Laundry Room Redesign

heap of closet contents waiting for shelves and order

We have two new projects in development here. The first involves a death in the family. Our washer "went up", it died. "Went up" is the coloquial term for a dead appliance. When we first moved here, I smiled shyly, when someone mentioned this to me. I had no idea what they were talking about, but I wanted to fit in. I had visions of flying refrigerators and dryers. Now I know exactly what it means and why those who mentioned it were so dismayed. This time we are the dismayed.

When I went to move the laundry from the washer to the dryer, I  came out of the washer tub with a hand full of metal. Further investigation revealed that the washer tub broke. Yes, I did say the washer tub broke. Who ever heard of such a thing? Big chunks of rusted metal were laying in the bottom of the tub, the tub could no longer spin. In short, the washer died and it had to be replaced. That washer is a GE, it is less than eight years old, and it is not heavily used. If it is used three times in one day every two weeks, that would be big usage. There are only two of us in this family, so this machine has lead a charmed, light duty life, and it still croaked in less than eight years. Needless to say. We don't feel we had a fair shake on this machine. It should have lasted longer.

dryer and 1970s shelves that need to be replaced

washer doesn't fit in old washer spot

With all that said, this is going to cost us a lot to replace the washer. We have no choice. There is no laundromat for twenty miles...we have to clean our laundry. This incident presents us with a problem and an opportunity. With the problem already covered, we are now tossing around the possibilities of the opportunity. Our "laundry room" is a combination pantry and laundry. There is a minimum of space,and a maximum of services this little room provides. Storage of food, storage of kitchen tools, washing clothes, hanging clothes to dry, beverage storage, cooler storage, clothes ironing, these are just some of the functions this space provides. At the same time the previous owners put not much planning into this space. Two walls had a run of three or four 1970s shelving made with metal click in standards and wooden shelves. They are seven inches wide and not much help at all in food storage, and no help at all in kitchenware storage. Considering all of this, we have to redesign the space. The design marathon is on. More on that next time.