They Rebuilt This Laundry Closet With IKEA Cabinets and Better Hanging Space
Old cabinets filled the upper wall of this laundry closet, but they did little to solve its storage problems. Clothes could hang only along one side from a shower rod, while exposed plumbing, linoleum flooring, and unfinished paint added to a setup left by the previous owner.
Imgur user TimoniousFunk kept the side-by-side washer and dryer layout but removed everything around the machines. The project opened the wall, moved the washer connections, replaced the flooring, and brought IKEA cabinetry into the closet.
Finished storage uses IKEA Sektion cabinets with Bodbyn doors, open cubbies, a hanging rod, and lighting above the machines. The appliances returned to the same footprint, but the wall around them now handles both enclosed storage and hanging clothes.
Old Cabinets Left Little Room for Hanging Clothes
Cabinets already occupied much of the wall above the washer and dryer, so lack of storage wasn’t caused by an empty laundry closet. Their position left the remaining hanging space pushed against the wall, where a shower rod held a small group of clothes and hangers.
Laundry baskets, an iron, and other items ended up on top of the machines. TimoniousFunk wanted to keep the appliances side by side while making better use of the wall above them.
Removing Everything Exposed More Than an Empty Wall
Washer, dryer, cabinets, and hanging rod came out before the new storage went in. With the closet empty, the old linoleum floor, washer connections, dryer vent, outlets, and marks left by the previous installation were exposed.
Removing the existing setup also gave TimoniousFunk access to plumbing that needed attention before the machines could return.
Washer Connections Were Lowered Inside the Wall
Opening the drywall around the washer box exposed the hot and cold water lines along with the drain. The existing valves sat higher than TimoniousFunk wanted, so this part of the renovation became a plumbing project before work moved back to storage.
Lowering the connections helped keep more of the plumbing behind the machines while retaining access from the front.
A New Washer Box Replaced the Old Connections
New recessed connections brought the hot and cold valves together inside one box. Wall framing around the opening provided support before drywall closed the larger cutout.
This change wasn’t visible once the washer and dryer returned, but it cleaned up part of the setup that had bothered TimoniousFunk from the start.
Drywall Closed Around the New Plumbing Box
New drywall closed the larger opening around the washer box, leaving only the valves and drain exposed. Joint compound and sanding followed as the patched section began blending back into the surrounding wall.
Once paint went on, little evidence of the larger opening remained. The plumbing work that required cutting into the wall would sit out of sight once the machines returned.
New Flooring Replaced the Old Linoleum
His wife painted the laundry closet gray-blue while TimoniousFunk installed flooring, baseboards, and T-molding left over from work elsewhere in the house. That reuse also kept those materials out of the roughly $600 project cost he reported.
Wall repairs remained visible at this stage. TimoniousFunk noted that his drywall patch wasn’t level and that matching the texture on a 20-year-old wall proved difficult, but he chose not to retexture the entire room.
IKEA Cabinets Framed an Open Space Above the Machines
IKEA Sektion cabinets with Bodbyn doors went across the upper wall and down both sides. Open cubbies at the bottom of the side cabinets created spots for folded towels and smaller laundry items without requiring another door.
Cabinet depth required an adjustment during installation. TimoniousFunk first bought 18-inch-deep cabinets but found the doors projected about 1/8 inch too far to open as planned. The final setup used 15-inch-deep cabinets.
Hanging Space Now Runs Across the Center
Washer and dryer returned beneath the cabinets, leaving the center of the wall open for a proper hanging rod. Instead of pushing hanging clothes against one side of the closet, the new rod stretches between the cabinets above the machines.
Lighting beneath the upper cabinets illuminates the hanging area and appliance tops. Open cubbies keep folded items within reach, while cabinet doors hide supplies that once competed for space around the machines.
TimoniousFunk put the project cost at around $600, though flooring, baseboard, and T-molding were already available and weren’t included in that figure.
Same Footprint Now Handles More Laundry Storage
Side-by-side machines still occupy almost the same amount of floor space as before. Most of the change happened above them, where the old cabinets and wall-mounted shower rod gave way to storage built around how the closet gets used.
IKEA cabinets added enclosed storage without giving up the center of the wall, while the rod turned that open section into usable hanging space. Instead of expanding the laundry area, the project found more function inside the opening that was already there.
Which change makes the bigger difference here: the new cabinet layout or the full-width hanging rod?
Image credits: TimoniousFunk / Imgur