I mentioned in my last post, Smart Little Laundry Rooms, that it takes real ingenuity to design a small space because every inch needs to serve a purpose and be maximized. Larger areas? Not as much. It’s a luxury…and a real curse (more surface area for junk to accumulate, more cleaning…)! But if you do have a dedicated or larger laundry room, how do you decorate it? Like any other room. Think about functionality first and then the aesthetics.

The paint color actually matches the ironing board and the shelves were painted as well to disappear into the wall.

Even here, they have a retractable drying rack as I talked about in my last post. Putting the clothing pins in a glass jar in very pretty. (In case you don’t know where to buy clothing pins, they sell them at Home Depot – I think a pack of 50 is $3. How do I know? I live at Home Depot!)

Again with clothing pins in a glass (apothecary) jar, as well as powdered detergent. See my previous post for a brilliant liquid detergent equivalent. Note that the fold out ironing board door is wallpapered on the inside too. It’s details like this that show incredible thought. Ready for the other half of the room?

This room is huge! But you can see they hung pictures, shelves (maybe for seed packets if it’s a potting area, but they may have just staged it that way for the photo as it’s pretty close to linens), wallpaper and even  a pretty dishtowel on the sink.

Very futuristic – I love the boxwood balls in the bowls (or cake stand, pedestals – to see them, they probably have to be raised) on top of the cabinets. A room this modern and stark needs greenery (or something) to soften the severity, otherwise it looks like the hull of the space shuttle!

Right above the dryer is a smart space for a hanging bar.

Putting a washer and dryer below a soffit is a good idea because it is inherently an awkward space that cuts into the ceiling height.

They could take this a step further and hide the soffit and get a modicum of storage space by adding cabinets above. They would have to fitted in, allowing for the soffit (meaning cutting into the back of the cabinets, but who cares?), but you can see the soffit doesn’t come out too far.

Why not have crown molding on your cabinets? We did it with our kitchen cabinets and it is the same principle.

Coordinating a rug and the ironing board cover makes the board an accessory. Labeling the laundry bags helps to remind others where to put their dirty clothes, making sorting easier. Besides using a permanent marker (if you have nice handwriting), you can also create a stencil on a computer with a font that you like or buy an alphabet stencil or stamps at a craft store.

Galvanized steel buckets serve so many purposes and are good to have on hand for a myriad of household tasks, but they also make great ice buckets for outside parties. Painting (solid, stripes, polka dots), adding monograms, ribbon bows to the handles, etc. to these buckets can dress them up as well.

Holy moley! This is the size of many bedrooms! Anyway…I love, love, love the wrapping paper and ribbon “station”! Like slab counters and tile backsplash and floor.

The dark appliances are a nice foil for the pastel.

Black and navy. Who would have thought it would have looked so good?

So far, I’ve show white and pastels, but that’s not for everyone, so I wanted to show some with colors as well. I really like the application of the sconces.

Tiffany box blue. I always coordinate my laundry with my laundry room

I cannot say I am a fan of the tile colors, but…it is interesting how they took it to the floor and ceiling and I bet those clothing lines are retractable. If they aren’t, they should be!

Pretty rug. If you don’t have a closet, hanging brooms, ironing boards, etc is always an option. Notice the  broom handle coordinates. For craft items., the pegboard was framed.

This looks like a den!

A better paint color may have been a little better as I don’t think it makes the most out of this room. The stacking wire baskets for sorted laundry is awesome!

Added architectural interest with beefed up baseboards. The dichotomy of the modern cabinets and the quaint wallpaper offset each other.

The hanging pendant is perfect for task lighting and paneling, which is a DIY project that you could do!

Pullout cabinets on either side of the appliances for detergents, lovely sconces, a huge sink and crown molding!

The shelves and countertop can easily be made!

A little much, but the painted floor is really neat as is painting a table in a funky way.

You can be more capricious in the laundry room and paint the cabinets with amusing pictures or designs.

We’ve seen the color scheme often, but with just a few tweaks, it has a different feel/style.

Frosted glass door and steel. I am really loving the glass jars with detergent! Luckily, I have a bunch that are unused in our pantry…I am going to have to gather them up for our laundry room now, although I prefer the apothecary jars!!

Rock facade…

Narrow laundry room, build up the washer and dryer for the laundry baskets to go underneath just like the one I showed you in the small laundry rooms.

Doesn’t everybody have an island in their laundry room??

This is GENIUS!!!! I adore when things are used in unexpected ways.

If whimsy makes you a little nervous, the laundry room is the perfect place to do it because you can always shut the door! Now, I am off to clean out some glass jars for detergent and clothes pins!

Thank you for taking the time to mosey through this post and I hope you found something that you can use in your home Have a great day!