Suzi Petroff, REALTOR®

the curse of the tiny laundry room

Laundry has never been my favorite chore. In my first apartment at college, we had a laundry mountain. It was a pile in the floor of the closet that was hip-high and had an unpleasant smell. But the nearest laundromat was 2 miles away. So Laundry Mountain was a constant in our lives. 

A few years later, I was a guest in a home with a huge laundry room: Upper and lower cabinets, a countertop, an island, two sinks (one deep one for soaking), spaces to slide in laundry baskets, a rod for hanging clean clothes, and a drying rack. It was heavenly! And it was positioned in the middle of the four bedrooms, so every person with dirty laundry had quick and easy access from 2 sides. And, on top of that, it doubled as a craft room. 

I was hooked! And so began my obsession with laundry rooms.

Since then I’ve lived in many large homes but have been cursed with what can only be a pox on my family: the tiny, cramped laundry room. It affected my grandmother, who washed and folded laundry in her tiny kitchen, and my mom, whose laundry was in her dark pantry. 

Laundry is a chore! Having a bad setup creates a cycle of feeling overwhelmed. Builders seem oblivious to the need for better laundry room design, so I’m on a mission to change that!

We moved to our new home 6 months ago. It’s spacious, but the curse followed us: tiny, laundry, but also beige, boring, poorly lit, and equipped with tiny corner cabinets that are really just space fillers, because you can barely get your hand into the openings.

Ultimately, I’d like to convert one bay of the three car garage into a larger laundry room. They are currently back to back. But for now, we need that third bay. Until we can spare the space, I’m trying to make the best of what I have.

To start, we painted the beige cabinets the darkest green I could find, and brightened the walls with the whitest white. A neighbor was selling a damaged desk for $20. I sanded and stained it, and removed all the unnecessary parts, leaving only the freshly refinished top. Two coats of wax and felt pads were all it needed to become my new topper! It was perfect. And we saved the other pieces in case we decide to build a second level or shelf for detergents. 

The large giclée was $5 at a garage sale, likely a $100 piece, if not more. Art in a laundry room makes it feel more pleasant and homey, and buying art pieces at a garage sale or thrift store is smart! I often take these pieces to my listings for staging, so since they are constantly being moved and potentially at risk of being damaged, I never pay full price. And they add drama and color wherever they go.

The curtains, rod, and rug all came from Amazon, and the storage items were things I had around my house. I sewed the color for my bleach because I like to camouflage things I can’t store, and this is too tall for my cabinets. So now, instead of an ugly bleach bottle, I have a cute honeybee printed cloth wrap. It’s a lot like the toilet paper covers in Great Aunt Gertie’s guest bath, only cuter. It is cuter, right? OMG. I’m Great Aunt Gertie.

So laundry continues to be my not-so-favorite chore, but having a clean, flat space for folding and bright lighting makes it a manageable chore. And having an attractive room invites me into the space. If I’ve got to be there anyways, it should be a pleasant experience – not a pox!