When my client purchased her new ranch home a few years ago she was a little perplexed at some of the renovations that had been done. Well, one in particular. The previous homeowners had turned a large family room into the master bedroom and the adjoining laundry room into a large master bathroom. To accomplish this switcheroo they removed the garage access from the original laundry room and cut a new door to the garage in the large room being turned into the master bedroom.
The new layout meant you entered the house from the garage into the master bedroom…AND…. the only access to the beautiful backyard was from the master bedroom The house is located in a great neighborhood, the kitchen was nice and the backyard was a dream… So she hired Midwest Eclectic to turn the large room back into a family room and the bathroom back to a laundry. Here is how the original laundry turned master bathroom looked when she moved in….
The house already had a master bedroom and master bathroom located the opposite side of the home with the other bedrooms and bathroom. The master bathroom was smaller but perfectly fine for a single homeowner. She has a huge family with big family gatherings so she wanted to make sure her entertaining spaces were the right size… thus the need for the nice kitchen, big family room, and access to the amazing outdoor living. Where is the laundry in the above layout? You have to look on the other side of the vanity wall.
The Laundry was in the garage. Cold and not easily accessible. There is no clean place to fold or change out your clothes. Not ideal.
The Plan… Bring Back the Laundry Room
- Remove the Bathroom
- Move the laundry
- Reopen the door that once existed from the laundry to the garage (the good news: the original door frame was hiding behind that vanity wall)
- Add a new door to backyard so if working outside she could get to the garage or clean off in the mudroom.
- In doing the above we wanted to remove the wall that housed the plumbing pipes for the toilet. The other toilets were on the opposite side of the home (and not using this pipe) Since we didn’t need the toilet the pipe could go away.
- Add tall cabinet storage
- Add a mudroom
- Add cabinet with folding and storage.
Here is how it Turned out:
We cashed on an Ikea Kitchen Sale. They were offering free delivery and it was an easy decisions. All their wonderful cabinet inserts were PERFECT for a mudroom storage cabinet. We chose the Kungsbacka black slab cabinet doors.
We also used Ikea White slab cabinetry for over the washer and dryer.
Do you see the wall is gone? It makes the room so much bigger. There is also a new door to the backyard. We added the window to help the room have more light.
The rug is vintage. Here is one similar.
The bench is from At Home Decor. I walked in not expecting to find much to fit this style but loved the taupe and greyish brown stripes.
The wall color and trim color is Sherwin Williams Rock Candy. In my opinion it is the best light blue. It is so subtle and in some lights almost looks white.
The homeowner wanted a deep shelf with sides so we had Wes from James Wesley furniture build this custom wall shelf.
The knobs are also from Room and Board. They are no longer available but here is one similar.
I love these hooks from Room and Board. They can hold multiple things and come in really unique colors.
My favorite little styling gems are vintage needle points. They are usually 50 cents on the last day of an estate sale and they are such a fun item to have in your home. I thought this was adorable for a room that would hold your actual umbrella and the last thing you see when you walk out into the world.
You can see in this picture the door that leads to the family room. There is not a good picture of it, but right by the door is a small wall mounted folded drying rack. She wanted storage to hang her clothes but didn’t want it to take much space. Its a good product for any one who doesn’t always want their drying rack on display
While this shot isn’t monumental you can see the large 36″ tall cabinet storage we used. We made sure there were pull outs and storage for cleaning supplies and outlets for charges, vacuums and all the things.
Here is the door to the garage….
….and while this is not the most stylish shot you are looking at the door into the laundry. We added a little utility sink here for outdoor gardening and cleanup use. I think her sweet miniature Yorkie gets a bath here too!
The laundry is back and its such a fun space to walk into each day.
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