It has now been about five-and-a-half months since I finished my walk-in closet with the washer and dryer. When I decided to put the washer and dryer in the closet, I had a lot of mixed reviews about that decision. And to be honest, I didn’t quite know how it would work out. The one thing I was sure about is that having the washer and dryer inside my walk-in closet would be far better than what I had before. So in my mind, any improvement over that previous setup would be a good thing, even if it wasn’t ideal.
If you’ll remember, from the time we moved into this house in 2013 until almost six months ago, my “laundry room” was located in our sunroom, which is the most awful room of our entire house. In fact, I dislike this room so much that it’s slated to be torn down eventually. But unfortunately, I had no other options, so that’s where the washer and dryer lived for twelve years.
I hated going into that room so much that I dreaded doing laundry. And because I dreaded doing laundry, it would pile up until I had no option but to go in there and get some laundry done.
I knew that even if having the washer and dryer in the walk-in closet wasn’t ideal, at least it would be a huge improvement over what I had. So I went for it when I had the opportunity.
Well, now that I’ve been living with this arrangement for five-and-a-half months, I can tell you that I absolutely LOVE this arrangement! It’s not just “Well, this is better, so it’ll do.” I would say that, at least for me, this whole arrangement has been ideal.
Now, when it comes to doing laundry, I don’t dread it at all. I won’t go so far as to say that I get excited about laundry now. 😀 I don’t know that anything would make me actually excited about doing laundry. But it doesn’t feel like a chore anymore.
And since the bulk of what I wash stays in our master bedroom suite (towels, sheets), and the majority of that stays right here in my closet (clothes, obviously), it feels so convenient to have the washer and dryer right here in this room.
I never thought that I’d be one of those people who is so organized that I actually keep up with the laundry. I’ve never been that person before, but I’ve also never had a convenient laundry area before. Before we lived in this house with laundry area in the sunroom, we lived in a condo with the laundry area in the hallway (and no countertop to fold laundry). And before that, we lived in two houses with the laundry area in the garage. So this is the first time in my life that I have a laundry area in a very convenient place and right next to a large countertop (the island) where I can get laundry out of the dryer and fold it immediately.
When my mom was at my house last week, she even commented (and seemed a bit shocked) at how well I was keeping up with my closet. The whole room is just so convenient and efficient in its layout and organization that I take pride in keeping it looking nice. And of course, she was shocked at how well I’ve been keeping up with the laundry. She knows me, and she knows my past habits of letting laundry pile up before tackling it. But that’s a thing of the past now. New Kristi, with the new walk-in closet with the convenient laundry area, is a different woman.
I have to admit that I’ve shocked even myself. When I finished this closet, I knew that I wanted to keep it clean and organized. I knew that I wanted to keep up with the laundry and not leave piles of dirty clothes on the floor, or piles of clean laundry on the countertops. But knowing my past habits, I kind of had my doubts that I’d actually be able to live up to those hopes.
But it’s been five-and-a-half months now, and this whole arrangement has been life-changing for me. I don’t mean to sound overly dramatic about it, but it really has changed this part of my life for the better. Where I used to live with piles of laundry and a constant dread of having to do laundry, now I don’t give it much thought at all. I just get in there and get it done, and I don’t let laundry pile up anymore.
So if you’ve been considering putting a washer and dryer in a walk-in closet, I can tell you from my personal experience that I highly recommend it. Seriously, I’d give it ten out of ten stars. I really do think it’s my best design decision yet.
More About My Walk-In Closet/Laundry Room
see all walk-in closet/laundry
room diy projects
read all walk-in closet/laundry
room blog posts
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
