My Country Farmhouse – The Laundry/Mudroom Design

It started out as a former office for the previous owner Dianne who is an accountant. Filled with desks and file cabinets you wouldn’t have actually known how big the space was until it was emptied out. And it is big at 249+ square feet. There are two windows on the west and north wall and a coat closet with upper storage above. (YAY baskets!)

There was carpet on the floors and stairs that needed to come out and some valances over the windows that were removed. Under the carpet there is a sturdy wood foundation and after removing staples and nails is in excellent shape. It should make laying a new floor much easier than I anticipated.

Overall this room is a blank space. It is large and white. It does have two flaws; it is freezing cold in the winter weather and will require installation of a few baseboard heaters and some insulation in the ceiling. And it has 4 massive neon light boxes that will need to be replaced in time.

The laundry area will also be used as pantry storage and recycling.

Here is what I am thinking for the laundry room:

I will be refinishing the pantry/laundry cabinets in the laundry room to enhance the appearance.  What was old maple coloured cabinet will become a lovely high gloss white. Luckily the inside of these solid wood cabinets are already white which will minimize the amount of paint and work needed to complete the job.

On the ceiling on the southwest corner (about 20″ from the wall) of the laundry room there is an attic hatch. Since I need to ensure that I can still access this hatch if something goes wrong I’ve decided that over the washer on the southeast corner I will mount an upper cabinet that is 30″ wide and run a rod from that cabinet to a 12″-18″ cabinet which will be removable if access to the hatch is required. And between the washer and dryer I will reuse the 12″ cabinet with drawer as more storage. All the storage in the laundry room will be repurposed from my current kitchen as they are in excellent shape.  This would be about a $1200 savings.

I’ve contacted my favourite flooring store Van Huizen located in Campbellford Ontario and picked the flooring. I’ve decided to go with Nottingham Oak vinyl plank flooring in a mid tone brown to cover the 249+ square feet of space. The cost of the flooring is $3.98/sq.ft and since I do not have the tools to do it myself I will also have them do the install. And once the flooring is installed I will be installing the baseboards.

Since this is the coldest room in the house I will have to add some baseboard heaters to ensure no pipes freeze during the winter. I will be adding a heater under each window and a smaller wall mount heater by the door. These heaters will only run from December to February (give or take) during the coldest months.

Here are a few options I am researching to ensure that I keep the cost of hydro as low as possible:

I will also be adding a secondary source of heating which will be a small wood burning stove. This will happen at a much later date. Here is my inspiration:

To keep the space light and bright I will be painting the two areas in either white or a white with grey undertone. And I’ve already installed the roman blinds on the windows.

Well, I hope you like where I’m headed with this design.  Over the next couple of weeks I have to clear the room, rip up the last of the carpet, pull out the remaining staples and tacking, and have the floor laid out. Once that is done I will start with base boards, plumbing and electrical. After that I will be moving the washer and dryer over to my house, selling the old machines, painting out the old cupboards and installing them.

I hope you all stay tuned over the next several weeks for updates and progress in this room.

🙂