Laundry rooms were once utilitarian spaces hidden away in basements or small, windowless rooms. But not anymore: Now they’re getting the full designer treatment.
“A lot of my clients are starting with the idea of the laundry room being one of the most important spaces of their home,” said Ashley Martin, an interior designer in Winter Park, Fla. As people continue to move away from formality in favor of relaxed, casual living, the laundry room is “becoming a showpiece,” she said, instead of something to hide.
And who knows? A well-designed laundry room may make washing dirty clothes just a little less onerous. “The things that we don’t love to do as grown-ups become a little more pleasant when the spaces are beautiful,” said Bria Hammel, an interior designer based in St. Paul, Minn. “I do think it helps brighten your day, and it’s a space a lot of people spend more time in than they realize.”
Rehabitat, a design firm in Avon, Conn., combined an open laundry area with a mudroom. “It’s actually kind of a small laundry, but it feels like a bigger room because there aren’t a ton of walls, and it’s mostly cabinetry,” said Emily Barry, who runs the firm with her mother, Diane Schmunk.
Kati Curtis, a New York-based designer, created a room with one side dedicated to laundry and the other to pet care. “It’s a laundry/dog crate/doggy shower room,” Ms. Curtis said. In the middle of the space, she placed an island on casters that can be repositioned to hold folded laundry one day and dog-grooming tools the next.