Space saving and storage ideas for your laundry
When it comes to planning your new dream home, one of the smallest rooms in the house, is often the most ignored. We often spend hours stressing over the size of the bedrooms. Given due consideration to the lighting requirements in the kitchen. Worked out how the open plan living areas need to be spacious and flow seamlessly to the outdoors. Made particular care, that the family bathroom will be functional for all the children to use at once. Then it is important to look for space saving and storage ideas for your laundry.
Combining the laundry within the kitchen or bathroom, is common in many homes in America and the United Kingdom. Space, or lack thereof, is usually the reason behind this design feature. Sometimes too, it is because all the pluming is in these rooms, which makes a lot of sense.
In Australia, we are still seeing homes designed with laundries being a separate room, usually close to the family bathroom. However, new house designs are showing up laundries being designed closer to the kitchen as in our Aspire, Fresh or Calypso designs. This makes the laundry easier to access, when completing other household chores. Because homes here in Australia are getting smaller, we are also seeing the laundry being incorporated into a cupboard space, or at the back of the garage, as in our Breeze or Seca designs.
Often the workhorse of your house, the laundry probably also has a separate door to access the outside clothes line. Because of its’ size, it needs to be functional and work efficiently. If you are wanting to ensure this room is practical for your family, here are a few space saving and storage ideas for your laundry, to consider.
Appliances:
Your washing machine and dryer will usually take up the most space in your laundry. Have you considered purchasing a combined washer/dryer? Again these are popular overseas, but really have not made their mark here in Australia yet. So, more often than not you will have to accommodate two separate appliances which will take up valuable space.
We have however, seen a rise in front loading washing machines. These allow for the dryer to be placed directly above. This is a really beneficial space saving and storage idea for your laundry.
Sinks:
Gone are the days when you have a large sink installed into a laundry. These were often used for pre- soaking laundry, but our washing machines do that for us now. You may use the laundry sink to wash the family dog, but often that is its only use.
There are two types of sinks which are readily available. A standalone laundry trough with built-in cabinet underneath, which come in a variety of different sizes. Also becoming more popular now, is the drop in sink, which fits neatly into built-in cabinetry – similar to the kitchen sink. However, for a really great space saving and storage idea for your laundry, have you thought about ditching the sink altogether? This will certainly save you valuable space in a compact laundry.
Built-in Cupboards:
Making sure you have enough cupboard space in your laundry, is just as 
important as in your kitchen. You should carefully consider what you need to store in these cupboards and design the layout accordingly. Do you need to store the vacuum cleaner, brooms, mops and the ironing board here? If so, you must ensure the design of your storage units, can accommodate these awkward shapes. The bench space over these cupboards will allow for sorting and folding the laundry within the same room.
Building overhead cupboards can certainly be a great space saving and storage idea for your laundry. This will give you some extra storage without taking up valuable floor space. Don’t forget to have the space between your shelves high enough, so that you can store your laundry cleaning products with ease. There is nothing worse than not being able to store these bottles standing up.
Hanging Space:
Do you do a lot of hand washing? Are you going to be using the laundry for ironing? If this is the case, then you will want to have an area where you can hang clothes to dry. You may also want to be able to hang clothes when ironed.
Think about installing a retractable or folding clothes line. This is a great space saving and storage idea for your laundry. There are a number of really efficient and neat clothes lines available on the market, which take up no space at all. As an alternative, you could have a rod installed between the overhead cupboards and a wall, where you can hang the clothes.
When it comes to your laundry, you just need to put a little more thought into making this room a really functional space. To see some of these space saving and storage ideas for your laundry showcased, why not visit one of our display homes today? Click here to see the full list of homes you can check out, from the Sunshine Coast to Newcastle.
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