How to Make the Most Out Of Your Laundry Room

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How to Make the Most Out Of Your Laundry Room

Written by Multi-Area Developments | on September 26, 2018 | Posted in Buying Your New Home

The laundry room.

For years, it wasn’t the most appealing or interesting room in the house. When people spent time in the laundry room, they wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible.

That’s all changing.

While the laundry room’s primary focus will always be, well, doing laundry, it’s becoming a central family hub in the house.

Here’s why that is and how you can maximize your laundry room.

Secondary entrance to the home

The days of the laundry room being tucked in the basement are over.

Nowadays, laundry rooms are found on the main floors of homes (such as some designs found at Summit Park by Multi-Area Developments).

However, that doesn’t mean it’s a stand-alone room. Quite the opposite, the laundry room now serves as an additional entrance and exit for the home in two ways:

Via the garage door.
Via the side door.

In older homes, if you wanted to leave through the garage, you’d have to go downstairs (probably past the laundry room) and out the basement door.

Today, the laundry room connects to the garage. Grab your coat, shoes, and you’re quickly on your way.

That’s convenient.

Extra storage

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Not only are laundry rooms being moved to the main floor, but they’re also getting bigger too.

(If you want to see just how big they can be, check out the Summit Park floor plans).

Instead of a small room that’s dominated by big machines, laundry rooms now serve as additional storage areas for things like:

Coats.
Shoes.
Purses and bags.
Sporting equipment
School supplies (like backpacks).

Sometimes, it’s hard to find a space for everything. As a result, outdoor toys end up in the front hall cubby and shoes end up lined along the stairs.

Modern laundry rooms have the space and floor plan to handle overflow storage without impacting it’s core functionality.

That’s smart.

Mud room

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Picture it:

You’ve worked in the garden all day.
You’re covered in dirt, grass, and mud.
You go inside through the front door.

All of a sudden, there are muddy footprints on the floor, dirty handprints on the walls, and blades of grass all over the place.

Ugh.

Meanwhile, today’s laundry rooms are meant to get dirty. After all, they handle dirty clothes of all sorts.

Using the main floor laundry room as a mud room keeps your front entrance clean and clear. Just walk in, throw some dirty clothes in the washing machine, and head upstairs for a much-needed shower.

One more thing: While you’ve got hardwood floors throughout the home, the laundry room will always have easy to clean tile flooring.

They’re also water-resistant, which is perfect given how much moisture is found in the laundry room.

That’s logical.

Another washing area

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Just like you don’t want to come in through the front door after you’ve worked in the garden or on the car, you don’t want to do a preliminary wash-up in the powder room.

Now, maybe the laundry room you had while growing up featured a tiny old basin with rusty fixtures and unreliable water temperatures.

That’s a thing of the past.

The laundry room you’ll find in, say, the Giardino home at Summit Park is spacious enough to handle a large modern sink that’s perfect for getting clean.

Also, if you have a dog who loves to roll around in the dirt, would you rather:

Clean him up on the laundry room sink before he roams the house?
Carry him upstairs to the bathroom (and risk him tracking muddy paw prints all over the place)?
You’ll take the first option. Every time.

That’s helpful.

Doing laundry

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Oh yeah! The laundry room is for doing laundry.

Instead of trying to navigate a cramped laundry room with a cumbersome basket or hamper, you’ll be able to walk around without bumping into things.

When the dryer finally buzzes, you’ll have a dedicated area where you can neatly fold your clothes right then and there.

Here are some other ways to get the most from your laundry room:

Install a closet rod to create an instant drying rack for clothes once they’re out of the dryer.
Handy with a needle and thread? The laundry room’s a perfect place for those quick stitch jobs.
Consider a fold-out ironing board with a wall-mounted iron.
Install bright lights to make the laundry room feel a little less dour.

That’s practical.