Renovating with a family of 9 - The Laundry
Written by Kelly McDonough: The Styling Mama
Hello fellow Häfele lovers! My name is Kelly, however most people know me as The Styling Mama. Like the name suggests, I have a serious passion for interiors and home decorating. I am also lucky enough to be raising SEVEN gorgeous kids – five of mine and two of my partner’s. When I’m not making sandwiches or running kids around, I work as a Property Styling Assistant. I’m also busy studying my Diploma of Interior Design.
My passion for home decorating started a long time ago and collided with the world of social media five years ago through my Instagram page @thestylingmama. There, I share snippets of my own home and reviews of products that I genuinely love.
So what else goes on behind all of this? A renovation, of course! We’ve been busy giving our new house a makeover since we purchased it in November 2019. We needed to create a home that catered for the demands of a large family, which meant adding bedrooms and creating function where there was none before!
At the very beginning of our renovations, I snapped up one of the prizes in the Häfele Home Christmas giveaway – woohoo! Little did I know that winning this prize would open up a new world of opportunities for maximising our storage – something we can never have enough of.
I’m happy to say that our first major renovation is now complete and looking amazing. What once was the garage is now two bedrooms, a laundry and mudroom. While it’s obvious why we needed the bedrooms, the laundry/mudroom renovation was an absolute must.
Previously a nook in the garage, the laundry had no bench or storage space. Just a trough with a space next to it.
Now, this might not be an issue for some families. But at our house? We do a ridiculous amount of washing every single day. We also have A LOT of stuff that would usually be kept in the garage – camping equipment, sports gear – you name it!
When I was designing the layout for the garage conversion, functionality was my priority. I wanted to keep it light and open, while also maximising space.
Creating the perfect mudroom and laundry
There’s definitely a trick to creating the perfect mudroom and laundry. It’s no secret either. It’s STORAGE! And more storage. Did I mention storage?
Designing a laundry/mudroom that was functional and beautiful for our family of 9 was always going to be a bit tricky! But with a bit of planning, we worked out pretty quickly that we didn’t have to sacrifice on style to achieve function, or vice versa.
For us, the design of our mudroom/laundry was all about capitalising on the space that we had.
The detail is in the design
With such a large family, every single bit of storage is precious. So when we chose to build in the garage to create two extra bedrooms, a functional laundry and a mudroom, we knew that we were sacrificing a lot – ok, ALL – of our storage.
We decided to keep our tall cabinetry on one side of the mudroom, making the most of the wall space by taking overhead cabinets all the way to the ceiling.
In the laundry, we opted for base cupboards only with a gorgeous L shaped bamboo benchtop on one side of the room, choosing not to have any overhead cabinetry on here to keep the space open and inviting. After all – the purpose of this benchtop was for FOLDING WASHING! And we always have plenty of that.
To colour or not to colour
If you happen to already follow my socials, you’ll notice that I always gravitate towards colour. We had a lovely blank canvas to work with in our mudroom and laundry – grey floors, white cabinetry, black sink and black tapware. Using a white satin finish on the cabinetry helped to create the illusion of space, keeping the rooms light and bright. But I definitely didn’t want it to feel bland or lifeless.
I’ve always been a fan of using floor runners. With so many different styles to choose from, adding a runner in the mudroom was a great way to add some more personality to the space. We chose a beautifully soft, multicoloured runner that didn’t dominate mudroom. Instead, it created a welcoming and warm feel and gave the kids somewhere soft to sit when they’re putting their shoes on. Double win!
Storage solutions
There are so many fabulous storage ideas for inside cabinets on the market! Gone are the days where stuff is lost at the back of hard to reach cupboards. We installed the Häfele iMove over the washer/dryer combo, which meant I could easily access the items on the top shelf thanks to its drop down mechanism. Perfect!
We all have our favourite, go-to cleaning products! Or maybe that’s just me….. but you know what I’m talking about - it’s the stuff we use almost every day to keep on top of the mess. We decided to keep these products easily accessible using the Häfele Cleaning Agent. Under my laundry sink has never looked so organised!
Visible storage ideas
Storage doesn’t always have to be hidden either! Every mudroom needs coat hooks to keep all those bits and pieces off the floor. We chose to use 5 black brushed coat hooks. The style of these hooks worked in perfectly with the rest of the mudroom and laundry. Most importantly, the design makes it easy for little hands to hang their school bags and hats up.
Unfortunately, these coat hooks are no longer available.
Click here to browse through our current range!
In the laundry, we opted for open shelving over the L-shaped bamboo bench. With their streamlined style and industrial feel, the smart cube frames worked perfectly to add extra shelving without encroaching on the bench space.
So whether you’re starting from scratch with a new laundry or mudroom, or you’re renovating an existing space, there’s a stack of ideas out there to help create the zone you need! We had so much fun planning this reno and choosing all the bits and pieces to make our family life a bit easier!
Article supplied by Kelly McDonough, The Styling Mama
Images taken by Elouise van Riet-Gray
