Your heart goes out to mothers of the ’50s and ’60s, doing their laundry in dingy basements, with nothing more than the family dog or a transistor radio to keep them company.
Today’s June Cleaver — or just as likely Ward Clever — does the washing in an airy, light-filled, multi-purpose space as well-appointed and beautifully decorated as any room in the house. Instead of a charmless hovel segregated from the rest of the house, the modern laundry room is often in the heart of the home, located off the kitchen or close to the dirty clothes source of the upstairs bedrooms.
Bernie Smith, owner of the Roswell design/build firm MasterWorks, says keeping the laundry room centralized to the home is crucial in making the space work most efficiently. Also key is planning on a much larger space than the cramped closet-style laundry rooms of the past. He recommends a minimum of 6 feet by 8 feet.
“People want to be able to do more functions in the laundry room and turn it into a place they can do gift-wrapping, or have a sink for watering their plants or washing their small dog. Or if they like to sew they want to set up a sewing machine in the laundry room,” Smith said.
Area contractors price laundry room renovations at anywhere from $2,000-$10,000, depending upon the size of the room and the complexity of the project.
“For many people the laundry room has become an organizational place for the house. It’s a place where there’s cabinetry for children’s items — clothes, coats or shoes. I’ve even seen desk areas with granite on the top,” said Andrea Cueny, a real estate agent with Alpharetta’s Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International.
Cueny has a tip for those thinking of a laundry room renovation. “Adding some cabinetry and storage systems is always a good idea because that adds to the function of the room rather than just strictly laundry. And in every price point every buyer wants a little more storage.”
Sotheby’s has a current listing for a $1.15 million Marietta home with a laundry room that epitomizes multi-functionality. It includes a window seat, a desk, gift wrapping storage within a granite island and a half bath. And it is all located just steps from the kitchen and mud room.
While a laundry room remodel might not affect a home appraisal, it does affect the salability of a home.
"It’s just like adding a deck or maybe putting hardwood floors in or something like that," said Cueny. "It doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re going to get that money back, but it does mean that when that buyer is shopping, your home stands out more than another. So I do think it helps sell it.”
Holly Street, an Atlanta design blogger at www.thingsthatinspire.net, and her husband, Randy, are close to completing their Buckhead custom home with architect D. Stanley Dixon and interior designer Suzanne Kasler that will include two laundry rooms, one on the main level and one upstairs to accommodate her three daughters, ages 8, 11 and 13.
The two laundry rooms have different personalities, said Street. “Because that [main level] laundry room is a little more part of the public space, we had a little more fun with the design of that room. And the upstairs laundry room we made much more functional and low key.”
In the main level laundry Street has chosen a platinum gray washer and dryer, a Shaw’s farmhouse sink, limestone floors and Caesarstone countertops. Layout is key, said Street. She recommends homeowners consider small details like the way washer and dryer doors open, which can have a big impact on the functionality of the space.
Norcross DCD Kitchen and Bath Design Studio designer Jeffrey Reed recommends choosing the washer and dryer first so the electrical and water connections are appropriately placed. “That’s going to affect every way we do this laundry room," said Reed. "A lot of times with European brands like Asko and Miele, they’ll put the dryer hookups in the wrong place because they’re opposite what they are for us.”
Retirees Sandee and Terry Donovan of Marietta were unhappy with their old laundry space, a small room located off the back hallway.
"There was nowhere to sort clothes, fold them, hang them or iron them, other than the hallway,” said Sandee.
Interior designer Mallory Mathison Glenn helped the couple turn an 11-by-11-square-foot bedroom into a laundry and sewing room with the kind of decorator embellishments popular in contemporary laundry rooms: wallpapered walls and ceiling, sisal rugs and sewing supplies housed in pandan shirt boxes from The Container Store.
Clearly delighted by her new space, Sandee said, “I believe it’s every woman's dream to have a lovely work space of her very own.”
