12 Gorgeous Small Laundry Room Ideas
We recently moved into a new home that actually has a real laundry room. I’m excited about it, but it’s tiny and needs some help – so I rounded up some small laundry room ideas to help get my brain churning with ideas for how to get started!
Can I admit something really silly to you?
There are a few things about our new house that I am abnormally excited about. They aren’t big things. In fact, I feel like everyone I have mentioned them to has laughed at me at least a little bit when I talk about how excited I am.
But sometimes, it’s the little things that matter, you know?
One of the things I’m really pumped about is the fact that our new home doesn’t have popcorn ceilings or textured walls. I have literally never in my life lived in a home without textured ceilings and I am so excited about it I can’t think straight.
Another little perk I’m really excited for? We’re going to have a laundry room! In both our duplex and our current home, we have just had a long closet with bifold doors to house our washer and dryer. In the new house, we will have an actual functioning room with a real door and everything. It’s tiny – just large enough for the washer and dryer and the door to the garage – but I’m unspeakably excited to not have to deal with bifold doors when I want to do my laundry, and it’s a perk that we genuinely didn’t think we’d find when we started house hunting.
I know. Silly. But y’all, I’m just really excited about this laundry room.
I’ve been gathering a ton of small laundry room ideas and inspiration as we have prepared to move into the house, so I thought I’d share a few of my favorites. I also want to beg for your input – I’ve never had a big girl laundry room before, so I don’t know what’s most important. Do I need a place to hang clothes or extra storage more? Is a counter necessary, or do you prefer just having an extra shelf above the machines? Be sure to leave some thoughts in the comments because I’m overly excited about this tiny little laundry room and it just might be one of the first spaces I tackle when we are all moved in!
Wanna save these ideas for later? Be sure to pin this post so you can find it easily!
12 Small Laundry Room Ideas
I’m not sure if our new laundry room will be large enough to accommodate vertical shelves like this one, but if it is, I think this is such a genius idea! It’s a fantastic way to make good use of the space. Plus, I don’t think it’s possible to have too much shelving space in a laundry room. I love the hanging bar above the washer and dryer in Gather & Flourish’s laundry room too. We always hang Corey’s shirts to dry, and we don’t currently have any hanging space for them – we just drape them all over the house! It’s definitely time for some actual hanging space!
Cherished Bliss | Vintage Revivals
I love that thick wooden shelf idea! We don’t currently have front loading machines (though we’d love to upgrade soon) so this would be a good option for us until we do. And, of course, I’ve loved Mandi’s DIY waterfall plywood counter since I first saw it. How amazing is that laundry room?! It’s much bigger than mine is, but I really do love the style! Plus, those skinny subway tiles are just gorgeous.
The Happy Housie | Angie’s Roost
Countertops and shelving? Yes, please! I’m thinking Corey and I might build a shallow shelf for the time being, then eventually add a countertop once we move to front-loading machines. I love all of the organization in both of these! Oh, and the hooks for small cleaning tools are so cute, too!
Young House Love | Chris Loves Julia
I love what John & Sherry did to add counter space with their top loading machines. That little shelf behind the machines is such a smart way to add functional storage in that little gap! Their laundry room is much bigger than mine will be, but they’ve got some great solutions for storage in here that I’m going to have to remember. I’m a huge fan of the style in Chris & Julia’s laundry room – it feels so fancy – and I’m totally jealous of the sink!
Bre’s laundry room is the stuff dreams are made of! I can only dream of mine looking this good someday. I can definitely take a lot of inspiration away from it, even it mine is much smaller. Her attention to detail in the design is incredible – it’s such a good reminder that the little things make a big difference! Classy Clutter’s laundry room is actually probably much closer in size to what we’ll be working with. I love that it’s so fun and happy and that every single inch is used (and decorated) well. And, of course, I adore the fun color on the door!
Do you have a laundry room? Any tips for me on what I need to be sure to include as we start to design it?!
Hooray and congrats – you just keep dreaming about that laundry room and it will turn out great. What fun!
One of the things to remember when putting in a front loading W/D is that any countertop (and sides) should be removable or out of the way for installation purposes or when (heaven forbid) there’s a problem. We realized this late in the game and it was in our case wasn’t a problem with the dryer per say, but a problem for the repair person to work underneath a countertop that would not move. The dryer had to be pulled out into the room far enough away from the counter to work on it. Just something to think about because he could have moved the dryer out a bit and done the work, not had to pull it out another couple of feet because of the stationary counter.
Your house will be lovely and expect that photos of the new laundry room will be shown soon!!
What a thoughtful tip – thank you so much, Margaret! I never would have thought of that.
Our laundry room came with a shelf about face-height that’s great, and it came with a rod over the machines that has been SUCH a convenience! We used to hang clothes on the shower rod to dry but now we can keep hangers in the laundry room and hang them right there. If you’re going to have limited space, use an over-the-door organizer for stuff, or a rack built onto the back of the door for your dryer sheets, fabric softener, etc. Try keeping a spare laundry basket IN the room – trust me, when you have a whole room for laundry, you’re going to be tempted to throw stuff on the floor in there (like super wet towels, items your dogs/kids threw up on at 3 a.m., or super dirty clothes you don’t want stinking up your hamper). Having a basket in there keeps those items contained!
So many great tips – thanks, Jamie! I’m so excited to have a rod to hang things on, it’ll be so nice!
This is exciting! We moved 2 years ago from a house that had washer and dryer in the garage, but with no direct access from the house so we had to go outside to get to it. Our current house has a ‘laundry room’ that’s really just space between the house and the garage, but I was SO happy!! There’s just enough room for the machines to go side by side and there are upper cabinets above it and floor to ceiling cabinets opposite, with the water heater tucked in next to those cabinets. I’m on the shorter side — 5’3″ and we put our front loaders on drawers. I actually have a really difficult time getting to the cabinets that are above the machines. I would probably be able to reach if the machines weren’t on drawers, but they are SUPER great for storage and when I have to dig into the washing machine, it would be tougher if it was closer to the ground. Ideally I would actually take out the upper cabinets and stack the machines then build in vertical shelves off to the side. I feel like I personally would have more access to storage that way. I’d also but in a tankless water heater, but that’s a whole other thing.
But you should definitely celebrate the little things!! That’s the fun of moving. One of the things that bums me out about our current house is that we don’t have a utility sink in the garage. It’s so random, but even after 2 years, I wish we had one. But the previous owners left an old fridge in the garage and I was SUPER stoked about having a garage fridge. So the “little things” are totally worth celebrating!! Good luck with the laundry can’t wait to see what you come up with!
That’s about all ours will be – a stacking unit is a great idea! And I agree, the little things are so important.