The Unexpected Laundry Room Layout You’re About to See Everywhere
When I’m thinking of my dealbreakers for a future apartment, one of my favorite “nice-to-haves” is an in-unit washer/dryer. (So far, I have not been lucky enough to have one, and instead lug 40 pounds of clothes at a time to the nearest laundromat a few blocks away.) But for many homebuyers, having a laundry room is a straight-up non-negotiable. Beyond ensuring that it exists at all, and that the appliances are well-maintained, a lot of folks don’t spend a good amount of time thinking about the place they will wash and dry their clothes. Almost exclusively, these laundry rooms are tucked away — in the basement or garage.
But now Chadwick Boyd, home and lifestyle expert, real estate agent, and owner of Chadwick Boyd Lifestyle, has seen a huge change in the humble laundry room.
“I have noticed over the last year [that] more and more laundry areas are on the second floor. The first time I saw that, it caught me off-guard,” Boyd says. At first, he wasn’t a convert. “I was like ‘why would you do that?”’ I had such a visceral reaction. [But] it taught me a lesson. I had been so conditioned in the old way. Now I’m like ‘Hell yeah, why would you not do that?’ So I’ve completely done a 180.”
What he came to realize is that while putting laundry rooms in basements, or in garages, makes sense on a water-leak level, it doesn’t make as much sense as part of a homeowner’s or renter’s daily life.
“When I was growing up, you just either threw the laundry room in the basement, or you had a space just off of the kitchen right by the garage. But it’s so much smarter to put laundry rooms where clothes are used the most. It blows my mind now, thinking about it,” he says, how many parents “went up and down two sets of stairs, for 18 years, for their kids, with laundry baskets in their hands, because that’s just where we put the washer and dryer?”
One of the most mind-blowing laundry room transformations he saw recently was from designer Amber Guyton. “She created a laundry lounge on the second floor that had barware in it. I wanted to hang out there and sip bourbon while I was folding my shirts and I thought, ‘Oh wait, now, some dots have been connected for me.’”
But even if your future laundry room isn’t quite a “laundry lounge” and more just a utilitarian space, or even a closet, having the laundry room’s location be less “afterthought” and more tied to the function of your home makes a lot of sense. Laundry is as basic of a rhythm of life as cooking and cleaning — why shouldn’t the location be more tied to your daily life?
Even for small spaces, the laundry room can be reimagined. In a fourth-floor walk-up co-op unit Boyd listed a few months ago, he noticed that in between the bedroom and the bathroom was a stacked washer/dryer unit. “Even that I thought was super smart.”
One caveat that’s super important? “A second floor laundry needs to have a durable and water-resistant [floor] at the least. You don’t want hardwood to buckle if there is a leak.”
Further Reading
I Tried the 90/90 Rule and My Closet Is Now Fully Decluttered
We Tested (and Rated!) All the Sofas at Pottery Barn — Here Are the Best for Every Type of Need
