I would just take the wallpaper down and paint the walls....you have a low backsplash now so no need to add another. How much do you use the pole for hanging clothes? I have a shelf with two pegs under it, coming out to hang my clothes on. If you want the cupboard at the end of the pole to look more like the cupboards, put an unopening door on it. I think by painting the walls, your laundry room will be nice and clean....might get a colorful rug to put in front of the washer and dryer. You could even paint the cupboards if you want.

For the amount of $$ it would cost to re-arrange things, I really don't think it would be worth it. I totally understand about it being a waste of space, but I would spend my $$ elsewhere - not in the laundry room that no one but me sees anyway.

You have a very nice laundry room...I love how the navy in the paper and countertop look with your floor tile, you made great choices. The "box" that your pole is connected to would be rather useless for storage - hard to reach. You could cut the "box" and install a non-working door with its center panel removed, adding a longer pole and attaching it to the rear of the box. That way your empty hangers wouldn't show and you would have one small shelf at the bottom.

You could remove the false front and get a longer bar as you suggest above, then get a hanging closet organizer that fits the space. It will be easy to pull out and push in to hide cluttery things or off-season items. Or you could use it to stack folded laundry for your family to gather and put away.

Hey, the pic disappeared! Will try again

https://www.houzz.com/products/neatfreak-6-shelf-closet-organizer-prvw-vr~40183345

If it were my laundry room, I would remove the long pole and put it where indicated in this pic. I would hang it as far forward as possible and low enough to be able to reach for hanging up clothes. The pole is reachable now (where it attaches to the front of the flat cabinet panel), so reaching it should not be a problem. Of course it all depends on how many articles of clothing you hang at any given time (wouldn’t want them all scrunched together). So, if you don’t need so much hanging space, moving it off to the right is a good option.


As far as spending money on the laundry room, I think making every room in the house as attractive and functional as possible is a positive.....I say make it a pretty place to do laundry!

I love this room just the way it is. I'd get a few pretty accessories and use matching hangers and a nice patterned rug.

I just renovated my laundry and absolutely love it so I’m definitely in the camp of it’s worth decorating this room. The dummy cabinet and asymmetry over the sink would also bug me. I’d remove the single upper cabinet and run 2 shelves, from the where the single cabinet was to the top of the dummy cabinet and one a foot (or so) lower and add decor, storage baskets, etc. Beneath that, I hang a chrome/brushed nickel pole, from the wall to the dummy cabinet. You might even make a simple wooden valance (slightly arched in the middle, similar to you cabinet design) to give you an area on each end to park unused hangers, out of sight. I’d suggest it look centred between the rightmost, lower cabinet door and wall, so you may have to build out the dummy area a bit to get that look. Finish the dummy area like it’s part of the wall. Since I’d still hate to lose that storage, I’d ask a builder ‘s advice on opening it (and your sink base cabinet) up, from inside the cabinet. It could be used for seasonal storage, bulky supplies, etc. When choosing a new countertop, I’d try to tie in the tile colour more. To me, it looks too separate from your other finishes right now.

Great suggestions here. One minor thing is I would change the cabinet knobs to blend with the stainless trim on the washer/dryer. I'm also in the nice laundry room camp. Our laundry room and half bath are off the kitchen and get lots of foot traffic.

You could put a set of open shelves there, and then hang the bar from brackets off the wall, or replace it with one of these kinds of hangers that fold up against the wall when not in use:

I hang dry a lot of items, so I use the pole and it needs to be long. Love the idea of open shelving, just need to still have the bar below (maybe off the corbels). Funny, the wasted dead space in the lower cabinet doesn't bother me, while the small upper wasted space I think about a lot. The cabinets and knobs are from my original kitchen which we remodeled, which is why they aren't a perfect fit- although very functional.

I wonder if you wallpapered the empty space on the left of the cabinets (to match the rest of the room) it wouldn't look so blank and would perhaps look like it's the back wall. Might be worth a try.

Instead of changing the cabinet to shelves or otherwise messing with that space, you could simply use it to bring some color or fun to the room. For example, you could hang a colorful clothespin hanger from the pole (https://www.pinterest.com/explore/clothespin-holder/) or mount artwork to the right of the pole--something tall and narrow. I'd also ditch the paper towel holder and place a small pile of cloth rags on the counter, instead. Your laundry room is quite nice the way it is!

Here's one way of dealing with it:

That's a clever solution. I'm thinking that if I do anything with the cabinets I'll have to get all new doors as they would probably be hard to match, so this is an option. I will try and mock this up.

I appreciate everyone's comments. After getting some great input, I've actually decided to redo the whole room and stack my washer and dryer and give myself some usable counter space. I'm sure I'll be back asking for ideas on the new layout.

It’s gorgeous! I absolutely love every choice you made—the wallpaper is delightful!

Congratulations :)

Looks great...fun wallpaper!

Glad you were able to recreate your space.

One thought on that "dead" overhead cabinet: If you drilled a 6" hole in the front of the cabinet below the rod -- halfway between the rod and the bottom of the cabinet -- that could be a great space to store used grocery bags you are saving to recycle as trash bags. You could even make that hole the center of a flower by painting petals around it -- perhaps a daisy or sunflower.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/266486502930394790/

Stunning!!

Love it!

What is the counter top?

It's American Walnut butcher block from Lumber Liquidators with a clear poly.

Thank you! they are beautiful.

Do you miss having your washer and dryer on pedestals?