Laundry Time

We recently took advantage of the post-Christmas sales and bought a new washer and dryer.  They are a beautiful pair and have changed the way we do laundry - really.  Now Brandon does the laundry and I watch.  It is great!   Really though, they were a smart purchase and for so many reasons but the number reason is the Quick Steam cycle on the dryer.  A lot of our work clothes are dry clean only but often times they just need a refresh in between uses instead of a full dry cleaning.  For those clothes we can throw them in the Quick Steam and they get sanitized and de-wrinkled and freshened.  I LOVE IT!

What I don't love......the space around the washer and dryer.

This is what it looked like behind are washer and dryer.  I had to wear a hazmat suit just to clean it.

And the wall.....scary.  Not to mention the nasty old utility sink that I am afraid to use - so I don't.

I also hate all the piping and wiring and the location of the ridiculously large junction box.  

Seriously, our switches take up a third of that box.  

But somehow the washer and dryer make it slightly more bearable - just slightly.

Now once the finances bounce back a bit we are hoping to do an EXTREMELY budget friendly little space re-do.  I am not going to call this a renovation because we are not in the market to finish the basement or laundry room which means no drywall or tile flooring. But what we are hoping to do is add some storage, hide some of the hideous piping and make this space more useful.

Since we can't add a wall the only thing I can think to do to cover up the nasty walls and piping is to add some tall cabinets and make a storage unit out of this corner.  Now it won't look as refined and finished as these spaces but here are some inspirational images I found.

I think I could mimic one of these with the help of some budget friendly Ikea cabinets.  We used Ikea cabinets for our kitchen remodel and really like them.  No complaints yet.

I went to their website and did some searching and I think that if I stack the washer and dryer in the left corner (with enough space for the junction box) and then add another tall cabinet unit for storage we could do a base cabinet or two, add a sink and be done with it.

So that's one of the plans for now.  In the meantime we are enjoying the new machines.

Fortunately these machines work well with or without cabinets and shiny new spaces.