Laundry Room Reveal

It's all about layout change in our laundry room reveal. For years my husband wanted to relocate our washer & dryer to the pantry closet located in the same room. Unfortunately, there was a huge water heater/closet in the way and no place to relocate it. Our only hall closet houses the HVAC. Thankfully we found a solution that allowed us to create a more functional laundry space for our family.

Laundry Before-

Below you can see the pantry and plywood water heater "closet".

The original location of the washer & dryer meant that our back door always hit the dryer and could never open fully. (see below) As you can imagine, this was a very frustrating part of the original layout.

The width of the pantry would certainly fit a washer & dryer, but we had to come up with a solution for the water heater closet. Ultimately we decided to install an outdoor tankless water heater.

After the outdoor tankless water heater was installed, my husband relocated our washer & dryer connections to the old pantry. Keep in mind that our house is on a pier and beam aka crawlspace foundation which means plumbing changes can easily be made since there isn't a concrete slab.

After we demoed the pantry, doorway and water heater closet, we were able to relocate the washer & dryer. Pulling the new layout together involved lots of patching of the original tongue & groove walls, lots of caulk & paint, installation of a new floor and some creative trim details.

Laundry After-

A front loading washer & dryer were a must for our space so we could install a counter over them. I easily built this counter with an extra thick project panel and some 2x3's from Lowe's. I attached 2x3's to each side wall & the back wall to make a ledge for the counter to sit on. I painted them the same as the wall color so they would blend in. Then I cut the project panel to size, dry fit it, then sanded, stained & sealed the wood. I used two 2x12's for the upper shelves. I installed the shelves using the same ledger method except I only attached ledgers to the side walls.

A couple fabric hanging baskets store wool dryer balls and cleaning rags. A vintage spice rack that belonged to my grandmother is the perfect spot for our essential oils. Loose change I find while doing laundry goes in that cute frog piggy bank on the counter. A thrifted wooden box holds seed packets. My favorite white baskets keep everything tidy and organized on the shelves.

I installed two rows of wood peg rail using 1"x 4" pine boards and 3.5" wooden pegs. The hope was that it would help with storage in this room. I must say, I am in love! It is my favorite feature. It is so convenient to hook a towel over, hang dry clothing on, hang storage baskets, dry a wet rag on, etc. These canvas hanging hampers hang on the peg rail and help keep the floor clear of piles of laundry.

The last change we made was to replace the old steel back door with a wooden half light door. This door was a Facebook marketplace steal at only $40! Not only was it the perfect size, it would allow so much more natural light to filter in the space.

Overall, we are so pleased with our new and improved laundry room. It is fresh and bright and functions much better for our family now. Below I have linked as many sources as possible.

Shop Our Laundry Room-