How to Make Your Utility Room Work for You
6th Sep 2023
We often hear how the kitchen is the heart of the home. If that’s true, then the utility room is the brains. The important nerve-centre, quietly working hard to keep the rest of the home organised and running smoothly. Nowadays, having a spacious and luxurious utility room is something to dream of.
Not that many of us would describe our utility room as luxurious. We’re used to thinking of utility rooms as cold and dark places, but things have changed!
Celeb magazines and social media have given us a peek into next-level utility rooms. No detail has been spared with bespoke cupboards, built-in washing machines and all the extras you could think of. You’d be forgiven for feeling a bit of utility room envy.
Let’s face it though, they are often forgotten when compared to other areas of the house and can easily become a cluttered mess. It’s not a social space, so things tend to pile up here. This can be helpful for last-minute guests, but not so much when you’re trying to organise a lingering pile of laundry on crowded worktops.
The trick is to think about what would make your day-to-day life easier and customise your utility room accordingly. That way, you’ll get the most out of it!
Work With What You Have
Not everyone has a utility room, but that doesn’t mean you can’t create one. Installing the bulky washer and dryer into a dedicated space frees up precious storage in your kitchen and moves the noise and clutter associated with laundry out of the way.
An existing downstairs bathroom can easily double up as a utility room. Or consider stacking your washer and dryer on top of each other into a ventilated cupboard.
A controversial move of a utility room up to the first floor can be a game-changer. It can make laundry day a lot easier, especially if you don’t dry your clothes outside anyway. Plus, it makes it easier to put away clean clothes since it’s closer to the bedrooms.
Build laundry appliances into cupboards to blend into the room, creating a multi-purpose area with a cohesive look. Just make sure you have access to electricity, water, drainage, and good ventilation.
Grid Mesh (see right) is a type of wall-mounted shelving, which can be used in a range of spaces including compact areas.
Streamline Laundry
Most utility rooms serve as a place to do all your laundry (why the equivalent is called a laundry room in the US). So it’s no surprise that we spend quite a bit of time here. In fact on average, 173 days of our lifetime are spent washing clothes and hanging them out to dry (1). That’s over 5 months! If you can streamline this operation, you can take some of this time back and make it a bit more pleasant.
Try and bring everything you need to do your laundry into one space, it will make the whole process smoother. We’ve mentioned how you could arrange your washer and dryer on top of each other to increase floor space. This can create more room for storage such as shelving or cupboards or for stowing an ironing board and clothes horse.
If you opt for a washer and dryer combo, the area above the appliance can be fitted with a Shelf Rail Combination, the perfect location to keep laundry supplies in easy reach or as a temporary location for folded laundry. A Clothes Rail nearby can be a handy addition to hang up clothes to dry and means less creases (and less ironing)!
Adjustable Wall Shelving (see left) above the washing machine can keep all those laundry essentials within easy reach.
Related: 7 Stylish Clothes Rails For Awesome Extra Storage
Create a Pet-Friendly Space
For those of us with a pet, we know that they’re part of the family. We love spending time with our furry friends, whether that’s in the garden on a summer day or curling up in front of the fire. But sometimes we need to keep them safe and out of trouble, like when we’re doing some DIY around the home or are popping out to run some errands. I’m sure that your pet also wouldn’t mind a quiet space to retreat to for some peace when you are entertaining friends or if the family commotion becomes a bit too much.
A Hanging Rail with Hooks is a stylish way to hang leads, collars, and pet accessories to help keep everything organised. Install a sink or a wash basin for bathing and pampering your pets, with shampoos and towels kept nearby on shelves or in cupboards.
And on rainy days, this separate pet-friendly area can save your home from muddy pawprints and wet floors.
Even if they have their own space, we can’t guarantee that they won’t get up to any mischief!
Designate a Boot Room
We can’t put all the blame onto our four-legged companions though. The whole family can be just as guilty as creating a mess in the home, if not worse! But well-worn P.E. kits, muddy boots and bags thrown on the floor don’t have to be the norm.
A boot room doesn’t have to be fancy. It can be as elaborate or as simple as you like.
Add a simple shoe rack or storage bench to store boots, along with a Clothes Rack to hold heavy coats and bags. Why not assign a hook and storage space for each member of the household (including pets), to encourage them to keep the area neat and tidy.
And if in doubt, you can’t go wrong with some extra Boxes to store outdoor kit and seasonal items.
Our Heavy-Duty Clothes Rail (see left) is one of our favourites, with the top shelf great for hats and scarves and the bottom shelf for shoes and bags.
Extra Storage Space
Another great use for a utility room is to provide additional storage space for the home. Maximise the area by installing Standing Shelves and/or Wall-Mounted Storage. Open shelving helps to keep the room feeling spacious but provides plenty of storage without taking up precious floor space. Design modular and customised configurations (easy to do with Flexx Shelving) to fit and work around your existing appliances.
Use this extra storage for cleaning supplies, organising household tools and for storing those miscellaneous items. Or why not create a little pantry to hold extra dry goods and groceries.
You can choose Flexx Shelving (see right) with components such as Trouser Racks and Clothes Rails. Perfect for organising your laundry!
Related: The Best Reasons To Pick Open Shelving For Your Kitchen
More is More!
When designing your utility room, you might think that you need to limit the number of items to include to keep the space clutter-free. After all, we often hear about how ‘less is more.’ This could make your utility room less functional though.
Instead, focus on adding the key functions and elements that you need to make the most of the room. Whether your utility room is big or small, you can create a multifunctional area to streamline your home and maybe even inspire others!
References: (1) The average Brit spends more than 2000 days doing chores in their lifetime – Ideal Home