Fresh New Laundry Room in White, Wood and Brass

Photos by Michael Alan Kaskel

Laundry Room at a Glance
Who lives here: A family of four
Location: Glen Ellyn, Illinois
Size: About 300 square feet (28 square meters)
Designer: Susan Klimala of The Kitchen Studio of Glen Ellyn

The homeowners had worked with designer Susan Klimala in the past when they renovated their last home’s kitchen. After buying their new home in the Chicago suburbs, they once again turned to Klimala, of The Kitchen Studio of Glen Ellyn, to work her magic. This time they asked her to redo a newly renovated kitchen and overhaul the original 1950s laundry room.

“The home’s kitchen had just been renovated before they bought it, but the layout was all wrong for their needs,” Klimala says. The homeowners felt guilty about ripping out so many new items from the kitchen, so reusing the white Shaker-style cabinets and the marble-topped island in the laundry room was both a cost-effective and environment- friendly solution.

How to Remodel the Laundry Room: a Homeowner’s Workbook

Before. The original 1950s laundry room featured maple cabinets, Formica countertops and a toilet located behind a door that didn’t quite reach the ground. “It kind of felt like there was a toilet in the middle of the room,” Klimala says.

After. Klimala added new brass pulls to the white Shaker-style cabinets salvaged from the kitchen. The room also features brass brackets for the floating shelves and brass detailing on the new ceiling lights from CB2.

To bring more light into the room, a formerly walled-over window above the sink was opened back up. All of the old cabinets above the countertops were also removed to create a lighter, more airy feel. “How many cabinets do you really need in a laundry room?” Klimala says. “They just end up becoming storage for old crockpots.”

The new countertops in maple butcher block complement the warm tones of the brass. Klimala covered the floors in 12-by-24-inch slate tiles laid in a herringbone pattern.

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