Laundry; Sometimes washing clothes can feel like a never-ending cycle
It’s easy to wonder sometimes, particularly if you have a large family if you’re actually operating a commercial laundry service instead of enjoying living in your luxury home. That’s why it’s important to give some attention to the designing and building of your laundry.
It’s critical that your laundry is practical and functional – it is, in essence, a work space after all. Washing, drying and folding are all tasks that are best done in an efficient and painless way.
Practical and functional, however, does not preclude luxury. On the contrary, we would argue that the more beautiful a space is to inhabitat, the more likely you will be drawn to spending time there, and the more functional it will become.
There is no reason why you can’t build a laundry that not only works like a dream, but is also a beautiful space to be in. Whether you’re building a custom home from scratch, or starting a major renovation, here are our tips to the subtle art of building and designing a luxury laundry.
Location is key
Trying to go to sleep, or resting with a book in hand, while the washing machine buzzes away with the overnight load is less than ideal for relaxation. Ideally, the location of your laundry should feed into, or be close to the kitchen or garage (in other words, somewhere that isn’t so close to living areas).
If you’re renovating, or you have limited space, this kind of relocation may not be possible. Considering integrating the laundry with a kitchen or bathroom using cabinets to hide your appliances is one way around this.
Wherever you decide to position it, make sure there is an entry/exit leading to the clothesline or the outdoor drying area. With the famous South East Queensland heat at your disposal you’d be mad not to have your drying area receiving full sunlight, so make the path from washing machine to sunshine as easy as possible.
Workflow
Layout and design increases workflow, which in turn creates a pleasurable working (or washing) experience. Creating space so that you can move around freely and comfortably is the key here. This may mean elevating appliances in order not to be bending or crouching too much.
Having the washing machine between the sink and the baskets creates a steady workflow. If you choose to have a dryer, try placing it above, below or next to the washing machine to minimise double handling.
Storage
Quite simply, the more storage the better. A combination of cupboards, overheads, drawers and bench top space means you have the opportunity for a beautiful kind of “laundry mise en place”
A place for everything and everything in its place.
There are so many little aspects that make up the entirety of a laundry that it can become a place of overwhelm quite quickly: dirty clothes, white clothes, clean clothes, wet clothes, pegs, washing powder, ironing board, coat hangers… (we could keep going). Storage designed and used well is the panacea to stressful laundry.
From laundry to luxury
That’s the practical and functional out of the way, which leads to the bits which will set your clothes washing haven apart!
- Splash out on some classy taps and sinks – choose beautiful as well as functional – and consider a palette that matches your kitchen and/or bathroom. If you’ve got the space opt in for two side by side sinks to give spaciousness a new meaning.
- Increase your bench depth: 600mm is pretty standard for kitchens, but we recommend at least 650mm for bench top laundries. This becomes particularly relevant on one of those weekends where there seems to be enough clothes for an entire village!
- Think about adding an Ironing Centre like this one here: they attach easily to the wall, and rather than ironing become a big ordeal it can be done with efficiency and ease.
- If you’re building a double storey luxury home then you should definitely consider a laundry chute. Hidden in a cupboard in the hall, this will transition your clothes straight to the dirty basket and will save you a lot of time and frustration!
Overall, we want to convince you that your laundry doesn’t have to be a place where you wish you could spend as little time as possible. We believe that If you give it some attention, it can even become its own unique kind of sanctuary.