Help me configure this laundry space please

[Deleted]

This is my laundry area below. It's just a closet but it's in a much larger room that we refer to as the laundry room even though we use it more for storage or as a utility room.  I got the front loaders yesterday (so excited, I've done 5 loads of laundry already!).  My initial plan was to have a piece of plywood cut to size and place it over the tops so that it acted as a countertop.  However after the machines were set up yesterday I noticed that the dryer is about 1/8-1/4 inch shorter than the washer.  DH said we could probably attach a thin piece of MDF or something to the plywood and then I could paint it.  Do you think that would that work?  I would then get a couple decorative baskets to store my detergent and other laundry stuff. 

We briefly considered stacking them but I really don't want them stacked.  Besides, I think the little bump out with the ledge in the back would be in the way (I'm pretty sure that used to be a kitchen window). 

Any other ideas?   I just want to create a cute little nook for doing laundry because I usually dread doing laundry.  The rental machines we had prior were crappy and the dryer blew lint all over everything. Blech.  Looking forward to a more enjoyable laundry exprience! 

[TBM]

An eighth of an inch isn't much...don't they have levelers on the bottom that you could use to make that adjustment?

[new2this2]

I generally don't like shelves right on top of washer or dryers. They have some natural movement and everything on the shelf gets giggled around. I would opt for getting some 1x1 and attaching that along the wall just above the washer and dryer. Then cut the plywood and have it rest on your ledge of 1x1.

Even if you paint it, the plywood won't really be "wipe-able". You could add polyurathane or something to make it a little easier to clean or (my personal preference) get some of those sticky tiles and put them on top of the plywood. It looks great!

[TBM]

Mar 16, 2013 10:09:26 GMT -5 new2this2 said:

I generally don't like shelves right on top of washer or dryers. They have some natural movement and everything on the shelf gets giggled around. I would opt for getting some 1x1 and attaching that along the wall just above the washer and dryer. Then cut the plywood and have it rest on your ledge of 1x1.

Even if you paint it, the plywood won't really be "wipe-able". You could add polyurathane or something to make it a little easier to clean or (my personal preference) get some of those sticky tiles and put them on top of the plywood. It looks great!

Those are both great points.

You could use melamimine for the shelf.  It would make it easy to clean.

[Deleted]

Mar 16, 2013 10:09:26 GMT -5 new2this2 said:

I generally don't like shelves right on top of washer or dryers. They have some natural movement and everything on the shelf gets giggled around. I would opt for getting some 1x1 and attaching that along the wall just above the washer and dryer. Then cut the plywood and have it rest on your ledge of 1x1.

Even if you paint it, the plywood won't really be "wipe-able". You could add polyurathane or something to make it a little easier to clean or (my personal preference) get some of those sticky tiles and put them on top of the plywood. It looks great!

The 1x1s is a good idea - I hadn't thought of that. Would you mind linking to the sticky tiles you reference? I can't picture them in my head.

[new2this2]

Here's a link to the category at Lowes.

They're just vinyl tiles. You peel the paper off the back and stick them on - easy peasy. To cut them you can just use a box cutter to slice the top and then bend / snap it. They're cheap too - usually under $1.50/square foot. You can also buy a lot of styles individually if you don't need an entire box. I like them for their ease of use and how cheap they are for projects like this. You can buy a special kind of grout for them as well if you prefer that look. I've used it with great success.

[kitty]

Definitely see if you can adjust the feet to make them match. We did what pp describes, with attaching pieces of wood to the walls and then screwing the counter into those. The counter doesn't actually touch the machines.



I'm not sure how much you want to spend but we actually ordered a custom sized piece of Wilsonart HD laminate, so it is deeper than a regular countertop.  At Home Depot, there is a minimum $ order amount (maybe $200 but it could be less or vary by store).  We also needed another piece for the other side of the laundry room where we have more cabs and a sink so we met the minimum easily.

I would paint your nook a fun color too!

[Deleted]

That looks nice kitty!  I probably will go with the suggestion to attach 1x1s to the wall and then put a counter on top.  I'm also toying with the idea of some pre-fab cabinets if that wall behind the machines is strong enough to handle it. 

Yes, I am definitely going to paint the nook!  I'm considering teal.  I would have painted between pickup of old and delivery of new but there wasn't enough time.  Sounds like a spring project to me!

[midwest07]

We added a shelf above our W/D. The front load washer, in particular, will likely move around in its place, so you definitely need to mount the shelf above and not rest it on the machines. We got a piece of white melamine cut to the size we needed at Home Depot. You will likely still have an unfinished edge on the front, so I bought a piece of that styrofoam-like white trim, cut it to size, and glued it on the front to make it look finished. I was afraid we might knock it off, but if you use the right glue, it's there to stay. To attach it to the wall, I think we used 2 x 4s (the longer side flush against the wall) screwed into the wall, then set the shelf on top. We actually didn't screw the shelf down because we wanted to be able to remove it somewhat quickly if needed to access the water shut off behind the washer. The shelf is plenty heavy and does not move. I put baskets along the back to hold dirty/clean rags, supplies, etc.

[kitty]

Mar 18, 2013 10:55:55 GMT -5 downtonali said:

That looks nice kitty!  I probably will go with the suggestion to attach 1x1s to the wall and then put a counter on top.  I'm also toying with the idea of some pre-fab cabinets if that wall behind the machines is strong enough to handle it. 

Yes, I am definitely going to paint the nook!  I'm considering teal.  I would have painted between pickup of old and delivery of new but there wasn't enough time.  Sounds like a spring project to me!

We have cabinets above too.  I don't have a pic but we used Ikea Lindingos and put one tall cabinet on each side with a refrigerator-style half height cab in the middle.  Then we mounted a pole for hanging stuff underneath the half height cabinets.  Kind of like this: