How to make your laundry work for you

Functionality should be a key consideration EVERY time you design, renovate or simply update a room in your home – the laundry is no exception! Small or large, the laundry is one space in the home that requires frictionless purpose; being able to move around with ease and freedom. The goal is to minimise clutter and maximise efficiency!

Here are some inspired ideas to help make your laundry work for you.

Think Vertical

In order to hideaway piles of unwashed clothes or unsightly cleaning necessities, smart storage is vital to a completely functional laundry room. However, unlike other spacious areas in the home, the laundry is more often than not squished away in garages, annexed off kitchens or even hidden behind cupboards. If space is not a commodity you are working with, be smart with your storage solutions and think vertical. From ceiling to floor! Jumbo hooks behind doors, pegboards to cover blank walls and cupboards, cupboards, cupboards.

Limited space for a laundry? No worries. Introducing a Fisher & Paykel first - our NEW Washer Dryer combo. Available in two sizes - and available NOW. Packed with amazing features and with our trusted SmartDrive™ direct drive technology, so definitely reliable. With a quick wash and dry feature, enabling you to wash and dry an average load in under 3 hours. To ensure laundry isn't the only thing done on laundry day. Our previously posted in-house laundry designs, have proved very popular here on Instagram. With reposts coming in from around the world. So we designed this space with a similar material palette, as micro as possible, but still very useable. We think that just because a laundry is modest in size, this doesn't mean it needs to be mundane. Follow the link in our bio for more detail, features and benefits for both our NEW Washer Dryer models. Do laundry day with style. 🖤 #fisherandpaykel #interiordesign #homestyle #laundry #style #laundryinspo #styling #laundryday #laundrystyle #interiors #interior444 #styleinspo #scandinaviandesign #nordicinspiration #interiordecor #interiorstylist #interiorstyle #luxuryhomes #dreamhome #design #homeinterior #luxdesign #interiordecorating #interior123 #interiorstyling #interiordesigner #homedecor #myinterior #interiorinspo #experiencefandp

Bench Space

When designing your laundry, it is easy to underestimate how much bench space you will need to sort, wash and fold. Ample bench space can be the one thing that eliminates unwashed items flooding out into other living areas of your house. To keep your laundry chaos contained, try to factor bench space into your design. If your existing laundry space is limited or you don’t have the means to renovate, consider adding a foldout bench top or having a foldable laundry trolley at the ready! Better yet, a foldaway ironing board doubles as extra bench space.

Whatever the size of your laundry, and whether you're building or renovating, it's vital that its design is both practical and functional. So where do you start and what are the essentials? @zephyr_and_stone have put together a list of their top tips for creating the ultimate laundry.

Get Organised

Whether a family of five or on your own, organising your laundry routine so that you minimise chore time is a no-brainer! Make prewash sorting simpler by labelling baskets with colour groups – lights, darks, colours. Look for collapsible fabric washing baskets that can be folded flat and tucked away for easy storage. Make a habit of allocating your clothes to their rightful laundry-home as you discard them. This laundry hamper has an ergonomic design meaning no more back-breaking laundry. No more piles of clothes in the bedroom!

OGrady laundry 📷 @sharyncairns #architecture #interiordesign #laundry #fisherpaykel

Wet Weather Plan

With an intelligent layout and the right tools, there is no reason why a rainy day should affect your laundry plans. If space is your ally, try and incorporate a clothes rack into the design. This way you can hang items up as they exit the wash - genius! If you are a little space impaired, upgrade your old and rusted clothes horse to a more sophisticated (and practical) airer like this Premium Extendable Airer from Hills.

A laundry room that might make us want to do our laundry a little bit more. Love the colored cabinets, don't you? Beautiful design from @whittneyparkinson Architecture + 📷: @mawr.architecture.design

Aaron Clayton

Aaron is a content all-rounder. Covering topics from pop culture to lifestyle, and everything in between. When he’s not writing, he enjoys water skiing and playing with his English Pitbull, Brutus.