Need Help: Organized hidden space with unique doors

12 years ago

Our family room has a hidden laundry room, utility sink, large coat closet and a hot water tank. We have been thinking about redesigning the space.

We are struggling with ideas for the doors. Currently they are large panel doors that open, but we've consider traditional doors, pocket doors and sliding door. Any input would be appreciated.

Also we've considered turning the large coat closet into a powder room. So we are considering various layouts. Ideas would be welcomed!

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PRO

eelyram7

12 years ago

I actually really hate sliding doors, I feel like I am constantly sliding them back and forth to access everything, and the extra use makes them slide off the track all the time. I don't like only being able to access half the space at once, I think that would be especially annoying for transferring clothes from the washer to the dryer (take the clothes out into a basket, slide the doors, transfer the clothes into the dryer, slide the doors to put in the next load, etc etc).

I think it would be cool if you could disguise them as bookshelves. Another idea might be to wallpaper the wall and the doors so that it looks like one unbroken wall. This would really work for you since you don't have trim around the walls. Or you could paint them fun colors and treat the wall as a color-blocking piece of art.

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Comments (10)

PRO
Dytecture
12 years ago
last modified: 12 years ago
Depending on your preferences, sliding doors would allow larger opening and access, especially useful for the washer & dryer.
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yoboseiyo
12 years ago
a powder room might be a good idea, but where will you put all the things you have stored there?

if the doors close well and the seams aren't horribly obvious, you could simply change the hardware and then hang art on the wall with "found objects" at different depths, so that the handles make sense in the arrangement and aren't so obviously door handles.
stephenrgay
Original Author
12 years ago
We've considered sliding doors, but haven't found a great solution that allows for maximum access when doing laundry. We've considered a multiple panel system like http://www.slidingdoorco.com/. Has anyone used them before? We are concerned about the noise levels. (but modern washing machines are awesome!)

We'd love to consider hidden doors, but we are having issues finding the right hinge and hanging hardware? Any experience out there on hidden doors?
stephenrgay
Original Author
12 years ago
MORE INFO: The space between the laundry room door and the hot water tank door is not load bearing walls. In fact nothing is a load barring wall in the entire span.
yoboseiyo
12 years ago
i had another thought.

if you can get lightweight soji style screens, you could use a kvartal-style rack and hang them at different depths so you can open the doors more.

my attached photo shows the arrangment i mean.
the rails come 3-track and 5-track. and if you need 6, you can stack 2 3-tracks.
i don't remember if they can be screwed directly to the ceiling, but they have small ceiling mounters as well, that only take 2" of space.
stephenrgay
Original Author
12 years ago
Thank you for the feedback. I like the idea of hanging doors in the style you mentioned. I think we can try to do two big doors. Just need to find the hanging hardware.
orangecamera
12 years ago
I especially like eelyram7's wallpaper idea. You could also achieve the same sort of effect using an all-over stencil design.
suzanne_m
12 years ago
Make sure that the doors of the washer and/or dryer is not in the way when you transfer clothes from the washer to the dryer. Usually, when you buy a washer, the door swings from right to left and the dryer's door swing from left to right. In your current layout, the doors would need to swing in the other direction. I think you can change the direction of the door in most or maybe all dryers but not all the washers have that option. I recommend you check if you can change the direction of the doors before you place the washer to the left of the dryer.
suzanne_m
12 years ago
Oops, my comment above applied only for frontal washer and dryer.