ADDING BUILT-IN shelves next TO OUR washer & dryer

laundry space update? Don’t mind if I do. To jog your memory, so far we’ve replaced the washer/dryer, taken down window shutters & cluttered shelves together with frosting the door (all here), filled some ceiling cracks, as well as painted the space the exact same color (Benjamin Moore’s Sesame) as the kitchen. as well as voila, we’re all as much as speed.

Well, if you truly want to be as much as speed, now it appears like this:

But let’s back up so I can blather on about exactly how those shelves concerned be. even during our preliminary walk-through of this home we chose to maximize that sliver of area with some built-ins to add a great deal much more function.
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Did we mention the space is just 3.5′ wide? That implies the washer as well as dryer doors wouldn’t even open if they were put on the other wall under the window or fuse box. So if anyone’s still having difficulty getting exactly how narrow this area is, I broke out my spider monkey skills (and crazy toes) to demonstrate. Don’t try this at home, kids.

 Since the space is so skinny, we understood adding that vertical storage next to the washer would be essential (we can’t truly go “out” for worry of bashing into fold-out shelving or counters or drying racks – so we may also go “up” instead!). speaking of up, because the built-in cupboards above the dryer are totally out of Sherry’s reach (poor thing, however at least she can reach the dryer buttons), much more available storage was just the thing. as well as because no ready-made bookshelf skinny sufficient to in shape into that 14.5″ space won us over (they were all as well shallow to enable us to take full advantage of the nook), we opted to develop something instead. It definitely couldn’t be harder than the behemoth console that we built, right?

Wrong.

Just kidding. It certainly was easier. So here’s a quick-ish recap of exactly how it went down. very first I determined the area as well as marked up a bit sketch that I did with a few measurements. I’ll pause while you marvel at my technical drawing skills.

After much consideration, we opted to utilize the best wall (with the window on it) as side #1 of the bookshelf as well as to develop a vertical divider of sorts to be side #2. We desired the whole thing to be as deep as the appliances, however then it would partially cover the window. So instead we’re chose to split it. The bottom half would be washer-depth as well as the top-half (above the window sill) would be window-depth. Confusing, I know. as well as I’m sure this drawing below (which assisted me identified wood cuts) doesn’t help. however right here it is anyways. Enjoy!

I got the men at house Depot to make many of my cuts, so here’s the bulk of my wood stack by the time I got home. We utilized whitewood with 1 x 2″ poplar boards mixed in (since they don’t offer whitewood planks that thin) just like the console. likewise like the console, I’d be screwing two 1 x 12″ boards side-by-side to get a larger board for the bottom as well as top parts of my vertical divider. as well as then a 1 x 10″ trimmed with 1 x 2″s for the middle shelf that would link the two divider halves. Not pictured, nor sketched above, are some much more 1 x 12″ boards for my shelves as well as some miscellaneous 1 x 2″s for trim.

The middle shelf would sit flush with the window sill, so I cut as well as connected the 1 x 2″ trim pieces so it’d leave a sill-sized notch. right here I am testing the placement, which thankfully worked out truly well.

Then I screwed bottom half of the divider directly into the “floor “(which is really a piece of plywood that runs under the appliances for additional stability – much more on that here) as well as into the middle shelf utilizing my Kreg jig. It hung over the plywood a bit (I failed to remember to determine the added trim on the middle shelf when cutting my board) however I resolved that later with one more piece of 1 x 2″ trim on the floor to surface things off.

You can see above that I screwed in a couple of pieces of wood on the back as well as side walls for the middle shelf to rest on. That’s since the vertical divider doesn’t go all the method back to the wall (to leave some gain access to to the washer as well as the dryer duct).

Speaking of which, I updated our old aluminum-foil-ish dryer duct to a safer stiff all-aluminum version from Lowe’s (since we hear they’re less of a terminate hazard). It was an simple switch (remove the other guy, clamp new new one in location with metal clamps as well as metal wall piece, that’s it).

Here’s the top divider now attached, just like the bottom guy. notice exactly how he’s set back to be even with the window? Is this making much more sense now? It’s kind of a two-tiered profile so it utilizes all of the depth that we can utilize without oddly overlapping the window.

As for the rest of the shelves, we desired them to be adjustable as well as removable. adjustable because, well, in some cases you want to change your shelves dagnabbit. Removable since it’ll assist us acquire gain access to to the back of the washer/dryer if requirement be. So I bought four 6ft lengths of metal shelf tracks at house Depot (the exact same kind that we have in our built-ins as well as master closet) as well as snipped them with metal cutters to the best lengths.

The area between the divider as well as the wall was shaping as much as be a smidge larger than my 1 x 12″ shelf pieces, so I added some extra 1 x 2s to bridge the gap. In the long run, I believe this really make the metal tracks much more protected (since otherwise they’d just be nailed into drywall). So perhaps a pleased accident?

A not so pleased accident? Realizing at this point that it’d be extremely challenging to paint all of the wood in place. So out everything came so we might gain access to whatever much more easily. The great news is that it was quite quick as well as simple to take out, which will be appreciated if ever it has to find out for some major appliance maintenance.

In the sunroom (the laundry space is waaay as well little to attempt to paint these huge pieces) we used two quick coats of primer (Kilz No-VOC) complied with by two coats of white paint (Olympic premium No-VOC semi-gloss off-the-shelf white paint) on all of the framing for the built-ins to make sure we were getting our whitest white without any type of wood bleed going on. however after lazily painting the shelves with just two coats of paint the next day (no primer) we realized we most likely would’ve been fine without primer on the framing too. Oh well. It definitely didn’t hurt.

Oh, as well as we likewise painted that side wall on the best white (to make it look much more like it was part of the bookshelf). however we left the back alone for a shot of color that would be seen with the shelves.

Then I reinstalled everything, nailed in my metal shelf tracks, added the clips, as well as took them for a spin.

On the bottom half I likewise added a bit lip at the back of the shelf since, unlike the top, they don’t go all the method to the wall. This will ideally avoid things from moving off as well as getting lost back in there. however if something does slip back there over the lip somehow, we can still quickly retrieve it thanks to the shelves being removable.

But sufficient “how we developed it” mumbo jumbo. Let’s inspect out the completed product:

That 2″ space between the appliances as well as the shelf was deliberate to ensure that when the washer starts a-rockin’ things on the shelves don’t begin a-knockin’ (if you understand what I mean). Actually, that’s actually what I mean. It’s not a euphemism.

Admittedly she’s not the prettiest thing in the world when she’s empty (I believe I would’ve favored the look of fixed all-the-same-size shelves). however the function of adjustable shelving made a great deal much more sense, as well as we can now store something little as well as something tall without fretting that things won’t fit.

And there’s no rejecting that we’ve gained a great deal of usable storage area when it concerns the max-depth that we worked difficult to obtain. We haven’t rather figured out all that we’ll put right here (besides the apparent detergent, iron, etc – perhaps a basket that can be utilized for winter season gloves & scarves as well as a larger one for flip flops as well as sandals). just for fun Sherry went ahead as well as fancied it up a bit with some – you guessed it – baskets.

Along with a few other things we already had (magazine files, a scalloped bowl, a jar full of clothespins, etc).

We’re toying with the concept of this ending up being our new decrease area for mail, coupons, as well as other miscellany. So perhaps it’ll look such as this in the long run?

As for the expense on this one, it certainly was much more than if we’d gone with a not-quite-right existing service (like this narrower, shallower version from Ikea). however we completely believe it was worth getting something that looks much more seamless as well as truly makes the most of the area (so we can utilize the full width as well as depth as well as change the shelves to personalize it even even more whenever requirement be). Here’s the ol’ budget plan breakdown:

Wood (from house Depot & Lowe’s): $59

Metal shelf tracks & shelf clips (from house Depot): $15

Primer & paint (Kilz No-VOC primer & Olympic No-VOC paint): already owned

Baskets, magazine files, the bowl, etc: already owned

TOTAL: $74

Oh, as well as the aluminum dryer shift duct was $10 from Lowe’s.

As for our laundry space to-do list, these days it’s looking much more like this:

Paint the strange brown quarter round near the baseboards glossy white

Redo all the dinged up trim (also in semi-gloss white)

Paint the walls

Replace our dryer hose with a safer all-metal one

Add adjustable built-in shelving in that nook next to the stacked washer & dryer

Replace the hinges as well as knobs on the upper cabinetry

Get a new light fixture <- diy something? perhaps a little chandelier? Add a window treatment (maybe a homemade one?) Add other practical storage near the door for shoes, Burger’s leash, etc Hang some art to keep it joyful as well as obscure the huge metal fuse box Even though we’re only about halfway through, we’re feeling quite great that in the past few weeks, this area has already gone from this… …to this: As for where we’ll store the ironing board- we have a plan for that. much more details to find after we deal with it (we wanna make sure it works first, haha). In the meantime we’d like to hear what storage service you’re loving (or lusting after) in your laundry space. got some wonderful cupboards or drawers? A awesome collapsible drying rack or ironing board? Your extremely own laundry sink? We understand there are some pimped out laundry spaces out there, so let’s hear it. More messages from young home Love