Things to consider when designing your laundry room
When it comes to important features in your home, a well-designed laundry always seems to be on the top of the list. While it may not be the most exciting feature of your home, it is certainly an essential one that has evolved over time to add functionality and versatile storage space to your home.
We spoke to our Design Manager John Care to find out his top tips on creating the most practical laundry room for your home.
Knowing how to plan to use your laundry will help you decide which time-saving and labour-saving features you want to include.
“You might want to go for open shelves for quick access to frequently used items, a drawer or two for those easy-to-lose useful bits, or several pull-out clothes hampers to make sorting the wash easier. Well-planned storage makes for good organisation. It means you can find things quickly – and then easily put them away again so they’re ready for next time.”
A well-designed laundry will always stand the test of time, but its location within the home also deserves serious consideration.
“Many of our clients like the laundry positioned close to the kitchen, or as they come into the house from the garage, because it’s really practical if they’re coming back from the beach or kids’ sport, or have been walking the dog.”
View the Shorehouse laundry layout
Many of our clients like to pick a colour palette that works seamlessly with the rest of their home, while others take the opportunity to do something different, using colour and texture to inject personality and style into their laundry. Laminate or stone benchtops, and tiles to floors and walls, are all hardwearing choices that offer lots of design flair.
What you decide to include in your laundry usually comes down to who lives in your home and how big your block is. A European-style laundry, or a laundry tucked away within a cupboard, works well as part of a compact home design for a young couple, for example. Families with more space to play with on their block often like to include room in the laundry for jackets, sports kit and school bags, while pet-owners look to include storage for pet food and water bowls, and maybe even a dog washing station, kennel or pet bed. As a result, we’re seeing growing demand for laundries with adjoining mudrooms as this really increases the functionality.
Laundry design has come a long way since the days of a simple trough with a cupboard below. Today the typical laundry features more storage and a section of benchtop, often with cabinets above and below. It’s often bigger than before, too. Today there’s often room for lots of built-in cupboards and shelves, with a washer and dryer integrated into the design.
View the Amira laundry layout.