Last week I shared our design plans for the kitchen. Today we’re moving on to the combined pantry, laundry and mudroom at Sunrise Farm.
Here’s where the room is, in relation to the rest of the house:
As you can see, it’s conveniently located next to the kitchen with only a doorway separating the two. It’s basically an extension of the kitchen, seeing how the kitchen has somewhat limited storage.
Here’s a couple before photos:
The combined pantry, laundry and mudroom will have a section for food storage on the left, as soon as you walk into the room. That’s also where I’ll hide small appliances, so they’re not taking up precious real estate in the kitchen. I want to have both concealed and open storage, so I’m contemplating a hutch situation. The shelves will house my collection of beautifully organized cans and jars with various dry goods. The concealed storage below will hide the not-so-pretty things.
Then we’ll have the washer and dryer under the window, with a counter on top for sorting clothes. Then we’ll have the same storage set up as the pantry – but this one will serve as a linen closet and will hold paper towels, toilet paper, extra bedding, towels, etc. If you recall, we eliminated the linen closet in the master bathroom in order to fit a freestanding tub. So now, all extra bedding will need to be stored in this room.
I also imagine my collection of baskets living here, but if I’m being honest, they’ll probably need a separate room to fit, ha!
We’re starting a garden this year, and I can just imagine having all of my gardening tools here, too, along with beautiful harvesting baskets and maybe even canned goods if I get to that level.
On the opposite wall, directly after you walk into the room we’ll have some base cabinets with the most gorgeous brass sink you’ve ever seen. The 3-D design program I use is somewhat limited and didn’t have an option for a brass sink. (Imagine that!) But just picture the most beautiful brass sink you’ve ever laid eyes on.
I love that there will be counter space here on which to put groceries as soon as they’re brought in from the garage. The dry goods can immediately go on the pantry shelves, and refrigerated items will go to the fridge, which is conveniently located right outside this room.
It’s all steps away from each other, so even though technically the kitchen and pantry/laundry/mudroom are separate spaces, they’ll function as an extension of one another.
Instead of adding wall storage, I opted for a large mirror and sconces for a beautiful moment of symmetry above the sink. But there’s also a highly functional intention behind that decision. The mirror will bounce natural light from the window on the opposite wall, making this room feel brighter and bigger. Maybe down the line we can add more and bigger windows. At this point, however, our window budget is spent, since we upgraded the windows in the living room, all 3 bedrooms and garage to keep the front facade of the house consistent.
After the laundry sink situation we have the door to the garage, and after that is 7 feet of floor-to-ceiling cabinets to house coats and shoes. Welcome to the “mudroom” part of the room. From the mudroom lockers all the way to the opposite wall we’ll install one, maybe two, rows of pegs for more convenient grab-and-go access to everyday coats, gardening tools, broom, etc.
On the opposite wall, right under the peg board, we’ll have a laundry basket on wheels. I also imagine this is where our robot vacuum (and regular vaccum) will live. Frankly, I’m not a fan of having both of those things on display at all times, so maybe I’ll come up with a way of storing them inside one of the floor-to-ceiling cabinets.
The lower row of pegs, in case you’re wondering, is for our littles ones. I love having hooks within their reach to encourage independence and responsibility. I hope to have a basket for shoes with each of their names on it inside the tall cabinets, too.
That about concludes our tour of this small but mighty space. As you can see, this room will have multiple functions, so we are utilizing every square inch!
This space is actually a little longer than the kitchen, but more narrow. Because it’s narrow, we had to get creative with the layout. We had to make sure that if one side of the room had deeper-than-standard elements (like the washer and dryer), that the opposite wall had little to none in order to leave enough clearance. That’s precisely the reason we’re opting for more shallow cabinets to flank the laundry sink. Otherwise we won’t have enough – so that we have enough clearance for the washer door to open fully.
I know it can get confusing reading about spacial relation, so maybe I’ll get on stories later today and show you all I’m referring to here. Make sure you’re following @FOXYOXIE on Instagram!
Moodboard
Now, let’s talk about finishes.
I’m still undecided on the cabinets and the countertops here. But regardless of what I choose, the brass sink will be the pièce de résistance, as they say. I’m working with Ruvati on sourcing the sinks – an exciting collaboration I’ll tell you about soon!
It’s not that I’m undecided on the cabinetry, really. It’s more like we’re trying to achieve a custom look here for a ready-made price. So I haven’t found something that checks all the boxes yet. With the layout being so tricky, regular depth base cabinets are not an option. So we’ll either be cutting down ready-made cabinets to create shallow bases, or… getting creative in another way. We’re still exploring our options. So far I haven’t been able to find a ready-made base cabinet that’s less than 18 inches deep – which is what I need here.
The beautiful thing about this little inconvenience is that having those shallow cabinets on either side of the sink will allow me to get creative with the countertops. Remember the curved quartz backsplash we designed for the Greystone kitchen? I’m planning something similar for the countertop around the laundry sink. We had something very similar on our double vanity in the Greenfield master bathroom.
Either way, I want this space to feel a bit moody – unlike my go-to neutral kitchen aesthetic. I wouldn’t go as far as to say I’ll introduce bold colors here, though. Knowing myself, I couldn’t live with a colorful space for too long. But I do like the idea of off-whites, nudes, taupe, wood, brass mixed with a beautiful natural stone.
Beadboard | Brass Cafe Curtain Rod | Light-Filtering Beige Cafe Curtains | Walnut and Glass Storage Jars | Wall Sconces | Mirror | Brass Sink | Overhead Sconce | Faucet | Washer | Dryer | Gray Storage Cabinet with Shelves and 2 Doors
You are one talented lady! I have loved watching all your progress with all your homes! Now even better that it’s your dream home!
Thank you for sharing it all!
Wow! That’s a lot of storage and function packed into a beautiful room!