Chic and Functional Decor Ideas for Your Laundry Room
A beautiful laundry room can make this necessary chore far less tedious. Just off the kitchen—the heart of the home—is the family’s workhorse: the laundry room. Grand Central Station for cleanliness, this vital area houses the washer, dryer, and a bevy of cleaning supplies. But because it’s such a practical space, it’s often overlooked when it comes to laundry room decor ideas.
Given that the average American family does eight to ten loads of laundry each week, we spend a lot of time washing what we wear. Therefore, we should give this small room as much home decor attention as any other room in the house. Check out our favorite laundry room design ideas and start planning your laundry room makeover today.
1. Creative DIY Laundry Room Decor Ideas
One of the simplest DIY laundry room decor ideas is to buy a set of attractive canvas baskets to store your essentials. Even ordinary wire shelving looks nice when topped with decorative storage containers. Repainting the laundry room is another fairly easy DIY laundry room decor project. Choose your favorite color for one laundry room wall or paint the entire room your chosen shade.
If you have a front-loading washing machine and tumble dryer, build a simple countertop that extends the width of each unit. This countertop can expand both your storage and your space for folding clothes.
If you are up for a full laundry room makeover, you may be surprised to learn how much of it you can do yourself. Watch the following video to see how one homeowner turned a boring laundry room into a modern farmhouse laundry room while maximizing its storage space.
2. Farmhouse Decor Inspirations
Farmhouse style is one of the most popular laundry room decor themes. Farmhouse laundry room elements include white shiplap walls, rustic wood floating shelves, antique or blackboard signs, and wire baskets. Replace your plastic laundry basket with a wicker basket and exchange plain floor tile for tiles that look like hardwood flooring.
Use repurposed antique crates or make simple crates from wooden pallets to store your laundry detergent bottles and other essentials. They add that farmhouse laundry room vibe, whether placed on top of your cabinets or an open wooden shelf. Replace an ordinary washroom sink with a small-scale apron sink in white porcelain, copper, or slate.
3. Infusing Modern Style
Modern laundry design embraces simplicity and minimalism. Dark colors are appropriate in modern laundry room design. Think dark olive green, deep charcoal, or a rich eggplant purple—even if you have a small laundry room. Darker colors look great next to a stainless-steel washer and dryer and are perfect backgrounds for lighter-colored laundry room accessories.
Modern laundry room design is sleek and sophisticated, often with a strong masculine vibe. A black-and-white color scheme is an excellent modern laundry room design idea. Use white wall paint on two walls, paint the other two black, and then use black-and-white swirled marble for your floors and countertops.
Hidden storage is essential in a modern laundry room, where minimalism cancels out any indication of clutter. Keep cabinets simple in design, with inner bins that you can roll behind doors when not in use.
4. Functional and Stylish Mud Room
A mudroom is a small entrance room designed to keep muddy footprints from being tracked through the house. It’s also a popular place to locate the washer and dryer, thus turning it into a mudroom/laundry room. Even though this type of laundry room design is out in the open, you can still use a variety of decor tips and tricks to make the mudroom look nice. For instance, hang curtains in front of your washer and dryer to hide them when not in use.
Make one entire wall a giant laundry room cabinet with the washer and dryer set in an open middle section. Include cabinet space to store your ironing board, cleaning tools, and other supplies. If you have enough cabinet space, you can relocate your linen closet to the mudroom, stacking textiles behind cabinet doors. A mudroom sink is a convenient addition, both for laundry prep and rinsing off dirty boots.
5. Organizing Your Space
Get creative with laundry room accessories to organize the space. Instead of buying a plain plastic laundry hamper, invest in rolling canvas hampers. They will add some retro flair to your laundry room design while making it easier to move dirty clothes and clean laundry through the house.
Alternating between closed and exposed cabinetry is a helpful laundry room idea that keeps the space functional and open. Instead of using floor space for a pop-up drying rack, install a rod between two laundry room cabinets. Put damp clothes on hangers, then hang them from the rod to dry. Or, build a hidden clothes drying rack that folds inside a laundry room cabinet when not in use.
6. Adding Expressive Decor
A traditional laundry room often has antique signs as a decor element. Today, there is no shortage of sign options to add some style or humor to this work zone. From clear laundry-themed statements to antique advertising signs, using signs as artwork is a popular way to showcase your personality.
Chalkboard signs are another option for the laundry room and can be used to assign chores or keep a running grocery list. Hang a framed chalkboard on the wall or prop a chalkboard easel on a countertop. Purchase chalkboard labels to hang on the baskets and jars that hold your laundry supplies. You can also affix small antique signs or labels to your cabinet doors to help other family members locate what’s inside.
7. Smart Design Solutions for Cozy Spaces
If your home doesn’t include a large laundry room, there is still a lot that you can do to improve the decor. White walls, cabinets, and appliances will make the room look clean and bright. Break up the expanse of white with natural wood shelving, colorful storage baskets, and a green plant or two.
Colorful textiles, such as rugs and window treatments, add life and personality to a small laundry room makeover. Make a room-expanding accent wall by covering the biggest wall with wallpaper that has an oversized pattern. If all you have is a small laundry closet, still add decor accents wherever space allows. For instance, replace a basic, builder-grade light fixture with a gorgeous pendant light.
8. Elevating Aesthetics With Tiles
A small laundry room can be a great place to indulge in higher-end flooring material. Not only will your special surfaces become a focal point, but these materials can also become surprisingly affordable when you purchase them in small quantities. So, take a second look at those intricately hand-painted European tiles or that butter-smooth marble tile. Consider laying one type of tile on the floor and a coordinating mosaic on the walls around the sink.
Penny tiles make a retro laundry room statement, especially installed in a striped or floral medallion pattern. Subway tile on the walls looks amazing with farmhouse or modern decor and can visually widen a narrow room. If you want rustic decor with the durability of tile, choose a product that mimics a real hardwood floor.
If your laundry room is in the basement, you must have a waterproof floor. Tile is one of the better basement laundry room ideas for flooring because it won’t warp in a damp environment like other materials might.
9. Artful Touches
Any creative wall decor ideas that work in other rooms of the house will also look great in your laundry room. Paint an accent wall a bright color or hang shiplap or beadboard panels. Install a decorative tile backsplash behind your washing machine, dryer, and sink—and extend it to the ceiling for maximum impact.
Wallpapering a huge room may seem daunting, but wallpaper is perfect for a tiny laundry room, especially if you plan to hang it yourself. Since the laundry space is usually behind closed doors, you can use a bright or bold print that you may not be brave enough to hang in a larger room. Large botanical prints, such as palm fronds or flowers, are popular on laundry room walls.
Laundry Room Decor FAQs
Crisp, clean white is the most popular laundry room wall color. Because the laundry area is small in most homes, white helps make the room feel more spacious and airy. Farmhouse laundry room decor almost always includes white walls.
An understated, neutral color palette is a great utility room idea. Include plenty of storage options because the easiest way to make a utility room look nice is to keep everything in its place. White cabinets with solid doors make the room look tidy by hiding cleaning supplies and tools out of sight.
If you’re building a home, you may wonder how to design your laundry room layout for maximum efficiency. First, figure out where to place the washer and dryer, then add a utility sink if there’s room. Counter space is great for folding clothes, and cabinets or shelves are necessary for storing supplies. Include a drying rack or rod for clothes that need to air-dry.
