How to improve process and functionality of the Laundry Room
Laundry, for some, is a thing of beauty and for others, a chore equated with drudgery. Either way you look at it, having a proper work room is important in terms of saving you time and energy. It is time we started looking at our laundry areas as work rooms and not afterthoughts shoved into small closets or pass through hallways going into the garage.
As a Realtor I get to view homes all day. I see builders selecting floor plans that have no place for a working and functional laundry space - they always seem like an afterthought. Shoving the washer and dryer into a small hallway most usually in the form of a pass through to the garage. No space to organize, sort, fold, hang or iron. Why? Cramped spaces with no place to organize your tasks make the experience dreadful and leads to baskets being placed on the dining room tables, the floors and lends itself to never putting away clothes where they belong. It promotes living out of the basket, never really knowing if the clothes are clean or dirty or now mixed. Sound familiar? I have a solution, read on.
Laundry needs to be handled in a work space environment, much like a workshop. It can be minimal or grand but the form cannot be absent of function. First, you need an organized space dedicated to sorting out fabric types, wash temperatures, and the like. There should be a space to pretreat clothes for strains - every laundry room should have a work sink in my opinion. Sometimes you need to hand wash or soak items. You'll need a counter space for folding and another space to place the sorted items to be delivered to different areas of the home - or picked up by the owner. There should be a space to hang items for drying, via folding wall racks. There needs to be an ironing/steaming station - that's right, a station or dedicated area within the laundry work room to put the finishing touches on your investments. This requires its own organization system for an in and out process. Ideally, there should be a large sunny window to overlook the view of the yard - that allows sunshine to come in. A door to the back yard would be awesome help for those who wish to dry large items in the sun or hand dry items in the fresh air. Bring back the clothes poles - they save energy ( a very green product that costs little).
My wish is that builders and buyers would consider the importance of the role the laundry room plays in the home for a family and begin to take steps to implement better working conditions.
Lastly, let's consider the room’s location in the home. Having the laundry right off the kitchen is ideal for those busy households. Meals can be prepared and laundry can be managed with less steps. The likelihood the dryer would have to be run several times over because you forgot to take stuff out - or needing to run the washer again because you forgot the last load and now it smells, is greatly decreased. Saving fabric wear and tear, staying organized and saving energy both monetarily and otherwise are the benefits that come by having a proper working environment. Do you see the value here?
On behalf of Steve Martin Homes Group,
-Katrina
Katrina Smith is owner/operator of Little Black Dress Home Staging in Sarasota County. She is also a licensed Florida Realtor with Steve Martin Homes Group and RE/MAX Platinum Realty. A home décor specialist from the Grosse Pointe Michigan area, Katrina has been professionally preparing and staging homes in and around Sarasota County since 2007. Katrina has also held a full cosmetology license since 1997.