It may be a hardworking space, but that doesn’t mean your laundry has to skimp in the style department.
Creating the perfect laundry is easier than you think. Whether you’re opting for a European-style kitchen/laundry or a standalone space, or are considering adding it to your master bathroom, a designated laundry zone will help you keep your home tidy.
Not sure where to start with your laundry? We asked Rebeka Morgan and Kribashini Hannon, founders of the BuildHer Collective to share their top tips and ideas on creating a practical and stylish space.
“The once-forgotten laundry is back, and with a bang,” explain the pair. “Today, we see it being a space that is super functional and beautiful. This important room is now receiving its share of the buzz and increasingly fitted with ‘jewellery’ to match.”
Here are some of our favourite laundry ideas to create the space of your dreams.
How deep should a benchtop be?
The ideal depth for benchtops in a laundry is usually between 600mm and 700mm. One of the key factors that will determine this is the appliances. If you have an underbench washing machine and dryer, they will need to fit neatly under the bench, with enough room to form the tap connections.
Another factor to consider is the sink or laundry trough that integrates with the bench depth. If you use a ceramic farmhouse sink, often the tap will sit behind the bowl, so you need enough space for this.
Plus, don’t forget to allow for clearance on either side of the appliances and sometimes above. Most of the time you’ll need 30–50mm on either side, but check the whiteware specs and installation guides during the design phase.
How big should a laundry be?
If you are building new, the location and size of the laundry are super important. Generally, these spaces are between 1800mm and 2400mm wide – this gives you enough space for the appliances and sinks on one wall, while the other wall can be for shelving or hanging storage and circulation space.
With that said, if you are renovating, you may need to compromise on the size and depth of the room, based on the existing space you must work within. Either way, measure twice to be sure!
How can I make my laundry room more efficient?
A walkway of between 900mm and 1200mm will usually be sufficient to help with the use of integrated items such as ironing boards or drying cabinets.
Also, think about the workflow in the laundry in terms of space and laundry hampers. Rebeka has four in her laundry – one for clean laundry to be folded and put away, one for general washing, one for whites, and one for towels and bedding.
What is the best way to organize a laundry?
Storage is so important, but how much do you need? Write a list of all the things you keep in your laundry, as this will inform what is best for overhead storage and elsewhere. The list will probably be bigger than you imagine.
Think about the overhead storage of chemicals to keep them away from children, and whether these are things you want to see on open shelves or in overhead cabinets. Overhead hanging rods work well – for storing or drying items.
How to save money on a laundry renovation
You can save on the level of finish here. Rather than a full laminate on the insides of cabinets, use standard melamine.
Save on tiling by not tiling the walls to full height – just the floor and a small skirting. Buy wire storage systems if you can’t afford new joinery, although Ikea has affordable cabinetry.
What to splurge on
I [Kribashini] think you should splurge on the quality of your washing machine and dryer, your iron and your storage solutions. But also consider your individual needs. I have a fantastic iron with a water base, but it is large and bulky and I won’t use it if I have to get the board out. I’m always rushing around, so having the iron out is important for convenience.
But honestly, it’s unsightly and takes up so much space! Other items to splurge on are a great sink and storage, which will
add useability and functionality.
If you are building, you’ll have the potential to resolve all your laundry issues with the new design. If you’re renovating, you may need to compromise features to suit the space you have.
Think about high-end touches, such as gorgeous cabinet handles (you only need a few in a laundry space). You could also add an expensive tile or stone you love for the splashback – if it’s a small quantity, you may be able to buy a cheap offcut.
Other things to consider
A laundry can be considered a wet area, so make sure that the new plasterboard behind your appliances and at tap penetrations is fully waterproofed.
You may also like to consider storage for pet food and other related items. And if the trough or sink will be large enough to wash your pet, or sporting gear and other muddy items.
For obvious reasons, families value full-scale laundries and often look for this when buying a house. In apartments, however, having a compact laundry off the hallway, as in a lot of European homes, is perfectly acceptable. Smarter appliance choices like opting for a combo washer/dryer can also help when working with compact spaces.
Ticking off these factors will create a laundry that’s super fit for purpose…
LAUNDRY MUST-HAVES
- Sufficient ventilation
- Enough circulation space
- Natural light (if possible)
- External door for access (if possible)
- Durable flooring
- Ample storage
- Bench space for folding
- Good-quality appliances with high ratings for energy consumption and water usage
- Dryers vented to the outside if required (based on model and type)
- Full-height cupboard for brooms, mops and vacuum cleaner
- Doors to conceal the laundry if it is in a bathroom, garage or hallway
20 of the best laundry ideas
Just in case this country-coastal laundry room didn’t grab you with its looks alone, it boasts a bunch of functionality. At one end, integrated hanging space and a timber bench create ease of use, and at the other, a built-in bench seat by the door provides a space to take off dirty shoes.
Located within a renovated 70s home in Fingal, this gorgeous green laundry carries the same design as the rest of the home, making it a seamless fit. The polished concrete floor adds functionality while the artwork adds a lived-in feel.
The home of design guru Kerrie-Ann Jones is all neutral hues and layered textures. Her peachy-toned laundry is no different and features Bejmat splashback tiles, brass tapware, stone mosaic flooring and decor touches.
Powder blue has a moment in the laundry room of this vivacious home in Bondi. Needing to withstand the demands of a family, the room is finished with lots of storage and hardy surfaces — and even includes a WC.
The most extraordinary aspect of this Sydney laundry by interior designer Caitlin Parker-Brown is that it’s hidden in plain sight. Tucked away behind bifold doors in the kitchen/dining area of this renovated home, the design allows unobstructed access to a sink, appliances, and hanging space, courtesy of LED lights triggered by the doors’ opening and closing.
“The joinery runs the length of the room, making it seamless,” says Caitlin. “And the pale green V-groove doors with timber moon handles are elegant yet striking.”
With cool tones and a serene feel, this lovely laundry by Carole Whiting performs double duty in its Melbourne home. Well proportioned and filled with storage space, its functional features really shine.
Entry to the house from the garden happens here, so there’s a bench seat for taking off shoes and a concealed hanging rail over the sink that allows items to drip-dry unobtrusively, much like a mud-room set-up. The dark-hued walls are elegant and splash-friendly.
This compact laundry in Geelong was thoughtfully considered by SGS’s Rebecca Jansma so that every square centimetre can be used. The all-white palette ensures the room feels spacious and fresh, while terrazzo underfoot, stone on the benchtop and an unexpected brass shelf with strip lighting give it a contemporary look.
“Every bit of this room was mapped out to meet the owner’s requirements,” says Rebecca. “There’s a spot for everything, and all the shelves, drawers and hampers were customised to their contents. The LED strip light is on a separate circuit, so if you’re just popping in to drop some laundry into the hamper, you don’t need the full-room lighting.”
To emphasise the modern-farmhouse aesthetic of this property on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, interior designer Kate Walker specified hand-chipped black limestone floor tiles in a herringbone pattern and gave a calming rural-landscape art piece pride of place. Below it is plenty of room to fold clothes.
“People think you need to have appliances side by side or on top of one other,” says Kate, “but by having the washing machine on one side, you can take clothes from it, use the sink area to sort them and then dry as required, in the dryer or drying cupboard” – the latter a nifty addition that removes the need for pop-up clothes racks when the weather is wet.
Fior Di Bosco stone takes centre stage in this Sydney laundry by Amarot’s Alexandra Marrotte, who used the material to zhoosh up this traditionally utilitarian zone. “The joinery next to the stone benchtop and splashback houses a washer/dryer stack with functional storage space above,” she says, adding that a separate broom cupboard to the right has its own door and powerpoint for easy vacuum-charging and cleaning-appliance use.
The timber cabinetry brings warmth to the cool scheme and is a nice point of textural difference. On another wall is a series of louvred windows, providing ample airflow when required.
Just off the kitchen of a Melbourne home, this laundry has made it possible for the owner to put through a load of washing while cooking dinner. But despite being meticulously planned, there was a glitch in the build and necessity became the mother of invention for the project’s designer, Lena Bruno, halfway through.
“The client and I were looking forward to seeing show-stopping 150mm x 75mm straight-laid blush-pink tiles – and we were crushed when there were supply issues during construction,” says Lena. “With only the 100mm x 100mm option available, the client was hoping for a different look. So I came up with an unusual laying pattern that was drawn to scale and executed by the tiler – an on-the-fly solution that’s given the laundry its own personality.”
Hidden behind the beautiful doors of this sleek laundry – part of a home in the Byron Bay hinterland – is a huge linen cupboard and lots of storage. Also featured are baskets for sorting washing and a set of floating shelves for displaying treasures.
“The mix of materials is definitely the hero design element,” says The Designory director Melissa Bonney. “That includes the fossil limestone benches and splashback, the copper tapware and leather handles, plus timber features that tie in with the truss timber ceiling.” Better yet, this home is off the grid and eco-friendly appliances are fitted throughout, including an energy-efficient heat-pump dryer.
Aiming to surprise and delight the owners of this Sydney laundry, the interior experts at Arent&Pyke chose a predominantly blue palette. “It injects a sense of fun into a space that is generally overlooked,” says designer Sarah-Jane Pyke. “Now it feels like a beautiful space you’d want to spend time in.”
The floor plan was also changed, to connect the laundry to the garden and to maximise styling opportunities, such as the tiled benchtop and blue tapware at the back. Proving this space has both beauty and brains, 5-star energy-rated appliances were selected for the finish.
In the modern makeover of this Californian bungalow, Studio Gorman opted for multi-tonal blue kit kat tiles to create a striking feature splashback that complements the dark cabinetry. A discreet hanging rail helps to make the laundry process easier.
In interior designer Jillian Dinkel’s Federation home this sun-soaked laundry space features striking grey cobblestone floor tiles and cabinetry as well as white exposed brick walls.
The laundry in this cosy country farmhouse doubles as a mudroom, with the space opening to the rear of the property.
In this Scandi-style family home the laundry room features a hanging brass rail which adds a touch of glamour against a backdrop of vibrant pennyround tiles and white cabinetry.
The owners of this Palm Springs-style home opted for a clean and simple look in their laundry with white subway tiles for the splashback paired with grey cabinetry. Open floating shelves add a decorative touch, as does the timber hanging rail.
The laundry space of this chic beach house in Mooloolaba leads towards the rear of the property and features black panels and a timber floating shelf.
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