Designing a Space for Your Laundry Mudroom Combo
POSTED ON Sunday, March 1, 2020 IN Laundry Room
Storage, organization, and practical features are the key to creating a dual functional space
There are two spaces in your house that both serve practical purposes, yet are frequently an afterthought when it comes to design: laundry rooms and mudrooms. Laundry rooms are an essential space because washing and drying your clothes is a constant cycle. Mudrooms tend to be a catch-all storage space for shoes, coats, backpacks, and all manner of other items.
But for some homeowners, the two spaces are one and the same. It’s not always feasible to combine the two, as people will often prefer their mudrooms be within close proximity to the entrance of their home. You may see a lot of newer home designs with a laundry mudroom combo right inside the garage entrance. And space is certainly a consideration, since you would need to accommodate the storage needs of a mudroom with a washer and dryer.
If a combination laundry mudroom suits the design of your home, there are certainly plenty of cabinet, organizer, and sink options available to help customize the room, allowing you to make efficient use of the space and fulfill all of the needs you’d require for laundry and storage.
Laundry room cabinets offer ample storage space
Dual functional spaces deserve features that serve a dual purpose, and cabinets offer exactly that, adding storage but also bringing a sense of style to a practical area of your home.
Addressing your storage needs should be the first order of business, because laundry rooms require space for a washer and dryer, laundry detergent, dryer sheets, and other toiletries and accessories. When you add in the storage needs of a mudroom — which often functions as an unofficial “drop zone” for everything from shoes and coats to mail and keys — it becomes clear that you are going to need to maximize every inch of space available to you.
Cabinets are a popular choice because they can adapt to the space available. They can be installed to the side of your washer and dryer, or even above them. The latter option can help keep products like detergent out of reach from any children. You can also add counter space with lower cabinets, which could serve as a convenient place to store keys, mail, and other small items. The counter could even extend across the top of your washer and dryer, providing a functional place to fold clothes while also offering more of a built-in look.
In terms of style, the cabinets of your laundry mudroom can be blended with the style of the rest of your home. White cabinets are popular for laundry rooms because of their crisp and clean look and feel, but you should not feel beholden to a particular style if you prefer something else. In fact, one of the trends for 2020 is an emphasis on reinvigorating laundry spaces. Colorful cabinets are but one example of how homeowners are having fun with their laundry rooms.
Organizers can help clear the clutter of a mudroom
Mudrooms can often be found in a constant state of clutter, especially if you have children who tend to shed their bags, coats, and shoes as soon as they walk in the door, without a care in the world where those items end up on the floor. Combining your mudroom and laundry room will only increase the accumulation of stuff in that space, so organization becomes critical.
Locker-type storage is the ideal solution for storing and organizing shoes, coats, backpacks, and even your laundry room essentials, offering different levels of storage. Open cubbies at the top of each locker provide space for headwear or towels. The open locker space will typically have hooks for outwear. Beneath the hooks, you can utilize that space to store footwear or place baskets there to collect winter gloves and hats or bed sheets and dryer sheets. Pullout drawers at the base of the locker can be used to store an assortment of other toiletries and accessories.
Having different types of storage enables you to better organize the room.
Hampers are a type of storage essential to laundry rooms, but can also help keep a mudroom clean and organized. If you are coming in from outside and have coats, gloves, or other clothing items that need to be washed, you can simply add them to the hamper. You can even have a pullout hamper to conserve space and keep your laundry out of sight.
photo: Mince Kitchen & Bath Design LLC - Carmel, Indiana
Keep clean with a laundry mudroom sink
One of the top features to include in your combo laundry mudroom is a utility sink. Deep-basin sinks can serve a number of purposes in such a utilitarian space. Having a sink would allow you to hand-wash delicate garments before hanging them to dry, or serve as a place for you to wash your hands after working outside in the garden or in the garage.
Basin sinks are a common choice for laundry mudrooms because of the range of shapes and designs, depending on your preference. The wash basin can be round, curved, or square, and an average-sized basin or even a “farmhouse” sink offers an ample amount of space. It can easily be incorporated into a countertop, unless a wall-mounted sink works better with your space.
Designing your laundry mudroom can be a lot of work, but it also represents a unique opportunity to re-shape the space into a room that efficiently and effectively fulfills your needs. Visit our nearest showroom and explore your options up close and in person.
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