Maximizing Storage Area in Chelsea’s Laundry Closet

This week we’re upgrading the group and maximizing space for storing in Chelsea’s laundry closet to deal with her rising household.

For over two years, I’ve been serving to Chelsea and her husband Brandon renovate their mid-century ranch one challenge at a time. We’ve added some energy-efficient updates and remodeled the outside, the giant household areas, and the visitor lavatory and grasp lavatory.

As a part of her kitchen renovation, the laundry room was reconfigured to permit for a future addition, leading to what’s now a laundry closet So now, we’re maximizing the storage and performance inside each remaining inch of area.

The Tasks

Create Storage Over the Washer and Dryer

There’s no room to retailer cleansing provides within the laundry closet, so we’re going so as to add a pair of cupboards and a shelf above the washer and dryer. 

Chelsea bought some normal 30-by-30-inch wall cupboards from The Residence Depot for her laundry closet. The Residence Depot provides wall cupboards in numerous sizes between 12 inches and 36 inches, so you may combine and match completely different sizes to customized match the area on any wall. 

When putting in hanging wall cupboards, don’t overlook to verify the swing of the doorways. Ask your self, “Will it hit a lightweight or one thing else hanging on the wall?” Or on this case of a laundry closet, “Will that washer lid be capable to open and keep open?” 

We usually dangle wall cupboards 12 inches from the ceiling, however as a result of we wish to add a shelf beneath the cupboards, we’re hanging them 10 inches down as a substitute. 

As a result of that is extra of a laundry closet than a laundry room, every thing must be simply accessible from the door opening. So, we’re centering the cupboards and the washer and dryer on the opening.

To put in the cupboards, mark the stud areas on the wall, then drive screws into the again of the cupboards to safe them to the wall. 

After the cupboards are put in, Chelsea primes and paints the cupboards. 

Chelsea has a leftover piece of granite countertop from her kitchen renovation, so she’s utilizing a part of the slab to create a shelf to go beneath the cupboards. As a result of a chunk of stone like this weighs virtually 100 kilos, we use heavy-duty shelf brackets secured to the wall studs to hold it.

Construct Shelving Over Air Consumption

The kitchen renovation additionally leads to the relocation of the HVAC system’s air consumption contained in the laundry closet. Now, there’s a useless area above it that’s simply begging for some cabinets. 

We’re constructing out the cabinets to match the peak of the cupboards, so we first calculate the spacing we want for every reduce of plywood, then get to reducing it with a desk noticed. It may be a little bit bit awkward reducing a full piece of plywood on a desk noticed however there’s no higher approach to get these good correct cuts you want once you’re constructing shelving.

To construct these customized cabinets, we reduce the primary piece of plywood on a desk noticed to get an correct reduce for every shelf. As a result of we’re making a number of cuts of the identical measurement, we’re utilizing a way referred to as to save lots of time. Gang reducing is reducing a number of items of wooden on high of one another to save lots of time.

As soon as all of the cuts are made, we use Titebond Unique Wooden glue to seal the wooden collectively on the body earlier than utilizing the nail gun to safe the shelving piece. 

Subsequent, we set up the cabinets contained in the body. You are able to do lots of measuring and marking to ensure the cabinets are good and sq., otherwise you seize your sq. and it goes lots sooner and simply as precisely.

To offer the shelving unit a extra polished look, we use block trim to cowl up the tip grain of the plywood. 

Chelsea primes and paints the unit earlier than we put it in place over the air consumption so she will be able to entry the cabinets from either side.

Add Bi-Fold Doorways to the Laundry Closet

Along with all the practical space for storing, we want some doorways in order that we don’t have to have a look at the washer and dryer coming down the hallway.

Chelsea decides on bi-folds for the laundry closet as a result of they take up much less flooring area than conventional doorways that swing open.

Watch Tips on how to Set up Bi-Fold Doorways to study extra.

Repair the ‘Strolling Washer’

When Chelsea did her first load of laundry after the kitchen renovation, the washer “walked” throughout the ground, leaving scratches on her newly put in hardwood flooring. 

A “strolling” washer refers to a washer that strikes or vibrates excessively throughout operation, inflicting it to shift or “stroll” throughout the ground.

To the touch up the scratches on the ground, she makes use of a stain marker that may mix proper in. And to maintain the washer from dancing anymore. She put a rubber furnishings foot beneath every foot on the washer. This can maintain the washer from transferring and scratching the flooring.

We additionally:

• Moved the hanging rod beside the cupboards
• Put in an iron and board bolder on the shelving unit
• Added shoe molding across the baseboards. (Tip: When putting in shoe molding, nail it to the baseboards, not the ground. The ground will transfer barely however the baseboards gained’t.)
• Put in a periscope dryer vent to save lots of room and improve the dryer’s effectivity

Publish-Manufacturing Ideas

Because of her kitchen renovation. Chelsea’s laundry room was principally new however terribly primary. There have been no cabinets or cupboards for storage and there wasn’t even a door to hide the chaos.

However now, the addition of some easy inventory cupboards has elevated the look of the area whereas it retains a lot of what must be saved there out of view.

The shelf unit over the air return makes use of what would have in any other case been wasted area, plus the bifold doorways will cleanly cowl up the muddle when Chelsea’s not busy doing laundry, which oddly sufficient, I believe she’s relieved to be doing it once more.

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