A Farmhouse Laundry Room Design + an Update
THE FARMHOUSE
Remember our laundry room? That one we’ve been working on at a snails pace? Well it finally has a functioning washer and dryer (!!!), and we’ve made some other progress too. So today I’m sharing our design plan, a construction update, and all that good stuff. Despite our slow pace, I’m really happy with the decisions we’ve made. And I won’t be surprised if this tiny room ends up my favorite spot in the house. Yes, really!
Design plan
Our laundry room is small - just 6’x6’5” - so we’re focusing on the essentials: efficient storage (hooks, shelves, and possibly a cabinet), a countertop, pretty laundry storage, lighting, art, and our favorite laundry supplies. The finishes are going to be similar to the the kitchen since the spaces are adjacent to one another. And there’s definitely a country farmhouse vibe to the design, because…well, we live in the country. In a farmhouse. So it goes with the territory 😉
sources // finishes: wall planking, hardwood flooring, marble countertops, BM Simply White / hanging schoolhouse light / laundry storage: Steele cart and basket / art options: floral and landscape / dryer balls / clothes pins / washing machine / dryer/ rug
Finishes
The finishes are similar to what we’ve picked for the adjacent kitchen: marble, wood, and white paint. We’re still debating on the floors, but they’ll likely be wood. The original bead-board ceiling and exterior siding stays, and we are pricing out wood paneling for the walls.
Laundry storage
I’m opting for pretty storage in this room since there isn’t much of it. A rolling cart (I love Steele’s industrial laundry carts) will go under the countertop and baskets will sit on top of it. My goal for our Farmhouse is to have only 2 or 3 laundry baskets for the whole house. So I’ll be retiring the old plastic laundry baskets my parents handed-down to us (including the green one in some of these photos) and upgrading to some pretty, natural baskets.
Lighting
The hanging pendant in the design plan is my dream light for this space, hung centered between the doorways. But we’re still finalizing the kitchen lighting (Garrett wants to keep the fan, I want pendants) so we’ll have to haggle that out before finalizing this light.
Art
I’m on the hunter a vintage landscape or floral, but I love these two vintage-inspired options as well!
Laundry supplies
We started using dryer balls last year and we can’t live without them now! I’ll also be hanging laundry outside when the weather is good (I just hung our first load of sheets last week) with clothespins.
Washing Machine and Dryer
We have a mismatched set from the scratch-and-dent sale in Seattle. They were 60% off so no regrets, but between you and me, I didn’t realize they weren’t a matched set until we were loading them up in the truck. I don’t think you’ll notice they’re not a matched set either. But I may add a skirt below the marble cabinet that would hide the laundry anyway.
Rug
Since the laundry room will have an exterior door, I wanted to add in a rug. I’ve been eyeing this pretty indoor/outdoor number from Rejuvenation for awhile now and this may be the one.
Progress
The main progress we’ve made since our last update is the installation of the washer and dryer. Getting these machines hooked up and functioning means we could remove the old machines from the future pantry. We did that and are ready to start work in there. Very exciting! Except, of course, we’re waiting on the new gas service to be brought to the house so we can install a gas hot-water heater in the basement and remove the old one from the pantry. So we’re at a standstill in the pantry until the gas arrives and will spending some time on the garden and kitchen while we wait.
Windows & Door
My favorite thing about the laundry room’s new location is the natural light! It’s so good! But the existing windows (some of which are only panes of glass held in with molding…a bit drafty in the winter) need replaced in order to work in a door. So we’ll be swapping out what’s here for 2 transoms, 1 casement window, and 1 door and are waiting on the pricing (crossing my fingers the wood option isn’t too much!).
I’m a big fan of hanging laundry on the outdoor clothes lines (as in I’m obsessed with it), and our lines are conveniently located just outside the laundry room. I took a picture of the lines from inside the laundry room so you can see how convenient this new door is going to be. The proximity was definitely a big reason for why we went ahead with this floor plan.
Well that’s all I have to share for this space right now. As I mentioned, we’ll be spending some time working on the pantry and kitchen and then swinging back around to this space and finishing it out with everything else. Hopefully before our first child goes off to college 😬
