Laundry rooms are workhorse spaces, but who says workhorse spaces can’t also be beautiful? You deserve a place that you look forward to spending hours in every week. A fresh paint job and wallpaper go a long way toward making your laundry room look pulled together, but it’s the attention to detail that really makes a space look high-end. Below, I’m sharing five designer-approved details that will help elevate your laundry room from layman to luxury.
Skirted Surfaces
The fastest—and arguably chicest—way to instantly elevate your laundry room is by adding a skirt. Skirt your sink or skirt your appliances—it doesn’t really matter as long as the skirt is adequately ruffled. Use performance fabrics for a no-worry, polished look or channel a more humble feel with a repurposed vintage find such as a grain or feed sack.
RELATED: Everything You Need to Know About Skirted Sinks
A Dark Wood Worktable
If you have to do the dreaded task of folding laundry, you at least deserve a chic surface to do it on! A beautiful wood worktable—just like the pieces that have been trending in kitchens over the last year or so—is just what your laundry room needs. If you’re short on space (literally), opt for a gateleg table that folds down and away when not in use and still looks chic against a wall.
Open Shelving Filled with Antiques
The best ideas blend beauty and function, which is exactly why open shelving in a laundry room is the subtle, useful, and inexpensive upgrade your laundry room has been missing. Display your favorite pitchers, bud vases, and need-to-be-polished silver and brass to add an air of elegance.
RELATED: Our Hall-of-Fame Open Shelving Ideas
Matching Storage Baskets
If you’re embracing open shelving, you’re definitely going to need some chic baskets to corral all your non-beautiful items like detergents, stain removers, and dryer balls. Go with simple woven baskets for a grandmillennial-approved touch or use metal wire baskets for a farmhouse feel. Don’t want to see the clutter? Line the metal baskets with a thick canvas liner for a shabby chic twist.
A Butcher-Block Countertop
This inexpensive, hardworking upgrade adds a handsome spin to any laundry room. Lay a slab across the top of your front-loading dryer and washer, like designer Christina Salway did here in her Hudson Valley farmhouse’s pass-through laundry room, to give your space a built-in feel. That the work surface can handle accidental bleach spills is just a bonus!
RELATED: Butcher-Block Countertops: Pros, Cons, and Everything Else You Should Know
Anna Logan is the Senior Homes & Style Editor at Country Living, where she has been covering all things home design, including sharing exclusive looks at beautifully designed country kitchens, producing home features, writing everything from timely trend reports on the latest viral aesthetic to expert-driven explainers on must-read topics, and rounding up pretty much everything you’ve ever wanted to know about paint, since 2021. Anna has spent the last seven years covering every aspect of the design industry, previously having written for Traditional Home, One Kings Lane, House Beautiful, and Frederic. She holds a degree in journalism from the University of Georgia. When she’s not working, Anna can either be found digging around her flower garden or through the dusty shelves of an antique shop. Follow her adventures, or, more importantly, those of her three-year-old Maltese and official Country Living Pet Lab tester, Teddy, on Instagram.
