Laundry Renovation Ideas you Have to Have
Are you looking for renovation ideas for your Laundry? If your home is more than 20 years old, chances are your laundry is ready for a renovation. The biggest problem with most laundry rooms is lack of cupboard space, lack of bench space and poor design.
Most old laundries have the old stainless steel laundry trough with separate appliances and perhaps a small cupboard up high. The room is often dark with a small window above the trough. Sound familiar? You are not alone!
Designing Your Laundry – Establishing your Scope
Laundry renovations can vary a great deal in scope. We like to split laundry renovations into these broad categories:
Small renovation – If you only need to replace appliances and do a mini-renovation such as replacing door handles and a quick re-paint of the room, you can quite easily manage this yourself. If you are quite handy, you can take this a bit further and think about doing your own re-tiling or replacing cupboard doors.
But when it gets beyond this, the renovation is starting to become a little bit too much for a DIYer.
Complete re-fit of existing laundry – this involves gutting out your current laundry and replacing it in the same location. The advantage of this renovation is that you will not normally need to replace or relocate any of the plumbing or electrical services which can be a big cost saving.
Brand new laundry – if you are undertaking a major home renovation and have reconfigured your floor-plan, then it is likely that your laundry is going to be in a completely different location. Old-fashioned design often placed a laundry at the rear of the home. Nowadays, it is more common for a laundry to be at the side of the home. The rear of the home is reserved for open plan living and alfresco areas.
At Amerex, we find that when homeowners come to us with their home extension project, that the laundry is simply a small piece of the larger puzzle. When they are adding a new kitchen, dining and living room, the laundry is essential but not at front of mind.
We take the time to ensure that they have thought of all the different elements that can be built into a laundry that they may not have thought of. Read on to find out some interesting laundry ideas that most people don’t think of.
Laundry Design Ideas that you have not thought of!
Laundry chute from the second floor
If you are building a second storey addition, installing a laundry chute from the second floor to drop dirty washing directly into the laundry is a great idea.
We installed one of these in a recent second storey addition and when we asked the homeowners said ‘We love it, except we still haven’t figured out how to stop the kids putting something down the chute when they have only worn it once!’.
Haha, that is another problem altogether!
Glass panel external door
Laundries are often designed to be in a place in the home where natural light is limited. A great way to get natural light into this room is by using a glass panel external door. Another option is to install skylights, but if you have a second storey above the laundry this is not an option.
Choose a Front Loading Washing machine
A front-loading washing machine can be installed under the bench, so if you need more bench-space this is an easy way to get it. Just make sure that the machine you choose will fit!
Need more convincing? Did you know that top-loading washing machines use significantly more water and energy than front-loaders? They also tend to be noisier. Front-loading are a much more environmentally friendly option. Be sure to check the energy rating sticker on the machine that you select. Washing machines that are energy efficient and use less water can deliver considerable savings by reducing energy and water bills over time.
Get a Doggie door
Don’t forget about Rufus! Did you know that Australia has one of the highest rates of pet ownership in the world?
In fact, the RSPCA estimates that around 62% of Australian households own pets with dogs being the most common pet.
It stands to reason then, that installing a doggie door in the laundry is an idea worth considering if you are a pet owner.
All you need to do is teach Rufus to open it with his nose and you will never be woken to let the dog out to go to the toilet again.