thing about tiles is that they are resistant to water damage. Although you shouldn’t often have floods of water on the laundry room floor, it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

Wood flooring

Alternatively, wood flooring is also quite popular in laundry rooms. Wood flooring can give a modern look to your laundry room. Genuine wood flooring is usually more costly than tiles. Another consideration is that wood flooring is not water resistant.

If your wood floor was to get wet (for example if your washing machine had a leak), the floor would likely get damaged unless you were able to very quickly get rid of the water. This is because the wood will absorb the water and swell, leaving the floor deformed even after it’s dry.

Laminate flooring

As a more cost-conscious option to both tile and genuine wood flooring, you may wish to consider laminate flooring. Laminate is cheaper both in terms of material and installation since it can be laid down quickly.

However, in the long run, laminate flooring is unlikely to add value to your home as tile or genuine wood flooring would, and you may find that the laminate needs to be replaced after a few years. Laminate also doesn’t handle water well. If the water drips down the cracks of the laminate, it will usually need to be replaced.

Walls

There’s generally no need to tile the walls in a laundry room (although you could if you wanted to), so all you need to do is choose a colour that complements your cupboard and worktop finish as well as your choice in flooring. Many of our customers opt for colours such as cream or very pale pastel colours. Keeping things light and airy can help to maximise the space of rooms that are generally small in comparison to the rest of the home.

Finishing touches

Finishing touches such as your choice in lighting, shelving, and even laundry baskets can transform your laundry room from a functional space into one that welcomes you inside.

Lighting

Spotlights or downlights are very popular. Downlights require less cleaning since spotlights can quickly gather dust and cobwebs. Perhaps you could make a statement with a small chandelier. You may also want to consider installing under-worktop lighting.

Shelving

Shelves can be both functional and visually enhancing. Shelves can be used for housing plants and other decorative items to add a design flourish to your laundry.

Laundry baskets

Some laundry baskets are so beautiful that they deserve to be on show. If they complement the overall look of the room, large cotton rope laundry baskets can add the final touch to a well-designed laundry.

Final thoughts

The perfect laundry requires the consideration of heaps of design aspects. You have to map out the physical design of the room bearing in mind limitations such as water supply and electrical points. You have to select the right materials for your taste, space, and budget. At the same time, you need to make sure all your design choices blend seamlessly.

While doing all this on your own is certainly a challenging undertaking, working together with a qualified laundry renovation design team can certainly make life easier and guarantee an end result that you’ll be pleased with. If you’re in need of quality bathroom and laundry renovations in Perth, have a chat with our team of experts at Navigate Bathrooms today.