When we bought our house, one of the few things I disliked about it was that it had the laundry room off of the kitchen and it was very far away from the bedrooms. It is crammed into a corner in the eat-in-kitchen and enclosed with bi-fold doors. Inside were those builder grade wire racks in an awkward U-shape. The laundry closet is just deep enough to house our top loading washer and dryer but not much else. I never snapped a photo of the inside, but here is how it looked right when we moved in.
It is just Brian and I, so we don’t go through a ton of laundry, but I knew that I wanted to maximize storage as much as possible in this little space. I have a lot of clothes that need to hang dry, so prioritizing space for that was key. I also wanted room to tuck away detergent, dryer sheets, and our iron. Here were our main goals:
Maximize laundry room storage with cabinets and hanging fixtures
Somehow update the laundry closet bi-fold doors to make them more attractive and functional
Have lots of room to hang dry delicate clothes
Coordinate the design with the kitchen
Incorporate wallpaper
Complete the makeover for as little money as possible
We needed to come up with some laundry room design ideas on a budget since so much of our renovation costs had recently gone into our kitchen remodel. One thing that really helped with keeping the cost low is the fact that we had an extra Arcadia cabinet leftover from our kitchen. Lowe’s delivered the wrong size fridge cabinet and didn’t want it back so we had that at our disposal (read my experience with those cabinets here). I knew that I could fit another 24” cabinet to fill out that wall completely and decided to wait for a Lowe’s cabinet sale. One day Brian stumbled upon the perfect size cabinet on the clearance rack at Lowe’s for $50. Score! After that, we were off to the races on our laundry closet makeover.
Since the laundry closet is so shallow, we have to have a top load washer and dryer in this space. That meant no folding area or cool integrated countertop like you see in other laundry room makeovers on Pinterest. I wanted to add a fun design element into the makeover nonetheless, so we installed this black and white buffalo plaid peel and stick wallpaper (affiliate link used). It was my first foray into the world of wallpaper and I am so glad we went for it! Not only does it add visual interest, it also gives the illusion of depth. Since our laundry closet is such a small space, the cost of wallpapering the back wall was minimal - totaling $60 for two rolls. I really like the fact that we can easily pull it off if we get sick of it, too.
The height clearance directly under the repurposed fridge cabinet was the perfect spot to hang-dry clothes. After lots of research, I decided a tension rod was going to be our best - and cheapest - bet. In hindsight, I wish I had sprung for a more durable rod since this flimsy one buckles under the pressure of heavy clothes. But overall, the design has worked really well for us.
I wanted to break up the black and white palette with some warmth, so I added these antique brass cabinet knobs from D Lawless Hardware I had leftover from another project.
For even more hanging space, I incorporated this small wall-mounted peg rack on the wall next to the washer. The previous owners had hung it in the garage to hang brooms and mops, but we never really used it. After a couple coats of black spray paint, we hung it in the laundry closet and it has been the perfect spot to air dry bras and bathing suits (and Lola’s sweaters). :)
I would have loved to do something cool with the bi-fold laundry closet doors like turn them into French doors, but because of the lack of floor space, the bi-fold design makes the most sense. I did swap out the original wood knobs for these fun black Hearth + Home pulls I found on clearance at Target. They’re also a lot more substantial than the original knobs. Still need to do some touch-up painting…
As I mentioned, it was really important to me that the laundry room design coordinate with the kitchen since they are both essentially in the same space. Being able to use the same style cabinets really helped with that. I like how they ended up coordinating, but still have different looks.
Here is a side by side of how it looked before and after.
BEFORE
AFTER
If you have also been blessed with an itty-bitty 90s-style laundry closet, I hope our small laundry room design gives you some ideas! Making these small updates has really made laundry a lot more efficient, organized, and enjoyable. I’m really happy that we were able to make such a difference without spending a lot.
SOURCES + COST BREAKDOWN
Laundry Room Shaker Cabinets - $50
Black and White Buffalo Plaid Peel & Stick Wallpaper - $60
Tension Rod for Hanging Clothes - $8
Brass Cabinet Knobs - $6
Closet Bi-Fold Door Pulls - $4
Laundry Co Printable - Free
Wall Paint: Benjamin Moore Perfect Gray (leftover from kitchen remodel)