It’s all too easy for a small laundry room to turn into a dark closet full of dirty clothes. A welcoming laundry room will encourage everyone in the house to participate in chores!
🧺 How to maximize laundry room space | ❓ FAQ | 📸 Small laundry room ideas
Key Takeaways
- You can make household chores more appealing by making over your laundry room.
- Making use of verticality with shelving, wall-mounted racks and hooks saves a lot of space.
- Bright color combinations will make your laundry room feel bigger.
- Plants, welcoming lighting and artworks will make your laundry room a fun place to be in.
How can you maximize space in a small laundry room?
With some creativity and a dash of ingenuity, you can transform your cramped laundry room into a space-savvy sanctuary.
Make use of your vertical space
- Install shelving units above your washer and dryer.
- Use wall-mounted drying racks or retractable clotheslines for your items.
- Remember, hooks are your friend! They are perfect for hanging items like mops and ironing boards.
Use multi-functional furniture
- Invest in a folding table that can serve as a space to fold clothes and an extra storage area underneath.
- Benches with hidden storage can be a seat and a space for laundry baskets.
Declutter your laundry room regularly
- Keep only what you use. If you haven’t touched it in a year (I’m looking at you, mysterious bleach alternative!), it might be time to let it go.
- Rotate items seasonally. For instance, store heavy-duty winter garment care items in the warmer months and vice versa.
- Baskets are perfect for sorting whites and colors before you even start washing.
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Our favorite small laundry room ideas
Our list of small laundry room ideas will help you to enjoy the area around your washer and dryer, probably for the first time.
This list includes design ideas for even the smallest of spaces and budgets. All you need is a little paint, some organizational tools and this gallery of laundry rooms.
1. Farmhouse Retro Laundry Room Concept
This farmhouse laundry room takes advantage of the empty space on top of the machines. Instructions painted on the wall inspired by a laundromat give this space some humor.
2. Enjoy the Sunshine in the Laundry Room
This design takes advantage of the natural light coming in through an undressed window. The washer and dryer are front-loading, which allows space above them for shelves. There’s even enough space to hang laundered shirts.
3. Cozy Country Laundry Room
Take advantage of the warmth of wood! Shelves stretch over the washer and dryer and there’s enough space beside them to tuck a bin for sorting. Metal bins sit on the first shelf while laundry detergents are on the second shelf within easy reach.
4. Fresh Out of the Dryer Laundry
White elements are given warmth by the taupe-colored walls. The brown floor and pots of dried flowers on open shelves give the laundry room a cozy feel.
5. Laundry Pocket Turned Accent Wall
Though some don’t mind their washer and dryer being exposed, others would rather the area be hidden when not in use. One solution is to hide the area behind a sliding barn door. The bright aquamarine blue door echoes the color of the bottom of the French window curtains.
6. Contemporary Laundry Room with Neutral Colors
If you have a bit more space, you can use one part of the laundry room for sorting and hand washing. This room has a deep apron sink and a rustic wooden countertop that echoes the hardwood floor. The framed photos keep the room from looking too utilitarian.
7. Bring French Country Charm to Your Laundry Room
Who said that plants and artwork have no place in a homeowner’s laundry room? The front-loading washer and dryer’s color scheme is repeated on the intricate tiles of the floor. The texture of woven grass baskets reflects the bamboo of the roll-up shade. Pots of live plants soften the look.
8. Bright Whites Done Right
This small laundry room was livened up by a rough hewn shelf lined with identical gray storage boxes. A sign saying “Laundry” at least partially covered up the wiring and exposed plumbing. Since the dryer is front-loading, you can put a plant and a small lamp on top of it.
9. Add Vintage Elegance to Your Laundry Room
This laundry room glitters with a metallic wall tile that matches the frames around the windows, giving the area a vintage feel.
Since the machines have empty space on top, a gleaming stone shelf is a great addition. Above them are wall cabinets that leave enough space for a clothes rod and hangers.
10. Create a Warm Laundry Room with Gray and White
Don’t forget the paint scheme when it comes to laundry rooms. This room has a deep gray beadboard wall hung with two white cabinets connected by a shelf.
The stone shelf that sits atop the washer and dryer is also gray and is almost a match for the dark gray of the machines’ window gaskets.
11. Use Lots of Wood in Your Small Laundry Room Design
Really elegant cabinetry shouldn’t be confined to the kitchen. The floor and wall cabinets in this room have recessed panels and the wall cabinets have grown moldings.
There are cubbies for wicker baskets to hold separates and enough shelf space for laundry items and a clothes rod. The floor, which is or resembles variegated brown and tan marble, makes the room truly elegant.
12. Laundry Room for Clothes and Pet Cleaning
One of the more innovative small laundry room ideas is to use extra space as a pet cleaning center. This gray and white laundry room has its washer stacked on its dryer to save space.
13. Little Laundry on the Prairie
The washer and dryer fit so well into this very rusticated center that it’s hard to believe that they are from the 21st century. A simple piece of lumber has been set over them and a primitive shelf with brackets stretches above them.
14. Old-fashioned Meets Modern Laundry Room Design
This design uses wall shelves above the machines with what look like homespun curtains in the door windows. To one side, shelves hold wicker baskets filled with laundered linen. Another wall holds old-fashioned laundry implements.
A touch of whimsey is added by a set of keys dangling from one of the cabinet knobs and an old jar full of bright flowers.
15. Steel, Chrome and Wood Laundry Room
The big, bold steel and chrome washer and dryer stand out in this otherwise Arcadian laundry center.
The wooden plank is not set directly on the machines but lies on bars that echo the bars that hold up the shelf above the workspace.This space holds a framed list of laundry room rules and galvanized metal containers, but all is softened by the gold color of the wall.
16. Super Simple Laundry Wall Makeover
Another one of the simpler laundry room ideas is a plain blond wood plank set over the front loading machines with taupe wall cabinets above.
There’s enough room for a clothes rod and wooden hangers to receive washed shirts. Subway tiles, a sign from an old laundromat, apothecary jars, a plant, and a wire basket complete the look.
17. Beachy Laundry Room with Easy Sorting
Foldable drying racks are one of the better ideas for laundry rooms. These are installed permanently on the wall over the area used for sorting clothes and a chest of drawers used to hold other laundry items.
The pure white of the laundry bags, walls, and ceiling contrasts with the speckled black of the floor and the stripes of the rug.
18. Add a Breath of Fresh Air to the Laundry Room
This laundry center is hidden behind a pair of formidable-looking wooden doors. The helves recreate the boldness of the doors, though their look is softened by a golden-tan wall.
19. Elegant Monochromatic Utility Laundry Room
The neutral colors of the laundry room are broken up somewhat by the light wood of the blocky shelf and the wooden slab on top of a floor cabinet. The rather severe lines are softened by the intricate pattern of the black and white floor tiles.
20. Make the Specialty Colors Pop
You can buy a washer and dryer combo in a variety of colors. This combination is a navy blue along with the usual silver of the window frames and the control knobs. The colors complement the door and the beadboard on the walls.
21. A Laundry Room You’ll Linger In
This laundry room leads to the outside, and the windows in the door let in plenty of natural light. Even the terra cotta-colored floor tiles seem to blur the line between the inside and the outside as do the plants in the wall planters.
The apron sink, the paneled wall cabinets, and the generous apothecary jars give this laundry room a kitchen-like feel.
22. Subway Tile Backsplash Accent Laundry Room
Another good laundry room idea is to put the washer and dryer in their own wooden box. The blond wood of the “box” echoes the edges of the long, narrow wall cabinet above the machines, the clothes rod, and even the frame of the outsized clock.
There’s enough space between the wall cabinet and the ceiling for some storage.
23. Make Your Laundry Room Dark but Not Dreary
Here’s a great way to make the room downright sexy! The wooden slab over the two front-loading machines is made of sumptuous wood, and the wall cabinets behind it are fitted with task lights.
Laundry items are presented on jars in a tray, and there are sunken lights on the ceiling.
24. All the Aqua You Need in a Laundry Room
Adding pastel colors to the laundry room is a creative way to make your space pop.
The room has wall cabinets of the palest blue that are lighter even than the plastic buckets that contain the staining and cleaning kits.
25. Shabby Chic Laundry Room Design
No one says that your space can’t be shabby chic! Using a glass pendant lantern, a shield-shaped mirror, and some chintzy fabrics for the curtains make this laundry room unique.
26. A Contemporary Design for Small Laundry Rooms
Why not have a combination bathroom and laundry center? This small laundry room calls an old-fashioned outhouse to mind with its weathered boards on the walls. There’s enough space left for the toilet bowl and sink, a tiny stool, and a portable drying rack.
27. Proof You Have Laundry Room
Another solution for a tiny space is to stack one machine on top of the other and add simple shelves. Having quick access to the necessary items will make laundry day easier. The whole thing is hidden behind folding, louvered doors that guests won’t notice when they’re shut.
28. Black, White, and Pink Laundry Room
If you are wondering where the statement is going to be made in the room you can choose it to be the floor. You will fall in love with the black and white hand-painted cement tile.
Use black base cabinets which will contribute to the lightness of the room. The natural stone countertops give a clean, ethereal look to the room.
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