Improving your apartment, making the space more economical and practical - isn’t this what every housewife or owner strives for?
Separate laundry room, equipped with everything you need - it’s very convenient!
A separate laundry room in the apartment has the following advantages:
- Convenience. A dryer on the balcony, a washing machine in the kitchen, and all the bathroom accessories in the bedroom - this does not add convenience. Grouping all of these things into one small room will make tidying up your home more enjoyable.
- Space saving. If all the things needed for washing and drying are located together, this will significantly increase the space in the remaining rooms.
- Aesthetics. Without ironing boards and dryers located throughout the apartment, the apartment will look more comfortable.
Where to place the laundry room?
If you live in a private house, the ideal place for a laundry room may be a heated basement, understairs or attic. Be sure to ensure good ventilation. It is ideal if the utility room has a window for quick ventilation.
If you are the owner of a city apartment that does not have extra square meters, you can equip a laundry area in the bathroom or kitchen. In this case, you can hide the washing machine, baskets and detergents behind beautiful facades so that the utility unit does not stand out from the background of the apartment’s interior. Niches, deep cabinets and a dressing room are perfect for the same purposes. At the same time, household supplies can be placed on the cabinet doors to save space.
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A city dweller has a hard time imagining life in a country house: he really doesn’t understand that the rooms in a house can have different functionality. In a typical city apartment, a family has two or three rooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, a hallway and, if they are lucky, a small storage room. And when it comes to building a country house, the city dweller is lost: after all, all dreams can be realized: a library with a fireplace, a gym, a cinema hall... But during the operation of the house, a hangover often occurs. It turns out that some premises could be done without, but some are sorely lacking! This article tells you what the composition of premises in a private house should be.
- What rooms should be in a private house
- Features of designing the premises of a small private house
- Features of designing premises of a medium-sized private house
- Features of designing premises of a large private house
- Recommended area of the house
There is no room for categoricalness in the matter of planning the premises of a private house. A country house is built for a comfortable life, and it should be comfortable for those who will live in it. Not a single architect will say that any country house should have so many rooms, while the kitchen should have this area, and the guest bedroom should have this area. The ergonomics of premises is based on a number of data, including human parameters.
Finishing and decor of the room
Few people bring a lot of pleasure to household chores. As a rule, this is a boring and not the most pleasant pastime. The utility room should not only be comfortable, but also beautiful, then household chores will become much more enjoyable for you. Hang bright posters and photographs, cover the walls with stylish wallpaper or paint them in your favorite color, choose cute laundry baskets, boxes for small items, and pour cleaning products into beautiful bottles. Create a comfortable atmosphere for yourself, and three hours of ironing will fly by!
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Design of a small storage room in an apartment
A small but properly planned pantry can accommodate an unexpectedly large number of things. To do this, you just need to follow a few rules. When arranging racks, shelves and drawers, it is necessary to use every centimeter of space, without leaving mediocre empty space.
Storage systems must be equipped for the things that will actually be there; their strict systematization is necessary. Otherwise, a small space can absorb a large number of things, but it will become impossible to find them.
Features of accommodation
One small closet can go a long way in keeping your entire apartment tidy. If it is not there, then it is better to organize it. During the construction of panel houses, the so-called “Khrushchev” buildings, such premises were immediately included in the projects. Some storage rooms were given about 3 square meters of usable area.
This structure was located between the hallway and the hall, and was equipped with doors from both rooms. This layout can be rearranged by combining two rooms into one. The entrance should be made from a convenient side, using sliding doors like a wardrobe. Any storage room provided by the builders can be modernized up to the point of dismantling the walls and changing the configuration of an existing room.
The next option for placing storage areas could be the dead end of the corridor. It is laid with plasterboard. It is better to equip the door to the pantry with the same model as the other rooms.
The option with a niche is extremely simple; you should arrange sliding doors and equip the resulting space with racks and shelves.
Sometimes a small, insignificant room is given over to storage space. This option allows you to implement many ideas. For example, combine it with a workplace or make a multi-themed storage unit, even storage for bicycles and skateboards. In such a room, in addition to shelving, you can install a fitness machine.
In a very small apartment, a mezzanine arranged above the door can be a way out. They are not as convenient to use as a full-fledged pantry, but they perform their storage function conscientiously.
In some cases, part of the room is used for storage. If it is narrow and long, fence off the dead-end side. The footage will depend on the capabilities of the room; it is important that the design does not compromise the interior.
In a large square room, a corner is fenced off using drywall. Such a structure can be in the shape of a triangle or look like a rectangular box. The oval wall of the pantry looks nicer.
If there is space in the apartment for a wardrobe, it should be deepened or expanded, depending on the capabilities of the room. The pantry can be organized directly in the closet. Sometimes balconies or loggias are equipped for storage rooms.
In private houses, precious space under the stairs is empty, which can be arranged for storing things. As the steps rise, this space can accommodate anything from small boxes to a mop, stepladder, heater and vacuum cleaner. In any apartment, if you look, you can find a useful area for storing things.
Small house according to Neufert
Small one-apartment house “according to Neufert”:
- must consist of rooms with dimensions of the minimum acceptable dimensions;
- the furniture in them is arranged as rationally as possible;
- zones with different functionality are combined in one room. The kitchen can be combined with a dining room, or a niche for cooking can be provided in the living room, etc.;
- A small number of spacious rooms and a small hall are better than many small “cages”.
With this approach, one-story houses are preferable (you won’t have to waste the house’s space on stairs). If the house is still two-story or with an attic, the staircase in it always occupies a minimum area and is located with maximum benefit - for example, a stairwell can be a barrier to the cold tending to penetrate into the rooms.
Where did the construction recommendations come from for the width of the stairs in a private house to be at least 90 cm? We take the book “The Overseas Enemy” by Neufert: passages between walls with hand luggage. With a small amount of luggage, the minimum distance is 800 or 875. That's where 90 cm comes from. In a private house, a staircase width of 80 cm is allowed, although it is clear that this is not so convenient. Therefore, if the dimensions allow, then it is better to make a staircase with a width of 120 cm, or even 135 cm. With limited dimensions, no less than 90 cm. This, by the way, is the width without fencing.
The architect emphasizes that although a square house is more economical than a rectangular one, a rectangular one may turn out to be more convenient (very often on narrow plots).
Purpose
Storage rooms vary in their purpose and before equipping them, you need to decide for what purpose they will be used. It would be wrong to store food and household chemicals or clothes and work tools in one place:
In addition to clothes, the dressing room may contain bed linen, towels, pillows, blankets and an ironing board. Such a room will relieve the interior of a bedroom or living room from several bulky cabinets.
To store vegetables comfortably, the pantry must have ventilation. Cereals must be kept in tightly closed jars to prevent the penetration of pests. It is better to store preserved food on the lower shelves, it is cooler there.
A small workplace with a chair and a tabletop can be surrounded by shelves for folders and computer equipment, and drawers for office items. You can work calmly in such a room, even if there are children in the house.
An example of a universal 10 by 10 house layout for permanent residence
What is convenient about this 10 by 10 house layout?
First floor:
Entrance through a small porch (2 m²).
Tambour - 2.27 m² (room for heat regulation of air from the street). On the left along the wall there is a place for a hanger - here we leave outerwear and shoes in which the owners have just arrived and are about to go again (for example, you are taking care of the garden and came in for something for a minute, the children are walking and came to drink water, etc. .). On the right is the boiler room. It's convenient that it's close to the entrance. Plus there is access from home (no need to get dressed and go outside). The plan shows the opening of the door, the door is always closed, there is often no need to go to the boiler room.
Corridor. On the left at the entrance there is space for a bedside table/shelf for a purse and keys. Along the right wall there are wardrobes with sliding doors. In the center of the closet there is a passage to the dressing room. Fur coats/coats that are actively worn this season are hung in these wardrobes (sections on the left and right). The dressing room (6.86 m²) stores clothes and shoes from other seasons. You can also leave the clothes of a large number of guests in it if they all came to the event at once.
Lighting and ventilation
It doesn’t matter what will be stored in the pantry - clothes or vegetables, lack of ventilation, high humidity will eventually destroy all its contents. In such a room a favorable microclimate will be created for the appearance of fungus and bacterial colonies that will ruin walls, furniture and things. In addition to ventilation, the pantry needs thoughtful lighting.
Small storage rooms are well stocked; finding the right thing in them is more difficult than in a spacious room. Lamps should be positioned so that all drawers and shelves fall within the lighting area.
The simplest ventilation option is to ventilate using a window, removing stagnant air masses due to natural draft. Air circulation occurs as follows: fresh streams will enter when windows are opened for ventilation or through micro-slits in the frame (plastic bags require a window ventilator). The exhaust air will move around the apartment to the hood. This room should not be closed hermetically to ensure the unimpeded movement of air masses.
If there is no window, then when equipping the pantry it is necessary to create an exhaust duct. Air will enter through valves on the wall, and air will be removed through an exhaust hood in one of the rooms. You can install a transfer valve to remove waste air masses on the opposite wall from the incoming flows. To install valves, the storage room must have a wall bordering the street.
Sometimes the pantry is located in a place where there is no way to organize the natural movement of air, and the smell and fungus begin to annoy. In this case, it is necessary to equip the room with forced ventilation. If it was not laid down at the stage of building the house, you should organize it yourself. To do this, a wall is broken through towards the street, a piece of plastic pipe is mounted, inside which a fan of the required power is installed. From the street, the hole is covered with a decorative grille.
To drain exhaust air, you can install an exhaust duct from the general ventilation system of the house into the pantry and install a fan at its opening. And for the influx of air masses, organize wall valves.
It is ineffective to illuminate a pantry without windows with one central chandelier: the shadow from the shelves will not make it possible to fully use the storage system. In this case, zoning small areas will solve the problem. The easiest option is to equip the lower parts of the shelves or the wall with LED strips . Installation is not difficult, and the benefits are noticeable: cool white light will help you see every little thing, you don’t even need to take boxes out of the pantry.
If the pantry serves as a laundry room, workshop or office, overhead lighting is indispensable. Only bright lighting will help you turn on the washing machine, sort laundry, use a workbench in the workshop or a desk in the office. The LED solution also works as central lighting. The efficiency and durability of LED lamps speaks in its favor.
In addition, LEDs do not emit heat and will not cause a fire, even if you forget to turn them off. In a cramped, crowded space, they can burn for hours.
An economical solution would be to place a single lamp with adjustable height in the closet. Mechanically, you can direct the lighting to the required shelves. If you don’t have the time or desire to install lamps and wiring, you can use wireless light bulbs.
LED lights consume little energy. Considering the intermittent need for lighting in the pantry, such lamps will last a long time. Any of the proposed options are practical, economical and viable.
Design ideas
The only pantry in the house involves storing various things, of course, not in the radical sense of the word, no one will store products with household chemicals, but placing a vacuum cleaner in a storage room or placing an ironing board in a workshop is quite possible.
Project
In order for a small closet to hold as many things as possible, you need to decide what will be there, then make a list of storage systems and a plan for their location in the space. It is better to make a specific drawing of all the drawers, racks, hooks and shelves. You should not forget to note the ventilation and lighting systems.
Plan and describe in detail finishing materials, fillings for storing things, what the entrance, ceiling and walls will look like. Such scrupulousness will help to calculate the financial part of the project even before the improvement of the storage room begins.
Repair
You can arrange the storage room yourself; you should start with repairs. Before finishing work, a ventilation system is organized and electrical wiring is laid, sockets and switches are installed, and all surfaces are treated with antifungal and antibacterial compounds. The walls, floor and ceiling are carefully leveled, otherwise the entire storage system will be installed with distortions.
To do this, the walls and ceiling must be finished with plaster or plasterboard. You can choose any decorative finish: wallpaper, painting, panels, etc.
The floor is leveled with cement or self-leveling screed. The floor finish can be linoleum, laminate or other materials. But it should be remembered that the coating occurs after the screed has completely dried, that is, after several weeks. If the floor is fairly level, screeding is not necessary.
Repair of a storage room located in a living room should be carried out using conventional building materials for residential premises, especially if it is an office storage room. Eco-friendly, breathable finishes are always a priority. In utility rooms you can use tiles or plastic.
You don't need to pay much attention to the color, but light colors look more cheerful.
Filling with storage systems
The decoration of the pantry with shelves and drawers occurs after the finishing materials have completely dried. All fillers can be purchased in special stores: from net boxes and hanging rods to racks of any size. But you should remember: when setting up a small storage room, it is important to use every centimeter of usable space.
It would be wise to avoid shelving; they are difficult to match to specific walls. A more organic way is to fill the pantry with shelves of different sizes, attached to the walls using corners and shelf holders. When installing long structures, chrome-plated pipes are used. The shelves themselves can be made of laminated chipboard. In construction stores you can make a computer simulation of the sheet and order its precise cutting.
The design of the structures that make up the storage system can be U-shaped, when the shelves go from entrance to entrance practically in a circle, or L-shaped, when filling the shelves with shelves occupies two walls. Chests of drawers, tables, and mirrors are built into some pantries.
The storage room can also be decorated with drawers, a clothes rail, a pantograph, hooks, fabric pockets for small items and other elements.
You can close the entrance to the pantry in many ways, the most budget-friendly of which is to decorate it with an ordinary screen to match the windows and play it up as a design idea. If the pantry is located in a corridor, from where doors lead to different rooms, it should also have the same linen. Most often, sliding structures are used, folding or swinging, the main thing is that the design of the room in which they are located is not disturbed.
Home Laundry Room: 25 Best Design Ideas
The services of public laundries are used mainly by large organizations or enterprises that need a large amount of clean linen, for example, hotels, hotels or hospitals. Some people also use public laundries, however, in modern, dynamic times, when you need to manage to do a thousand things at once, there is no need to waste your precious free time going to public laundries, since an excellent home laundry can be equipped at home.
In today's article, the Stylingroom team has prepared for you a selection of photographs of stylish, ergonomic and multifunctional home laundry rooms that will help you save money and make the most efficient use of the free space in the rooms of your house or apartment.
A successful combination of home laundry and study
Typically, a small room in a house or apartment is allocated for arranging a laundry room: a small room can be allocated for a laundry room, or a washing machine can be placed in the bathroom, kitchen, or dressing room. However, not many people know that a multifunctional and compact laundry room can be placed in the most seemingly unusual rooms and areas of the house, such as a home office, children's playroom, and living room. Owners of a house or apartment only need to remember that no matter where the home laundry room is located, it needs to be given no less attention in terms of interior design and style than other rooms of the house or apartment.
Do you want to decorate the rooms of your house or apartment with a home waterfall, fountain or pond? Then read our detailed article with the best aqua design ideas!
Eco-friendly wallpaper for the living room: non-toxic natural wallpaper for home interiors.
Don't know how to remodel your apartment? Then read our detailed article with photographs about a stylish, spacious apartment in Tel Aviv.
The photo below shows a stylish multifunctional laundry room from the designers of VanBrouck & Associates, who compactly placed washing machines and laundry baskets right in a small home office of a private home.
A good combination of a home office and a small laundry room.
Combining a laundry room and a home office is a great idea for those owners of a house or apartment who want to do several things at once: both household chores (namely laundry) and work itself. Also, an office in the laundry room is a great idea for those who want to have their own mini-office, but do not have enough free space in their house or apartment. All you need in this case is a small desk and chair, as well as a bookcase if necessary, which can easily be compactly placed in a small laundry room.
The designers of Francesca Owings Interior Design organized a small laundry room right in the open-plan office, which is also harmoniously combined with the living room of a private house. The home laundry room is separated from the rest of the house by white wooden doors, which can be closed if desired, hiding washing machines and laundry accessories from house guests.
Stylish laundry room combined with living room and office.
The photo below shows a multifunctional laundry room from the designers of Dream House Studios, who placed the washing machine in the kitchen combined with an office. A successful combination of three workspaces in one area of the house for those who want to have time to do everything at once!
Laundry room combined with kitchen and home office.
The designers of Abbey Construction Company organized a mini-laundry room in a small home office; if desired, the owner of the office can easily hide the laundry area with the help of a heavy curtain. The interior of the office is made in light, neutral colors and shades, which make it visually larger and more spacious.
Small home office with laundry area.
Properly selected lighting plays a big role in organizing a laundry room, as well as other areas of a house or apartment. The laundry room should have a sufficient amount of natural light, which can be obtained with the help of spacious windows to the floor, glass walls or doors, and skylights. The laundry room also needs to be equipped with the necessary amount of artificial lighting for the evening or winter season.
In the photo below we see another stylish laundry room, combined with both a home office and a kitchen area. The interior of the room was developed by designers from UB Kitchens – San Antonio. A small laundry room in light colors is designed in a modern style, a large window fills the room with ample lighting, and for the evening, the designers placed a row of bright lamps above the work desk.
Stylish laundry room combined with kitchen and home office.
The designers of the Case Design/Remodeling company organized in a small room of the house both a compact laundry room, a home office, and a small sitting area. The cozy room in light colors turned out to be very comfortable and stylish.
A small laundry room combined with an office.
The designers of Realty Restoration have organized a home laundry room and a small home office right at the entrance to the house; washing machines and laundry accessories are hidden from prying eyes by cabinet doors.
Small laundry room and office at the entrance to the house.
The ergonomic laundry room and home office in the next photo were designed by Helman Sechrist Architecture in a rustic style. The interior of a small room is dominated by warm, neutral tones and shades, as well as natural wood.
Compact laundry room and farmhouse office.
Home laundry for creative people
For those who like to make crafts, do-it-yourself accessories, sew, draw, or make something in their free time, a great idea is to organize a home laundry combined with a studio. This will give you more time to be creative while still getting your housework done on time.
In the photo below we see a stylish laundry room from Bruning Homes. The small room successfully combines a home laundry room and a mini-studio for the handicraft owner of the house.
Small laundry room in light colors.
Small laundry room combined with a mini-studio.
The designers of the Drury Design company organized both a home laundry and a sewing room in a small room of a private house.
Combination of sewing room and laundry room.
Many people mistakenly believe that a home laundry room is an exclusively functional space in the home, which should not be distinguished by beauty, style, or taste. However, when organizing a laundry room, it is necessary to remember that design harmony in a house or apartment is achieved by decorating absolutely all rooms, even purely functional ones, such as a laundry room, pantry, attic, garage.
Stylish kitchen combined with laundry room.
A successful combination of a small studio and a laundry room.
The designers of the company Brickmoon Design organized a laundry room, a home office and a studio in a small room of the house. The small room turned out to be very comfortable and cozy, and, of course, multifunctional.
Small laundry room, studio and home office.
The designers of Crisp Architects used a cozy, rustic style to decorate the interior of the home laundry room.
Small laundry room in rustic style.
Unusual design solutions
Home laundry can be organized in absolutely any room of the house or apartment, observing the following basic rules:
- The laundry room must be supplied with cold and hot water, as well as sewerage.
- A drain hole in the floor is a must.
- The home laundry room should have good ventilation; you can additionally install an exhaust fan.
Electrolux US designers placed a small compact laundry room right in the dressing room, combining washing machines with shelves and hangers for clothes!
Do you like Italian style and Italian furniture? Then read our article about Italian kitchens in the minimalist style.
Do you want to decorate your living room in green tones? Then read about the combination of green color in the interior and see detailed photographs.
You can find out everything about the interior of children's rooms in neutral gray tones here.
Laundry room in dressing room.
It is also important to remember that a home laundry room consists of several important elements:
- Washing machine.
- Clothes dryer.
- Baskets, containers for storing dirty linen.
- Small shelves, tabletops.
- Ironing board.
The shelves and countertops of the laundry room can be used to store household chemicals, as well as place freshly washed laundry.
Functional laundry room with ironing board.
Lee Kimball designers combined a home laundry room with a private home bathroom.
Home laundry combined with a bathroom.
In the interior of a home laundry room, the emphasis should be on color. Laundry rooms are usually not very large, so the right design decision would be to decorate the rooms in light colors and shades that visually expand the free space of the laundry rooms. Light colors and shades will also make your home laundry room feel fresh and clean.
Home laundry room in light colors and shades.
Small compact laundry room of a private house.
The designers of Artistic Renovations of Ohio placed a small laundry room in the owner's dog's room.
Pet room with home laundry.
A successful combination of a laundry room and a home storage room.
Laundry room in a small stylish kitchen.
Walker Woodworking designers have successfully combined a spacious walk-in closet and a functional home laundry room.
Small laundry room in the dressing room of the house.
The laundry room in the following photo from the designers of College City Design Build is located directly in the hallway of a small apartment.
Compact laundry room in the hallway of the apartment.
Photo gallery (28 photos):
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Beautiful examples
A small pantry for storing dishes and food is located in the kitchen. The filling of the shelves is organized right up to the ceiling.
Men's dressing room with built-in chest of drawers. Excellent wood-look interior design, the room is equipped with a mirror and several types of lamps.
Conveniently organized storage spaces under the stairs.
An example of arranging a storage room in a loggia.
Pantry in the little princess's room.
U-shaped storage system.
Cozy organized workspace in a small closet.
A pantry is a great opportunity to systematize the storage of many things and maintain order in the house. But from time to time it is necessary to get rid of everything unnecessary without regret; even a spacious pantry will not save you from eternal accumulation.
For an overview of the design of a small storage room in an apartment, see the following video.
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Dryer requirements
The dryer is usually used only for small items. In this case, preference can be given to metal mobile structures or wood products that are built into the set.
Separately, you should provide a place where you can hang things on hangers. For this purpose, it is necessary to install a rod in the laundry room on which hangers can be placed. This design is fixed between wall-mounted cabinets. For example, it can be placed above the sink. Thanks to this, you can wash off stains and immediately hang your wardrobe items on hangers.
Ideas for designing a storage room in an apartment (70 photos)
Such an inconspicuous, at first glance, room as a pantry is a compact storage facility for apartment residents. This is where you can rationally place a variety of household items, tools, implements and cleaning supplies, and arrange a dressing room, library or grocery compartment. Unlike private houses, where storage spaces are located in attics and basements, apartments often do not have sufficient footage. In this article we will look at the best ideas for arranging a pantry in various rooms, and also take a photo tour of successful designs.
Summarizing
When determining how many rooms there should be in a private house, designers often use the formula: number of permanent residents +1. This is a rough formula, but it can be easily adapted to a specific family: you have or are planning to have small children - in a few years they will need separate rooms. Relatives or friends stay for a long time - they need somewhere to sleep. The owner works at home - he needs an office. The housewife is obsessed with sports - it is better to give her a separate room for this. It is already difficult for parents to live alone - it is necessary to provide them with a comfortable room with a close bathroom.
When planning the premises of your future home, you need to imagine your life in 10-15 years.
It is also necessary to adhere to the following room sizes (anything less is no longer comfortable).
Where to place a pantry: layout ideas
Finding a suitable place to store various household utensils and things in small apartments is quite difficult. However, organizing your pantry is the best way to keep rarely used items out of sight and organized. If you take a good look around and apply some imagination, then even in a small Khrushchev you can carve out a couple of square meters.
The presence of a niche in a living space greatly simplifies the issue of equipping a pantry. Such recesses in the walls can often be found in old buildings - they are located in hallways or living rooms, have different dimensions, but in any case they will successfully serve as a storage area. Depending on the shape of the mini-room, you can place U-shaped or L-shaped shelves in it, install a hanger bar, or place household appliances. A tiny niche will be a good place to place a washing machine or refrigerator, and a large space can be decorated as a dressing room.
Dead end of the corridor
If there are no niches in the apartment, do not despair - a pantry can be equipped using the empty space. This opportunity exists, for example, for owners of long corridors that end in a dead end. In this case, it is enough to install a plasterboard partition or simply sliding sliding doors, which will limit the space of the pantry. Inside, as well as in a niche, the space is arranged depending on its purpose.
End of the balcony
An equally popular place to create a storage system is the end of the balcony. Here, too, owners of small-sized apartments often equip storage rooms. However, it is necessary to take into account the specific microclimate, which is very different even on a glazed balcony - this includes increased humidity and sharper temperature changes. It follows from this that a pantry equipped on a balcony should not be used to store food or clothing - it is best to place household supplies here.
In the kitchen
It is convenient for any housewife to have a food storage system directly in the kitchen, where you can place various canned goods, vegetables, cereals and other products. At the same time, it is not necessary to allocate a large area - the pantry can be organized along one of the walls and have a depth of no more than 20 cm. To save space, you can leave the storage open or install a sliding door structure. In such a pantry, in addition to food, there is space to store rarely used kitchen utensils.
In the bathroom
In the bathroom you can also arrange a small niche-storage room where hygiene, cosmetic, and cleaning supplies will be stored in an orderly manner. The space of an empty corner, which is fenced off with partitions made of moisture-resistant plasterboard and a curtain, is quite suitable for this. Sometimes a small laundry room is installed here, with a washing machine installed, or an ironing board is installed.
Choosing a washing machine size
The central place in the laundry room is occupied by the washing machine. Therefore, it is important to choose functional and compact equipment.
The dimensions and number of household appliances in the laundry room largely depend on the needs of your family
The size of the washing machine depends on where it will be located and how large your family is. You can choose from the following types of washing machines:
- Top loading machine. Suitable for installation in the bathroom. They are convenient because the laundry is loaded from above and there is no need to bend over. The average dimensions of such machines are: height 90 cm, depth 60 cm.
- Front loading machine. The most popular type of washing machines. Standard sizes: height 85-90 cm, depth from 40 to 80 cm.
- Machine for installation under the sink. This is the smallest version of a washing machine, their height is about 60 cm and their depth is no more than 55 cm. This is done for convenience and so that the machine does not protrude beyond the boundaries of the sink.
- Machine for installation under the countertop. Built-in machines have a shallow depth. And the height is selected in such a way that there is a free distance between the tabletop and the machine. Such machines usually have a loading capacity of 7 kg.
Types of storage rooms depending on purpose
Before you start arranging a pantry, you need to decide exactly what will be stored in it, since the interior decoration and equipment depend on this. Depending on the purpose, the following main types of storage rooms can be distinguished:
— Closets for clothes. Such storage is also called a dressing room and is placed in hallways, bedrooms, and children's rooms. To store different types of clothing, the pantry is equipped with shelves, drawers, racks or shoe boxes, and crossbars with hangers. If the room is quite spacious, you can install a wall mirror and a small pouf for easy dressing.
- Utility storage rooms. As a rule, such pantries do not require a large area, so it is not difficult to find a place for them in a small space. Here, on the shelves, various cleaning products, detergents, cleaning equipment or tools are stored. It is important to maintain order in the utility room by placing supplies in their designated places, otherwise it will become non-functional.
— Storage rooms for household appliances. Often, owners of small-sized apartments have to rack their brains about where to find a place for a washing machine, vacuum cleaner and other large equipment. The problem can be solved by a niche equipped for a pantry, for example, in the corridor or kitchen. To set up a mini-laundry, you must first take care of the electrical wiring and water supply and drainage system, and for other accessories it is enough to equip spacious cells.
— Food storage. Such pantries are located mainly in kitchens. Here it is important to arrange everything in such a way that the space between products is clearly demarcated. It is not recommended to store foods with a strong odor (onions, garlic) next to cereals or herbs, as the latter will be imbued with an unwanted aroma. It is best to equip a separate container for each type of product (you can choose containers of different colors).
- Home library. Books, magazines, photographs, and memorable newspaper clippings also require special storage conditions in order to preserve their original freshness for as long as possible. In the library pantry, it is important to take care of high-quality ventilation and lighting. If the room is quite spacious, you can install an armchair or a small sofa, thus equipping a small reading room where you can spend time reading your favorite novel or looking at a family photo album.
In addition to the types of pantries discussed above, there are also combined storage systems, where racks with clothes, kitchen utensils and other household items are located next to each other. However, as practice shows, this is not the most convenient storage organization, since it is often difficult to find the necessary thing, and there is a possibility of mixing different odors.
Construction design of private house premises according to Neufert
For anyone who is planning to design a house on their own, experts strongly recommend reading the book “Building Design” by the German architect and outstanding architectural theorist Erns Neufert. One of its publications is freely available on the Internet. FORUMHOUSE users posted on our portal scans of pages necessary for planning premises. The book was written in the years when the minimalist approach dominated in house building. Everyone strived to create optimally sized and maximally functional premises.
This approach is now partly outdated; you need to remember that all the recommendations from the book are given for people of average height and weight, and that it provides the minimum dimensions of rooms, furniture, and distances between objects. More is possible, less is not possible.
I selected furniture for the kitchen based on Neufert's standards. This was a new level of comfort for me.
Design of a storage room in an apartment
Despite the fact that a pantry is a room whose interior space is in most cases closed from prying eyes, its interior decoration plays an important role. First of all, this concerns the layout, which should allow you to fit as many things as possible. It is important to choose suitable materials for finishing and arranging shelving. And we must not forget that order should reign in the pantry - only then will it be a full-fledged storage system, where every detail has its place.
Layout and furniture
When organizing a pantry, first of all, you need to decide on the placement of shelving. Shelves can be arranged linearly (along one wall), L-shaped (in long narrow rooms) or U-shaped (in spacious rooms). Next, you need to carefully take measurements and create a drawing where all the necessary design details will be indicated.
Furniture for the pantry is made from any materials - these can be shelves and drawers made of natural wood, but this design is used extremely rarely due to the high cost of raw materials. Furniture made of chipboard or MDF is quite suitable for storage. Also a good option would be metal structures and nets that are placed in food niches. Pantry shelves and drawers can also be made of plastic, but this material is not very durable and can withstand only light loads.
Things on the shelves of the pantry are arranged in such a way that the most in demand are at an average height. Here, in addition to shelving, you can arrange various pull-out drawer designs for various small items. The upper shelves store items that are rarely used, or clothes that are not relevant for a given season, and the lower ones, as a rule, are reserved for shoes.
Finishing the pantry
When choosing materials for the design of wall, floor and ceiling coverings, you should not opt for expensive options. The walls can simply be painted with silicone paint (not affected by fungus and mold), covered with wallpaper or decorated with wall panels. The floor is decorated with linoleum, laminate or tiles, and the ceiling is whitened, painted or equipped with plasterboard with a built-in lighting system.
Lighting
For a small room where there is no source of daylight, it is necessary to provide a bright lighting system. Often spotlights or spotlights fulfill this role, although in a spacious room you can install a non-bulky chandelier. LED strips located along the shelves help to effectively illuminate the depths of the storage.
Door
Choosing a door to the pantry is one of the important points, since it acts as the facade of the storage room. Sliding doors with mirrored surfaces are often installed in hallways, although no less interesting is the option of decorating the doors with 3D paintings with perspective. The option of doors that fold like an accordion is also convenient - they significantly save free space.
When installing swing doors, you can disguise the canvas with the same finishing material as the facade of the hallway - then the pantry will not attract attention at all. Although swing structures will require space for free opening, their inner side will also serve for attaching storage. On the doors you can place small shelves or fabric envelopes for tools and other small items.