Sketch Plans for the Utility/Laundry Room

If you follow me on Instagram (@jonesvilleblog), you will have seen our completely torn apart utility room. When we had our big leak, we had to dig up some concrete in that room where the water heater is to get to a pipe. Because our house is not insulated (it’s the worst), the utility room wasn’t insulated either. We knew that we would have to insulate that room and the pipes in there so they don’t crack in the cold winter months. Originally we were just going to stick the washer and dryer in there and worry about redoing the space later on. Next thing I know, Auston had torn out all of the old nasty sheetrock in just a few hours! You might have caught a glimpse of it in our Leak Post. I know a few of you have asked about how I start thinking about how I start planning a space, and this is the very first step: I sketched up my ideas on Windows Paint, to show that you don’t need sketching software to start planning.

If you’re standing in the door, you have a wall with a window opposite you and the washer side would be on your left and the dryer side would be on your right. Originally I had planned to put both the washer and dryer on the same side so that we could have a big counter space on the other side but after carefully measuring a few times, we realized that it was about an inch and a half too small. Just an inch and a half! Bummer. My plan B is to now put them on opposite walls and have a small counter space on both sides.

The washer side will have a bigger counter than the other with a suspended thick wood shelf that spans the entire length of the wall. There we can keep all the stuff we use regularly like detergent and fabric softener and of course a few pretty decorations.  Above that will be a wall of cabinets where we can store extra cleaning supplies and things. I love the shaker cabinets so I’m hoping we can incorporate them in here with a chunky rectangular gold pull. My favorite idea for this space is making a place for pull out laundry sorting baskets! I got the idea from YellowBrick Home and Kim had put canvas sorting baskets on the wall in their cute small laundry room. For us, this will save trips carrying loads inside and outside which we are all about making things more efficient, especially in the cold! On the back of the wall on both sides, I’m hoping to do a fun but muted wallpaper. This is the only space that I can quantify doing wallpaper because it is small and not a major room in the house so if the next owners want to take it off, it won’t be a big hassle.

While I have been busy planning and thinking about the dryer side, I ran into a huge road block. There is this huge hot water heater taking up a whole corner and it is not pretty. I knew we had to cover it up somehow but still have access to it if we needed it. The only solution I could come up with is building a faux-wall closet which has a “hidden” door, that way it just looks like that corner is part of the wall layout. It makes it convenient to put a small clothes hanger rod where we can hang things that need to air dry. Above that will be more cabinet storage and a column of drawers can squeeze in beside the dryer.

The window wall will be covered in pretty white shiplap to brighten up the space, but I thought it looked kind of plain so I added some sconces. I'm not sure if those guys will make it in the final space but we will roll with it right now. The shiplap will wrap around the water heater closet and meet wallpaper on both sides.

These plans are very tentative but it gets me excited for the possibilities! Again, I used just regular Windows Paint to sketch these up, so don’t think because you don’t have “fancy” software like Illustrator or SketchUp that you can’t sketch out your spaces. It’s okay if they don’t represent the final product or the sizing is off, this is just to get your ideas out of your head and get the ball rolling. Now that you’re sketching experts, show me some of your sketches! I love getting emails with questions about spaces and seeing your progress pictures, so keep ‘em coming!