50 Small Laundry Room Ideas That Make Your Job Easier

This marigold yellow multipurpose utility room by Stephanie Sabbe in House Beautiful's 2021 Whole Home features a laundry corner with a single unit washer-dryer appliance from LG. All the controls for both the washer and the dryer are at eye level for easy access, speeding up household chores.

Barn doors painted a crisp white contrast and hung from contrasting cream hardware give easy access to this shabby chic laundry closet designed by Leanne Ford Interiors. Barn doors save space in the adjoining areas the way pocket doors do, but with a modern farmhouse twist. If you love the rustic look, they're ideal for a small laundry room design.

A pretty blue paisley wallpaper creates the perfect transition from the laundry room to the living room in this home designed by Anna Spiro. Roman shades in a blue ticking stripe fabric and blue tile flooring make this utility room pretty enough to peek through an interior glass door—but the glass is backed with matching ticking stripe fabric for privacy.

Designer Tammy Randall Wood of Interior Archaeology made sure to carve out a special room for laundry and flower arranging in her Spanish colonial home in the Santa Monica mountains. The laundry room features zellige wall tiles and a soapstone countertop and backsplash. A glass-enclosed cabinet allows her to see all her vase options while arranging flowers.

Now this is a clever way to hide a mess! The luscious red velvet curtain in this eclectic kitchen designed by Tamsin Johnson Interiors keeps storage spaces and appliances out of sight. Not only is a curtain more eye-catching than a door, but it's easier to install yourself. If you have a similar setup where your laundry space lives within a larger room, consider hanging a rod and curtain to hide it. You could even hang curtains from the ceiling to section off the area if your appliances aren't in a closet or niche.

In our 2023 Whole Home, designer Jenna Gross of Colordrunk Designs gave an in-law apartment a lively makeover. Within the vibrant abode is a laundry closet where a large-scale-print Stroheim wallpaper covers the wall. The washer/dryer combo unit by GE Profile doesn't need to be vented to the exterior, making it easy to slide into any compact spot with an outlet.

Tile floors are easy to clean (which definitely makes life easier in a laundry room), and they have style and personality. Here, Heidi Caillier laid an angular chocolate-and-white pattern that speaks to the beautiful veining of the marble countertops.

While the candy-colored pendants, sweet gingham cafe curtains, and prim wallpaper (including the blue floral one reflected in the mirror!) are what make this laundry room by Anna Spiro so lovely, the practical elements should be celebrated too. It's conveniently located off a terrace that's perfect for air-drying, and the brick floors are super durable and will age beautifully.

In a small laundry room, every inch of counter space is precious, which means you should use the walls and ceilings too. A hanging drying rack keep things out of the way in this space designed by Sarah Solis. (We love this one from Devol Kitchens!)

Designer David Kaihoi used some seriously smart storage solutions to make his New York City apartment feel like home—including creating this compact laundry "room" in his closet. That way, when he's not doing laundry, he can close the door on these eyesore appliances.

In a pint-sized laundry room, Dee Murphy tucked unsightly laundry essentials behind a fluted-glass cabinet door. Fluted or frosted glass obscures items you don't want to display but is visually lighter and brighter than painted-wood cabinet doors.

This laundry room designed by April Tomlin Interiors is full of lessons, but perhaps the most important one is on full display: Buy in bulk! You'll always need laundry detergent and cleaning supplies, so if you have enough storage space, the money (and trips to the store) you'll save buying in bulk is definitely worth it.

This tiny laundry room from Plain English Kitchens proves that traditional simplicity never goes out of style. Though old-fashioned, it has all the modern amenities. A single scalloped pendant lights the room, and butcher block counters make for a durable worktop. Rust-toned paint is dressed up by a brass faucet.

Here's a great pet-friendly small laundry room design. Emilie Munroe sourced the chic food and water bowl drawer as well as the orb bed from Meyou Paris. Instead of building in cabinets below the worktop, she left room to store an old-fashioned rolling canvas laundry bin.

This small laundry room designed by Gail Davis is bursting with character, from the colorful wallpaper to the framed artwork, blue trim, and striped penny tile floors. And it's proof you don't need to build custom cabinets and shelves to have extra surfaces for folding: Just slide in a Lucite chair! They take up virtually zero visual real estate.

If you have a large home—or family—consider doubling your machine count to buy back some of your time. In this perfectly preppy laundry room designed by Mark D. Sikes, the many shades of blue set a calming tone.

This neutral laundry room designed by Gil Schafer exudes English-country timelessness from the exposed hinges and farmhouse sink to the traditional flush mount light fixtures. Though it isn't visible from the kitchen, the cabinetry mimics that of the kitchen for a consistent look in the home.

Designers Andrew and Yvonne Pojanni tucked a side-by-side washer and dryer behind closed doors in their bathroom; the cabinets are painted the same color as the walls to help the storage blend in. This is a great way to hide front-load appliances in plain sight in an exposed space or open floor plan. Guests will never guess this is where you spend your time on laundry day.

"I really wanted it to feel like our grandparents' homes," Lauren Atkins told designer April Tomlin of her design objective when redecorating the family home she share with her husband, Thomas Rhett, and their three children. "Their homes are what inspired us to build a home for our family and friends," she added. And that ethos is applied even in the laundry room. Tomlin opted for a vintage-looking sink with an old-fashioned skirt and retro-inspired laundry cart. Those touches make chores feel special—folding someone else's clothes is an act of love, after all!

You can still look at something pretty even if your sorting and folding workstation is lacking in the window department—that is, it doesn't enjoy a nice view or even one at all. Here, Joy Cho lined her laundry room walls with a whimsical tile backsplash, which makes doing mind-numbing tasks much more pleasurable.