Moving the sink to the opposite wall allows for two different counter heights – one for folding, the other for washing and stain treating – each better suited to its task. Photo by Supplied

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Hi Virginie, 

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I’m lucky to have a dedicated laundry room in the basement of our house, but I’m looking for ways to make it function better. It ends up being a catch-all dumping zone, rather than a well thought out laundry area. Can you help me? 

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Sophie in North Toronto 

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Hi Sophie, 

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I see what you mean. Your laundry room appears large but long and skinny, with the machines placed awkwardly in the back corner, where they’re hard to access. The decorating part is easy, but before we can tackle that, it looks like you need a bit of a space rejig. 

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From what I can tell, the room has a door on one end with a laundry sink in front of it, a long counter and a row of weirdly low and deep upper cabinets above. I imagine the idea was to use the counter for folding clothes, but the cabinets above it get in the way. My suggestion is to gut the room and start again.  

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Moving the entry door to the middle of the wall is your first move. If you don’t need a door, consider making the opening substantially wider so the room doesn’t feel quite as narrow and boxed in. If you must have a door, consider pocket doors, or barn doors hung on a track. The idea is to have doors that don’t swing into the room and take up space. Then place the washer and dryer to the right of the new opening (across the width of the room, which looks to be about five feet); the sink and storage can be placed to the left of it. You may need to have a plumber move the connection to the washer for you, but this change will make a world of difference and shouldn’t be too difficult a job.  

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Simple marble subway tiles are a clean, classic choice for a laundry room. 3×6 glossy Carrara tile, $8.41/sq ft. centura.ca Photo by Supplied 

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All of this will give you a lot more room to move around. Place a counter above the washer and dryer for folding, and on the opposite wall, install cabinets for the sink and storage. Separating the sink from the washer and dryer means the counters for each can be placed at different heights, making both more usable for their separate functions.  

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Next, mount a rod above the washer-dryer for hanging clothes to dry. You can buy a special type of rod on a hinge that pulls down so you can hang the rod at the ceiling and pull it down when you need to. If you don’t hang many clothes, consider dividing the area in two, with a pull-down rod on one side and open shelves on the other for soap and dryer sheets. The idea is to try to keep all the laundry-specific items on that side of the room.  

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As for the sink wall, I’d keep the sink in the far corner so that you can maximize storage on the other side of it. It isn’t ideal to have a sink right against a wall, but centring it means you would end up with two narrow cabinets on either side of it, which is far less useful than having one large cabinet.  

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Even laundry rooms are improved by art. Absinthe Robette Poster Wall Art, Livemont, Henri Privat, framed, 27×36 inches, $591, greatbigcanvas.com Photo by Supplied 

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I would also invest in a tall, narrow steam cabinet; it’ll fit perfectly to the left of the sink. You can leave six or so inches to the left of it to slide in your ironing board. (And if a steam cupboard isn’t in your budget, a drawer cabinet will work nicely in the same spot.) I would also hang shallow (12-inch) upper cabinets above the sink for additional storage.