My question is, how much stuff do I really need to store in a laundry room?

Only you can answer this question. What do you need to use to do laundry? And do you have enough storage elsewhere in your home that you don't need to use this space for storage? Also, what do you normally use that table top for to the left of the machine?

Only you know the answer to your question. Where will you store dirty clothes? Items waiting to be ironed or mended (if you do any of this)? Do you need space for an ironing board? How about laundry bags for fragile items? How about bleach and extra laundry detergent bottles? I also store the following in my laundry room that you might have space for elsewhere: junk drawer with tools, fasteners, etc; other cleaning supplies for floors, carpets, walls; material for wrapping packages for UPS; earplugs and insect repellent as our laundry room is also our mud room; also a row of paper towels and extra light bulbs.

To answer questions - I use the table to the left of the machines to place the laundry basket and I fold items and stack them on the washer and dryer. I have four kids and keep a big dirty hamper under the table and wash clothing at least once per day. We do use the dry cleaner for anything that would need to be ironed or mended so I don’t do that at home. The main things I use are detergent, dryer sheets, stain stick, drying rack, pair of scissors and a basket to hold socks to sort. I have a laundry sink in our nearby powder room so I keep bleach and other soaps in there for hand washing and soaking. The garage is right next to it and in there I keep stuff like paper towels, extra bulbs and stuff like that. The practical side of me says to just hang new cabinets but I know I’ll just stick random stuff up there that I don’t use and forget about it. I like having a little room only for me that looks pretty 😂

In our laundry we put hanging above the laundry sink and the washer/dryer and then two shelves on top of that. We also have closed cupboards for storage. This really works well for us. On the other side of the room is the mudroom side and kids each have two hooks, a boot rack, and a drawer for shoe storage. We live in Vancouver so hanging wet stuff over the laundry sink is very handy!

Having the machines pulled out so far from the wall isn't going to make the room feel larger. And hanging artwork over a washing machine isn't a good idea because of the heat, humidity & steam emanating from the machines. I would much rather have a closed cabinet above the machines.

I made my tiny basement laundry 'room' (oversized closet in reality) bright & cheerful by painting the walls a pure white and painted the floor a nice pure aqua color.

If you don’t need upper cabinets for storage, then why not hang a pretty, but not expensive piece of art there to enjoy?

Any updates or are you considering more ideas?

I’m still working on it. I will post a picture once I finish. It’s slow going 😆

A towel bar on the side wall near the folding area can hold shirts on hangers as they come out of the dryer. Another towel bar on the side wall near the washer can hold stained or wet items waiting to go in the wash.

Your basket of socks could also go on the wall with a Command hook or two. That'd keep it off the folding area.