Pick a room in your home! Any room, say, even the laundry room, and let’s talk laundry rooms. We spend time there, maybe travel through it. It doubles as a mud room maybe. A closet, a pantry, yes, let’s talk laundry rooms.
Next to the kitchen, this might be the most used room in the home, and perhaps the least celebrated.
How do you use your laundry room? We have seen a lot of uses over the years. Of course, this is where you find the washing machine and the clothes dryer. They probably only get used once or twice per week for most folks. If there is a large family at home maybe more.
The room itself might be positioned in a location that it acts as a pass through from the garage or even the back door into the home. In that case the space becomes a temporary refuge for a lot of household items. Groceries, keys, jackets, footwear, and such.
Some folks have given this use some thought and provided specifically for that. A counter, rack, hooks or hanging area for jackets, and a space for our shoes, boots, and even flip flops. Then there are those of us that pile it on top of the washer or dryer and move it around a bunch of times until that item finds its way to a home or trash.
Kind of like the ‘junk’ drawer in our kitchens, the laundry room can be a holding place for lots of things. “Just put it in the laundry room for now”, is a phrase I have used and heard many a time.
Another favorite location in the home for the laundry room is next to the kitchen. Then it becomes handy for us multitaskers who like to be doing several undertakings simultaneously. The space can also house our pantry, and household cleaning devices such as the broom or vacuum.
I suppose the point of all this is not to short sell the laundry room when planning a remodel or a new home. Really give this space some thought. Plan for counters, include space for cabinets, and consider wall space in particular. This becomes very handy when you will want to hang anything from jackets to clothing that can’t go in the dryer. Make the space wide enough to carry groceries through, not to mention a stroller, kid’s backpacks, and pets!
Yes, the laundry room is often utilized and sometimes under considered space.
