Suggestions to stage/improve utility before house selling

[ThatsOneView]

Would welcome any suggestions to stage our utility ahead of getting house ready for sale. I’ve emptied it and amazed at how big it feels already. I know it’s bare looking and needs some touches but I’ve no interior design talent so any suggestions or comments to make it look a little more stylish/appealing would be welcome.

I’m aware toilet lid needs replacing and there are some marks along wall and the silicone on work top needs replacing (previous over-enthusiastic cleaner tried to “clean” it off). The room is 186cm x 245cm. It hasn’t been thoroughly cleaned yet either!

Green plant, fluffy towels, lovely label (doesn’t need to be expensive) liquid soap Will make a big difference. Also consider a runner on the floor and pictures on the wall.

I think it looks fine. It looks clean and spacious.

Yep what I want from a downstairs toilet/utility room is it being very clean and uncluttered.

There’s no window so don’t put a plant in, obviously staged.

No runner - equivalent of putting a carpet in the bathroom.

Clean it, replace the toilet seat and wipe off the wall scuff marks, and I agree nice soap/towel would help. But it is 99% there.

I would personally get rid of the flowers on top of the loo and just get some nice soap as pp said. It already looks good.

Are you in the US? I find it so bizarre to poo where you do clean laundry. Never seen this unless in student digs.

No I’m in London (1930s terrace). Space is at a premium and we wanted a downstairs loo and a utility. No space elsewhere for separate loo. We don’t dry the laundry in this room so poo particles aren’t wafting around settling on clothes.

This room actually used to be our kitchen and the wall with the radiator etc opened into a dining room. Some houses in our street still have the original galley kitchen set up with the back door to garden where our sink currently is and don’t open into dining area. None have a toilet in the kitchen 🤣.

I agree - the toilet is just not meant to be there. It's the first thing I noticed.
It's not a utility room. Yikes, the loo just looks so odd. It would put me right off. Sorry OP.
And I do understand older terraces and lack of space.

I would honestly remove the loo (😬🫣) and fill the room with plants that don't need much light.
Snake plants, ZZ plants, dragon tree, spider plants are all ideal.
Good luck!

I would not remove the toilet - people who are viewing this sort of house in this sort of area at this price point will be used to seeing this sort of downstairs arrangement, and like the OP has alluded to, her area is full of variations on where people have added a downstairs toilet into older housing. In my area of London, lots of people have downstairs bathrooms (through the kitchen) as an extension to their Victorian 2 up 2 down house and these houses still sell for the best part of £1 million, or they have turned their understairs cupboard into either a toilet, utility or both. A downstairs toilet is sold as an asset rather than a negative, and if you want a separate toilet room but still wanted to buy property at that price point in the OPs area then you would have to make a different compromise to the ground floor layout instead, or increase your budget by at least 200k to get a bigger footprint.

OP: I think the room is fine as it is - one of the aspirations in my life is to have a utility room in my London house, and I would happily take a toilet in there too to make it happen. However I wouldn't give up a downstairs toilet (having had one in my life!) for just a utility.

I am looking to buy soon and it’s not that common to have a lootility. Some people may be put off by it, others won’t. It wouldn’t stop me buying a house I otherwise liked.

I wouldn’t call it a utility room. I’d call it the downstairs loo and then mention it’s plumbed for a washing machine.

Lootilities aren't crazy uncommon, especially in London, or the other thing is the washing machine in the bathroom with a drying rack over the bath, which amounts to the same thing. Definitely don't remove a downstairs loo. They are easy enough to take out and plaster over if the buyer has poo crumb paranoia.

i think a modern framed print on the wall, a house plant, hand soap. not much else - it looks really good already.

the loo doesn't put me off. the more loos the better with busy family life.

Having a washing machine in the bathroom is very common where I live so I see no issue at all with having this setup.

The room is very colourless though. I thought it was a black and white photo at first. So I would inject lots of colours, primarily through pictures on the walls. Maybe also add a mirror above the sink.

I think it looks fine as it is, apart from the silly vase of flowers! To me a utility room is purely functional so doesn't need to be staged. I think plants would just use up valuable worktop space and a runner would just get in the way. Anextra loo is always useful! Maybe some shelves on the wall above the toilet for extra storage?

I like it as it is except for the lack of colour. The grey tiles are a bit oppressive. Maybe add a couple of colourful towels or a bright print on the wall. You could even use tile paint to brighten the space up, but it’s a lot more effort than you might want to make.

It’s a great space though, and I wouldn’t be put off buying the house by the lack of colour in this room, nor by the presence of the toilet which I actually really quite like. Ignore the snobby comments about it!

It’s fine . Clean and fresh and spacious.
definitely don’t start putting plants / pictures and runners in there.
liquid soap and a fluffy towel good.

I think it's fine too! Add a towel and soap and take away the flowers.

It's a fairly big room. I would have probably screened off the back where the toilet is with a stud wall and had a wet room/toilet there and took the rest of it up with the utility.

I think it kind of conjures up the idea of toilets in kitchens when you look at it, so anything you can do to make it look less kitcheny will help stop that idea.

It looks fine.

Either buyers want a lootility or they don’t, no one is going to be swayed by towels.

FYI I believe you are not allowed to remove a downstairs loo once there is one (unless you put another one in elsewhere) due to accessibility building regs.

For sale purposes I think it looks absolutely fine. I wouldn’t have the flowers there tbh. Blank canvas is perfect for sale purposes as long as it’s modern and clean which it clearly is.

I love a Lootility - plenty of new builds have them as well as extensions/conversions.

I would just add some quality soap, nice towel as previous posters have said and make sure that it smells lovely. Not in an overpowering synthetic way but a really “clean” smell.

It’s a functional space. It shouldn’t be dressed as something it isn’t.

Don't be ridiculous. It's a perfect reasonable thing to do

Yeah like others I clicked just for the sheer weirdness of this.

The toilet look so randomly out of place in what at a glance otherwise looks like a small kitchen. I recently did a reno so watched loads of video on terrible house designs and these types of designs popped up all the time.

I wouldn't wash my clothes in the toilet, obviously its a washing machine in the toilet room (not the bowl of the toilet) but even saying it out loud sound so ridiculous and funny.

I wouldn't buy this. I would rather have either a bathroom (and you could have a decent bathroom/shower room in that space) or a utility/pantry room (nice to have but not a necessity) but not a Frankenstein of both.

It's fine.

Make sure it has an easy to use busy/latch on the door.
Remove the flowers, add a real vase with a couple of real flowers and some flower scissors, and handwash.

If anything I would add clever open metal shelves/rails that fold down above the sink to dry clothing or hang a towel or ironing but any buyer could do this..

It looks lovely. Clean, fresh and modern. A towel and handwash as PP have said is all it needs IMO. Good luck with your sale.