Our laundry room makeover ended up being about so much more than making the room look better. We changed the layout, moved the washer and dryer, turned an unnecessary closet into an extension of our kitchen, and added a separate pantry-style closet for storage.
And, of course, I couldn't leave out a few fun finishing touches! The finished laundry room has a fandelier, gold cabinet handles, and gold door knobs that help bring the whole space together.
Here's how we took our original laundry room and made it work better for our home.
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Laundry Room Makeover Before and After
First, take a look at the before and after! The finished room looks so different, but some of the biggest changes are in how we use the space.
Starting With the Original Laundry Room
We started with a laundry room that had a closet inside it. The closet wasn't really necessary for us in that location, and I had another idea for how we could use that space.
Our kitchen is right on the other side of the barn door/opening you can see in the room. That made the original closet a good spot to create something that would be useful for the kitchen, too.
Before we could get to the finished look, though, we had some rearranging to do.
Moving the Washer and Dryer to the Window Wall
One of the biggest changes was moving the washer and dryer from their original location to the wall with the window.
Changing where the laundry appliances sat gave us a different way to arrange the room and make use of the space we already had.
But moving the dryer also brought up something I had to think through: where would the dryer vent go?
Our Dryer Vent Solution for the Screened Porch
The wall where we wanted the dryer is next to our screened-in back porch. I didn't want to cut a hole through that wall and have the dryer exhausting lint and warm air onto the porch.
Instead, I chose an indoor dryer vent/filter setup. It mounts on the wall and has a filter that you change, so I didn't have to use the screened porch as the dryer's exhaust location.
This is the indoor dryer vent/filter solution I used.
Have a laundry room with a tricky dryer vent location?
This was the problem I was trying to solve in our home. Indoor vent kits aren't suitable for every dryer or installation. They are generally intended for compatible electric dryers, not gas dryers, so check your dryer manufacturer's instructions, the vent product's directions, and applicable requirements before choosing one.
Turning the Old Laundry Room Closet Into an Appliance Counter
This is probably one of my favorite functional changes in the whole renovation.
We already had a closet in the laundry room, but I didn't feel like we needed to keep that particular closet as a closet. Since the kitchen is just on the other side of the barn door/opening, I decided to turn that area into more of an extension of the kitchen.
The idea was to create an appliance counter — a place for kitchen appliances that doesn't have to take up space on the main kitchen counters.
It's still part of the laundry room, but it can serve the kitchen, too. I love finding ways for one space to do more than one job!
The Original Closet Before
Converting the Closet
Here's a look at the closet while the renovation was in progress. Instead of keeping the area as storage behind a closet door, we were giving it a new purpose as a useful counter area connected to the kitchen.
The Finished Appliance Counter
And here is the former closet after the transformation! This is why I like looking at the potential in spaces instead of assuming they have to keep their original purpose.
We Didn't Give Up Storage — We Added a Separate Pantry-Style Closet
Getting rid of the original closet didn't mean we had to give up having a place to store things.
I ended up creating another closet connected to the laundry room, and that one is more like a big pantry.
So rather than keeping a closet we didn't really need in its original location, we were able to use that space for the appliance counter and have a separate storage area that made more sense for us.
That's one of the things I enjoy most about renovating: figuring out how to make a space fit the way we actually live.
More Photos From the Laundry Room Renovation
Here are a couple more pictures from the work in progress. The finished photos are fun, but I always like showing some of what happened along the way, too.
Finishing the Laundry Room With a Fandelier and Gold Accents
Once we had made the changes to how the room worked, I wanted the finished laundry room to have some personality, too.
We chose a fandelier — a chandelier-style ceiling fan — for the room. It brings a little unexpected detail into a space that's usually thought of as purely practical.
We also used gold cabinet handles and gold door knobs to carry the gold accents through the room.
I actually made a separate post about that decorating decision because I was curious what everyone thought: Would you put a fandelier in a laundry room?
The Finished Laundry Room
Here's how the room looks after the makeover. We still have our laundry room, but now the washer and dryer are in their new location, the old closet serves the kitchen as an appliance counter, and we have a separate pantry-style closet connected to the space.
It's a good example of how a renovation doesn't always have to be about making a room serve a completely different purpose. Sometimes it's about keeping the room you need and making it work better.
Watch the Laundry Room Before and After Transformation
Want to see the changes in a quick video? Here's our laundry room makeover Short:
Watch our laundry room makeover on YouTube
More Before and After Transformations
If you enjoy seeing how we find new uses for spaces, we have a few other projects you might like.
We turned a different laundry room into a full kitchen as part of a suite renovation. You can see that project in our laundry room to full kitchen before and after.
We also transformed a closet into a kitchenette in another guest suite. See our closet-to-kitchenette transformation.
Would you have turned the closet into an appliance counter?
Or would you have kept the extra closet in the laundry room?
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