Must-haves from past laundries on The Block
Laundries are primarily utilitarian spaces, and in the past were often the ‘forgotten room’ in home renovations. However, in recent years there has been a shift in focusing on laundry design and elevating this space with style and storage so that you can enjoy the time you spend in there.
Throughout the years we have created many luxury laundry rooms on Australia’s favourite renovation TV show, The Block, and today we step back into those spaces to share our top 8 tips of how to create a laundry you will love!
Read on for all the laundry inspiration you will need to get started on your own laundry transformation!
1. Add a mudroom.
Adding a mudroom to your home is quickly becoming a favourite inclusion in Australian interior design. Essentially a zone where you can remove shoes, jackets, bags etc when you come home, it keeps the rest of your home tidy. Incorporating a mudroom space within your laundry is a great idea as the two spaces complement each other – allowing you to wash dirty clothes, clean muddy boots, and store away bags.
All of the country homes in last years season of The Block presented mudrooms with their laundries- which is perfect for country living but also works equally well for city dwellers too. Include a seating nook within your layout to allowing popping your shoes on a breeze and have storage zones for storing sporting equipment, school bags, umbrellas – all those things that you need easy access to but don’t always have space to store in the rest of the house. You might also like to add decorative boards or panelling behind your seating nook and add hooks to hang bags, coats, or hats.
2. Consider your pets in your design.
Laundries are also the perfect place to create storage and a sleeping zone for your pet! Our Arched Pet Bed provides a wonderful space for your fur child to sleep and rest while looking stylish and matching the rest of your joinery. Add drawers or cupboards next to the bed so that you have a place to store food, harnesses, leads, anything that you might need for your pet. You can even create a ‘feeding station’ below a drawer with bowls on floor level, or add in a pet bath within the design!
3. Maximise Bench Space
One of the most important zones of your laundry room is having sufficient benchtop space to sort and fold clothing, with space for your laundry basket. If your room is on the smaller size, we recommend placing your washing machine and clothes dryer side by side on floor level so that you can place a bench above them- this will provide sufficient counter space, while also allowing room for the all-important sink and tap.
4. Create storage for tall items.
Including a broom cupboard in your laundry room is an excellent choice as it provides the ideal space for putting away tall items that you don’t typically have space for anywhere else in the house- such as brooms, mops and ironing boards. Add a small open shelf at the top of the design for your iron and other cleaning essentials so everything is kept together.
5. Include a hanging rail
Practical solutions such as hanging rails are a wonderful way to improve practicality of your laundry- plus they minimise ironing which is always a bonus! Consider placing a rail above sinks to allow clothing to drip and air dry. Fixing hanging rails under wall cabinets is a fantastic way of maximising practicality and storage space.
Designer tip: Keep in mind how much height you need to be able to hang your garments so they’re not touching your bench or sink.
6. Add organiser that will make laundry day a dream
Clever storage solutions are a must in a laundry room. A cabinet under the sink or a Hafele Tandem Pantry hung within cabinetry are both great options to store messy items such as laundry detergent and cleaning supplies. Include our wire laundry baskets hidden behind lower cupboards to sort clothing, ensuring that laundry day is efficient and easy.
7. Break up storage with open shelves
While storage is king in a laundry, you don’t have to rely solely on closed laundry cabinets. Open shelves are a great inclusion in a laundry design, as not only do they break up banks of cabinetry, but they also provide the perfect place to display essential items as well as styling décor such as candles and plants that will brighten up your laundry room and make it more appealing.
8. Light up your laundry with strip lighting
We cannot stress how much we love to use our flexy Strip LED lighting in our laundry and kitchen designs- it will literally transform your room! Offering both task and ambient lighting, place this lighting at the base of wall cabinets to illuminate your work benches. They will also highlight your splashback which is a big bonus if you have opted for a splashback design with statement tiles or stone.
