Giving your laundry area a built-in look..

Let’s talk about hiding washers and dryers. Our new house had a fairly large bathroom downstairs next to our main bedroom. It was right around the corner from our bedroom. Since we had no en suite, this also served as our private bath. When we moved in the layout was galley style. There was a toilet on the left, vanity on the right, then beyond that laundry area on left and tub/shower on right. We wanted to hide the washer dryer and give the bathroom a more finished look.

If we put up a wall in front of the washer/dryer it would have created a very narrow hallway effect between that and the tub. I started searching for ideas on the internet. I found lots of examples of built-in that not only hid the appliances but created a folding area and made the entire area more open.

My husband started by installing the washer and dryer. He then started building a framework around them with 1×2″ lumber. It was kind of like using an erector set; screwing cross pieces across the back at the top height, adding cross pieces to the side walls at the counter height, and creating a frame to slide between the two to support the counter.

We have a junk store near us that specializes in salvaging solid panel doors at $20 each. We cut down two of them to use here. The counter pieces can be removed so we wanted those pieces to be constructed of a lighter weight wood. We ended up using cedarclapboards, stained in driftwood. We’re still debating if we should leave those gray or stain them solid whit e to blend with the doors and shelves. We use baskets for all our towel and laundry product storage. Here are some pictures of the finished project.

Flip-up panels to access controls