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Home Decor

Upstairs Laundry Room

Seems we’re talking laundry rooms on the blog!  Organizing my mom’s laundry room and then witnessing the mounds of laundry waiting for me after our trip made me in the mood to share our upstairs laundry room with you!  Plus taking pictures of this space was MUCH more fun than actually doing my laundry.  :)  
 
Come in come in!  I’m excited to show you!  
This laundry room is for the kids and all of their laundry so it’s located upstairs by their bedrooms.  I have a dream of SOMEDAY turning all of their laundry over to them and hardly going in this room.  But for now that’s just a dream – I’m in this room a lot.  :)

Because it’s a kids’ laundry room and I wanted to make the space fun I decided to paint the cabinets!  A blue/green of course.  :)  I was so nervous about how these cabinets would turn out.  I knew I wanted a blue/green so I looked at a few swatches and chose the color quickly.  My cabinet guy looked at me like I was crazy, but I love it!  This is one of my favorite rooms because of the fun paint.  (Cabinet color is Wythe Blue by Benjamin Moore.)

Here’s a view of the left side of the room.  This room actually became a bit of a pain during building.  Initially the window was centered and the room was larger.  I told my architect I didn’t need so much space for a laundry room (it still feels huge to me!) and I wanted a closet for toys in the playroom which is on the other side of this wall.  So my architect put in my playroom closet and took that space out of the laundry room.  Then the window and sink weren’t centered.  I could have moved the window to the left to center it, but I really wanted these…
 Three identical cabinets just like I put in our downstairs laundry room.

 

That pull out with clothes hampers in them.  I’ve dreamed about these for years.  So happy to not have dirty clothes in piles all over the place like I did in my previous house.  They were worth not having my window centered like I originally wanted.  :)
Eventually I’ll label these (lights/darks/towels) but for now the girls just dump their clothes in them and we sort together when we do the laundry.
I chose a white washer and dryer for this room.

 

With cabinet space above.

 

There was some space left on the side so I aded taller cabinets next to the washer/dryer.
I’ll share how I’m organizing them at some point.
Ok.  On to the next issue that popped up with this room during building.  I originally wanted a grey tile floor but everything I tried to put with the green cabinets looked awful.  So I chose an inexpensive tile that is supposed to look like marble.  Our tile guys started laying it and when I came to see the floor I just hated it against the green cabinets.  The grey veins were much darker and so busy.  (I’m never a fan of too busy.)  I felt like when I walked in the room my eyes went right to the floor and I wanted the cabinets to be the focal point.  We have wood in the hallway that leads into this room so I thought about just putting wood on the floor but that was going to cost a lot more and I didn’t really want wood in the laundry room (especially the kids’ laundry room) in case of water spilling or leaking.  We had just finished tiling the master bathroom with marble and had some left over (we accidentally ordered too much).  So I brought these pieces up and laid them out and liked them so much more than the original tile.
I was torn again because marble floor in a kids’ laundry room is pretty insane!  I never would have originally spent that kind of money on a kids’ space, but the store wouldn’t take back the extra marble we ordered so this was actually more cost effective for us than ordering something new.  And now I love the marble in this room!  It’s mostly white with soft grey veins that don’t compete with the cabinets.  This isn’t a high traffic area so it will be easy to keep clean.  Minor snag that turned out great in the end.  :)
After struggling with the cabinet color, the off centered window situation, and then the floor, I had to figure out paint for this room.  Again – nothing looked good against the green/blue!  Painting the cabinets that color really limited my options for other materials in the room making this a tricky space for me to pull together.  I was so torn on what color to put in here I almost just left the walls white.  But the counters and backsplash and floor were white.  I needed something to add a little  contrast.  I think I tried at least 15 different colors in this room before finally settling on a very light and soft grey called “Silver City” by Dunn Edwards.  It picks up the grey veins in the floor but isn’t too much with the cabinets.  It was the only color I tried that didn’t look awful so it was the winner.  :)

The tile is white glass subway tile.  I used regular white subway tile in our downstairs laundry room  so I chose the glass subway tile to add a fun shine to this room and mix it up.  Counters are Quartz (Organic White) just like in our kitchen and the girls’ bathroom.

Because the window wasn’t centered I had extra upper cabinet space on the left so I added some open shelves with planks behind them that will be fun to decorate.  This window is the only window in our house that I didn’t put plantation shutters on.  I might add a fun window treatment with some color at some point.
My favorite part of this room?  The light fixture!  I searched high and low for a fun fixture for this room and when I found this school house stem light on-line at Barn Light Electric that I loved I thought it was too good to be true!  The green border looked identical to the color of my cabinets!  But you can never really tell on-line.  When it arrived I crossed my fingers, opened the box and I think I actually squealed when I held it up to the cabinets.  An exact match!  That was a happy day.  :)

 

When my builder saw the light installed he thought I had picked it out first and then matched the paint to it.  “Nope I told him.  I’m just that good.”  Then we laughed.  I really wasn’t good with so much of this stuff.  Just good at faking like I know what I’m doing.  And getting really lucky every once in a while.  :)
A couple of other features I added in this room that are also in our downstairs laundry room
Cabinet on the left side of the wall for a pull out ironing board.

 

I put plug outlets inside of them and a shelf at the top so you can just keep the iron inside as well.
And a pull down rack for drying clothes I don’t want to put in the dryer.

 

Usually used to dry Addison’s “fancy” clothes.  :)

 

I also added a pull out cabinet next to the washer/dryer for trash.

So that’s it!  Our upstairs laundry room.  Several things didn’t go as planned with this space, but in the end I love the way it turned out.  It’s a happy room that greets me at the top of our stairs each day and  makes doing laundry not so bad.

And now I’m off to finish that laundry.  That’s sitting in piles in the hallway so I could take pictures of empty hampers.

:)

 

xoxo, Erin
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65 thoughts on “Upstairs Laundry Room

  1. Erin, I would love one of those laundry rooms. 2? I would be in laundry heaven. Love the storage. Ohh that storage. I will be day dreaming about it as I go to my laundry-water heater-furnace tiny closet. :).

  2. OMG. This is such a great laundry room. It makes me happy just looking at it. And you are very lucky to have one near your girls’ rooms. We moved in our house 10 years ago, and I still want one upstairs next to their rooms! Ha! (Our laundry room is in the basement, they’re on the 3rd floor.) Thanks for sharing!!

    Nif

  3. It is gorgeous! I love, love, love the color. Makes me want to paint mine. I just wish our 1 was half the size of yours!! It is sooo tiny for a house our size. Definitely designed by a man.

  4. Beautiful, Erin. I agree with you on the real marble, it looks better with the paint color. I hope you Pin this. I sure need laundry room ideas. The ironing board idea is fabulous! I hate hauling out our ironing board in and out of the closet. Great job all around, Erin.

  5. I love that you think of everything like drying racks, hidden hampers, etc. I love the color of the cabinets and I agree the first tile not good. I love your blog so much. Amy in Wisconsin.

  6. Hi Erin,
    Having a large space with a window for natural light, and then designing it as well as you did with all the storage, drying rack, ironing board, etc. make every room in your house a visual pleasure to be in.

    You’ve done a great job knowing what you needed and wanted, and having an architect willing to incorporate it all.

    Smart ot have both an upstairs and a downstairs laundry room for a busy family.

    You must be very proud of your home. It should be HGTV Dream Home 2015!

  7. Just sitting down for the first time tonight and what a treat reading all of your sweet comments! Thank you so much everyone! I’m truly so happy you like the space!

    xx

    Karen and Casey – I don’t have anything in them yet, but I’m thinking I’ll use them to store my kids’ reports/school projects that are too big to fit in their albums. I have huge piles of them in my office that I still need to go through. I keep putting it off! :)

    Constance – Oh my word! I hardly think that. :) But thank you so much!

  8. Beautiful Erin! It’s funny that all the little things you notice-the window off center-I would never ever had noticed, it all looks SO pretty and perfect to me. The color is beautiful! And the floor and the walls etc. :)

  9. oh my word – i cannot stop visiting your blog because posts like this very one utterly slay me! please never, ever stop sharing how you spend your time, talent and money.

  10. Erin, I think we were separated at birth, LOL! Seriously though, our brainwaves are ao connected- I would have totally had the same thought processes on all that- the off centered window, busy tiles, fun paint, etc. I give it an A+. For sure! Ps- my laundry room would have been that color back in 2007 when we built if the hubs would have agreed! Guess I needed a kids laundry room ;). Thanks for sharing :)
    the24-7mommy.blogspot.com

  11. Oh Erin, I know so many have already said it but this room is SO great! I love everything! The colors, storage, and all the smart details you’ve put in there. I know it was a long hard process to pick and choose every single thing for the house but the results made it worth it.

  12. Wow, Erin. I love the design of this laundry room and color. I am in the process of remodeling my small laundry room now. Can you tell me what the measurements of the laundry room is? I hope to incorporate some of your ideas. Thanks, Andrea

  13. Thank you so much everyone! Such kind comments! Sue you made me laugh out loud! :)

    Andrea – that laundry room is approximately 11×11 give or take a few inches!

    Kathy and Megan – we got the laundry baskets from an on-line place called Rev-a-Shelf. They have TONS of great organizing gadgets. :)

  14. Hi Erin,
    I just found this post from pinterest and now I need to spend many hours going through your archived posts, I love your style. I’m wondering what brand of cabinets these are or if they are custom made. I’m in the beginning stages of creating an upstairs laundry room in our current house and haven’t found any cabinetry that has the laundry functions that I want (Pull out baskets, drying racks). TIA!

  15. Hi Erin, I love your style! I thought I had read on one of your posts where you purchased the door/drawers hardware from. Of course now I can’t find it. Could you please share that? Thank you!

  16. Very first word that comes to mind is…..WOW! Now this is one truly exceptional laundry room! Erin, you are one ‘BLESSED’ Mama! My children are grown now, but sure would have loved one like this when I was raising them

    1. Hi Patty! Thank you so much. Yes! Definitely makes laundry easier with the little ones. It was fun to design! Nice to “meet” you! xo

    1. Hi Stacy! Just measured them for you! The full drawers are about 21×15 and the actual hampers are 18×13 1/2. Hope that helps! Thank you! xo

  17. Hello, very nice laundry room. I love this one so much that I will inspire my laundry room from it for sure. Would it be possible to know the size of this room?

    Thanks a lot and continue your nice work.

  18. Hi,
    I’m looking to create the same laundry sorting system. Where are the baskets from? Did you just have your trim carpenter custom build the inserts they fit it? Beautiful room!

    1. Hi Melanie! Thank you! Yes.. my cabinet guy built the inserts into the cabinets. He also ordered the baskets for me and I’m not sure where he got them! Sorry I’m not more help! I just drew a picture of what I wanted and paid him to make it happen. :) xo

  19. Hi! I realize I’m a little late to the party, but we are about to redo our laundry room and I have been looking at pics of them for weeks. I absolutely love yours! Is the flooring 12×18 carrara? My laundry room is about the same size and I have been having a hard time finding something that doesn’t look too big or too small. Thanks so much!

    1. Hi Jennifer! Sorry I just saw your comment! Yes! 12×18 Carrara! It was left over from our master bathroom and ended up being perfect for this laundry. It’s a great size! xo

  20. Hi Erin!
    I couldn’t have come across your blog at the most perfect time! Your laundry room layout is EXACTLY the way I had in mind for ours that I’m sketching out right now. We’re in the process of building and I’m trying to get the room laid out on paper how I want it for our cabinet guy and your blog has shown me that it can work! I’ve seen your previous post on the room dimensions but was also hoping you would share the size of your trash can drawer & can size as well as your tall cabinet to the right of the W&D? How wide, deep, & tall is each section? Do you use this tall cabinet for your broom/mop/etc.? Is it enough space if so? That’s what I was hoping to use it for. Thanks a ton for your help!!

    1. Hi Lorrie! Thank you so much! So happy my blog has been helpful to you! My trash can drawer is 2 feet deep and 1 foot wide. My tall cabinet to the right of the W/D is 5 1/2 feet tall and around 1 1/2 feet wide. The one above it is also 1 1/2 feet wide wide and 2 1/2 feet tall. I don’t use it for cleaning supplies because I have a cleaning closet located under my stairs but that’s a great idea for that cabinet! :) Best of luck finishing yours! xo

  21. I love your laundry rooms! We are building a new laundry room in our basement and I want to recreate your pullout laundry baskets. What size are they? Where did you buy them? Did you have to have the cabinets custom built to fit them? How wide are all three hampers combined (if you measured all three cabinet doors).
    Thanks!

  22. Erin,
    I am using your laundry room as inspiration for our renovation. I in love with your light fixture, did you choose the 715-Delphite Blue as the strip color? I realize this is quite an old post and hoping you remember. Thank you,
    Kristi

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