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Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

Planning a utility room....

22 replies

scrimper · 01/10/2014 09:48

Right we are planning some building work on our house, building a new kitchen diner at the back of the property.

so I now have the space of the old gally kitchen to split into a downstairs shower room and a separate utility. won't be huge so really want to plan the space well.

anybody got any tips?

OP posts:
Daddypigsgusset · 01/10/2014 10:50

Ikea and pinterest have some great ideas

IDismyname · 01/10/2014 12:00

Dont forget that you can stack the tumble dryer on top of the washing machine.
Allow boot and coat storage if need be.
Re-use cabinets from your old kitchen for the new utility room.

I'm doing most of the above!

crossandcrosser · 01/10/2014 13:19

I think lots of storage is the most important. A stainless steel sink, and enough space for hoover, mop & bucket & ironing board.
Doors without fancy moulding and a worktop that can be scrubbed for easy cleaning.

MrsCurrent · 01/10/2014 13:23

Make sure you have plenty of work surface for sorting laundry and somewhere to store laundry products/baskets. We stacked our washer and dryer and used up the rest of the space so it's a pita to sort stuff in there.

evertonmint · 01/10/2014 16:18

A ceiling airer on a pulley - clothes dry much quicker up high and it keeps them out of the way. A tall cupboard to store Hoover/mop/brush/ironing board rather than then cluttering the space (I inherited a utility room without this and it drives me potty!)

Olbas · 01/10/2014 16:55

A window...for proper ventilation

oneearedrabbit · 01/10/2014 19:18

sensibly located plug for iron!

atticusclaw · 01/10/2014 19:27

We've recently done ours.

If its a small space stacking your washing machine and tumble dryer is a good idea. If you don't stack them make sure the doors are hinged on the outside so that you can seamlessly move washing straight into the dryer. Put a drip tray underneath the washing machine before you slide it in and it will save your floor if you ever have a leak.

Jar next to the washing machine makes me remember to check pockets. Anything found is thrown in and becomes my property if still there at the end of the week.

Sink is always useful. We have a double sink and underneath in a cupboard we have two pull out laundry baskets, one for whites one for darks.

Drying rack is great and a good money saver. Drip rack over the sink is also good for delicate drip dry items.

Basket for each family member for clean clothes. easy to then just make then collect their basket and take it upstairs to put away the clothes.

We reused the cupboards but put new doors on and new handles. This saved a lot of money. We also added additional storage, you can never have too much.

Whiteboard/blackboard for scribbling down shopping lists etc (or abusive notes to children who cannot seem to understand that dirty socks do not just get thrown onto the floor)

Labelling the shelves has done wonders in our house for organisation but I accept that might just be me being anal and trying to train the boys in my house to put things in the right place.

Ohhelpohnoitsa · 01/10/2014 19:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MrsCampbellBlack · 01/10/2014 19:28

I love your suggestions Atticus!

Ohhelpohnoitsa · 01/10/2014 19:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MrsCampbellBlack · 01/10/2014 19:30

I am so going to do the blackboard idea oh and the named baskets for clean clothes.

Ohhelpohnoitsa · 01/10/2014 19:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

atticusclaw · 01/10/2014 19:33

Grin. My utility room is a thing of beauty and organised to the nth degree. Shame about the rest of the house….

Goldenlab · 01/10/2014 19:45

Somewhere for welly boots. I wish I had room in my utility room. I have got a second freezer in there though, which is very useful

midnightmoomoo · 01/10/2014 19:46

I have Anthea's DVDs......and the book! Grin

MrsCampbellBlack · 01/10/2014 19:47

I have lots of pins of utility rooms, problem is DH wants to use it for all of his bike kit too.

ThinkIveBeenHacked · 01/10/2014 19:48

Wine fridge and tv

WhispersOfWickedness · 01/10/2014 19:54

Have a look on houzz.com too, some amazing things on there Smile

scurryfunge · 01/10/2014 19:55

My futility room has a bank of shelving for cleaning stuff I and also items to be ironed. I have a spare fridge ( for DH's beer) and more shelving for a ridiculous amount of cook books and jamming/ pickling stuff. There is another shelf for my kitchen electrical items that looks like a display shelf from Curries. I still don't have room for everything ( it is about 16 feet x 12).

Fresh01 · 01/10/2014 20:48

Make sure you don't loose the top half of the tall storage cupboard to the boiler!!!

If you have little kids we put a row of hooks at waist height for their coats and a row of hooks for adult coats above.

Sandthorn · 01/10/2014 20:50

I'm so envious... I'd love to extend and then convert our kitchen to a downstairs loo/small utility, but quite apart from not having the money, my husband is a long way from convinced.

Having limited space, I'd go for a pocket door between the loo and utility. There would be room for a washing machine and sink unit, with ceiling height for normal wall units plus "bridging" cabinets above. Opposite that I'd have a ceiling-hoist airer, and there'd just be standing room for the heated airer in the corner.

Maybe one day... Sigh.

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