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Master Closet Plans & Before Photos

Bedrooms

Yikes!  That is the one word that describes our disaster closet situation.  It’s not that our closets aren’t big enough or good enough in any way….it’s just that we have issues (OBVIOUSLY.) and the closet is where the issues go to hide.  So what are our issues exactly?  Well, do you have all day?  Because I could go on for hours.  I’m not here to air all the dirty laundry but I will share one.  One of the biggest issues is that our dirty clothing situation is frustrating.  We have eight bodies in the house….three in organized sports, three preschoolers with their daily crafting, one very messy baby, a dog with a queasy stomach and a couple DIYers who love getting their hands (and clothing) really dirty.  It just equals a whole lot of laundry on a daily basis.

The laundry room is on the first floor and honestly as beautiful as the room is….the location is just not the best.  So we brainstormed ways to improve the laundry situation….maybe we blow out a wall, put up a beam, lose the playroom and create a huge laundry/mudroom.  But that didn’t solve one other issue – we HATE lugging the laundry up and down the stairs.  It is a chore that neither Jeremy nor I love.  But we do it.  Several loads a day.  And guys….I know I am sounding ridiculous right now.  I get it.  This is completely first-world-issues.  I hear myself complaining about the fact that my beautiful working laundry room is *SOB SOB* a whole flight of stairs away….so forgive me in your hearts if you just want to slap me.  But I also want to just note….home improvement is our job.  Homes are being built with upstairs laundry rooms now because there are sooo many people hating the first floor laundry rooms.  And if I can do something to show everyone how to improve your home then I should.  So if this is also your dream situation – making your closet have a washer and dryer….I’m here to share it all!

First – let me note that both Jeremy and I have our own closets.  I have the big one and he has the smaller one.  After a lot of brainstorming, we decided that I could lose some real estate in my closet (it’s giant and I’m trying to be more deliberate about my wardrobe) and install a stacked washer and dryer in the back.  BUT that comes with a lot of details – electrical, plumbing, structural, etc.  But the benefit would be that Jeremy and I could do our laundry there (as well as some household laundry like sheets and bedding) and we could do all the kids laundry downstairs.  And let’s be honest – just doubling the washer and dryer situation sounds amazing period….having it be more convenient is the cherry on top!  So now that you know what we want to do…let me share with you what we are working with…here is my most recent closet photos…

It is long and has a rack on one side and a PAX wardrobe system on the other.  It was bought for our last house and I loved it and still do!

I want to take the PAX system and switch it over to the opposite side.  That way it will be on the left wall and the washer and dryer can be on the wall opposite the door.

On the right wall, it juts back into this weird nook.  This will have to be built around with some hacking of the PAX systems.  I don’t want to keep any of the wire racks because I want it to be cohesive.

And for shoe storage, I want to have Billy Bookcases on the right wall and make them flank a huge wall mirror.  Those bookcases are the perfect size for shoes!

Also – I’m over the carpet.  Carpet isn’t great for any space that has a washer/dryer so I’m on board for ripping it all out and putting in something easy to clean JUST IN CASE I spill the detergent….not that I would do that….but someone else might 🙂

And while I’m at it….I am looking to improve the lighting situation (I found this steal of a sputnik!) and switch all my hangers over to my newest obsession – these velvet no-slip ones.  I put them in Ella’s closet and the big boys closet and it’s about time that ALL my clothing get them too.  Here is the idea board of what I’m looking at….

Sources –

And for visual people – here is the current situation and the plan….like I said – the layout is weird…

The sequence of the makeover goes as follows:

  • check structural viability
  • get estimates for electrical/plumbing
  • have plumber run water lines/tap into drain
  • have electrician put in new breaker and run power
  • remove all items from closet
  • remove carpeting/trim/existing shelves
  • paint ceiling and walls and trim
  • install light fixtures
  • install flooring
  • survive IKEA
  • install wardrobes/build shelves
  • install washer/dryer
  • reorganize everything back into place
  • live a long happy life in clean clothing

And there you have it.  So that (along with our basketball court makeover) is what we are working on right now….what are y’all up to?!

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Comments

  1. Looks like a really cool plan. Can’t wait to see what the “hacks” are; you guys really excel in that area! One thing that might make your life better…have you thought about switching the closet door to a pocket door? With the direction the door swings now, it will block a decent chunk of the Pax system when it’s open. Just a thought. Good luck!

  2. We want a stackable in our laundry room. We recently remodeled the kitchen and just happened to mention to the plumber our plan. He told us we’d need a drain to do what we wanted and the time to do it was now. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t be able to later due to access. Just waiting for my current washer and dryer to die.

  3. Hi! The plans look fab. I was wondering if you are planning on a ventless dryer or venting to the outside. We are in the market for a ventless and there does not seem to be many options. Best of luck!

  6. I mean…we have five kids and a dog….we lost our hearing a long time ago 🙂 Seriously though – we have a sound machine and run that at night so no…not really worried.
    xo – kb

  7. We are gonna go with the same washers we have on the first floor. We love them and they do require a vent which is possible since the ceiling above this closet is a big open attic space.
    xo – kb

  8. I would love to do that!!! I don’t know if it’s possible though because we have electrical on both sides of the door and I don’t really want to reroute it. xo – kb

  9. Guessing you’ve already thought of this but would the washer & dryer fit into the weird nook?

  12. Ear plugs will work too. Our washer and dryer are directly outside of our bedroom and I only do laundry when we are home at night. (Our previous washer malfunctioned and flooded our entire house & we were home at the time!) If I put in ear plugs I easily fall asleep. I’d also investigate putting in a drain in case of any water leakage. They also sell water sensors that will send an alert to your phone too.

  13. Ok had this long eloquent response all typed out and went to another page to double check it and lost it. Argh. So here’s my thoughts: quick and dirty.
    1. Don’t combine your kids clothes ever! Sorting their clothes is half the battle especially with same gender children that hand down clothes to each other (we have 3 girls). Then you always know where their clothes are: in their hamper, the laundry, or in their closet/dresser. This way when you need a game jersey 5 minutes before you have to leave you don’t have to search through mountains of laundry. My friend with 5 kids has each one of them have a day of the week that they do laundry (or help with laundry) that works with their schedule. Tide pods and color catchers help make this easier. The kids throw their own sheets in with their laundry. My kids prefer this method b/c they can always find their own clothes.
    2. I love your closet plan but truthfully your kids generate the most laundry. Is there a way to steal space from a room and open it the hallway. We stole my daughters closet (and built a new one inside her room) and opened it up to the hallway. We added stackables and while it is not a laundry room it is upstairs where ALL the laundry is (truthfully the only things we bring upstairs are hand towels and the occasional jacket) everything else is upstairs. The kids fold their own laundry in their own rooms, I fold mine on my bed which makes it easier for my husband and I to put it away and we have a console table in the hallway that I fold towels on.

  14. We recently purchased a new home, a ranch, with main floor laundry. It’s AMAZING. At the time I thought, “well what a waste of a hall closet shouldn’t the laundry be in the basement?” It’s really been a game changer for our family, though. Laundry isn’t piled in all the bedrooms, it either goes directly into the washer, or into a basket next to it. Once the washer is full – we run a cycle. No more piles of laundry! It didn’t make folding and putting away any more enjoyable though 😉

  16. Wow, your current laundry situation seems like a pain in the butt! Thanks for describing that nightmare-I had never really thought about what you have to do to get some clean laundry! Im glad you’ve figured out a way to improve your life i. That aspect, I bet it will be awesome! But seriously girl-I have 2 kids under 3 and my husband and I decided we are absolutely done because of the sheer amount of energy it takes to do it all. You are a freaking rockstar! Running your business so seamlessly, taking care of your kids and the endless tasks that brings, and even adding a dog to the mix!!! You and Jeremy must be an amazing team. I’m in awe! 🙂

  17. I love everything about this closet!! I’ve tried to convince my husband that we need to do this.
    Would a sliding barn door work instead of a pocket door?
    I can’t wait to see the finished product, this is going to be awesome!!

  18. It looks like the area to the left of the W/D will not be easily accessible. Is there room to rotate the W/D and put it in the corner next to the PAX, facing the other corner? That way you could use the opposite corner and part of the back wall for a folding/storage area. No matter what, it will be great! Good luck.

  19. Have you considered putting the washer/dryer on the long (left wall) in the corner? The corner pax hacked shelves are going to be soooo deep and not alot of access space. I have corner shelves in our closet and its such a waste of space – they are so deep and things get lots and the area is super narrow to access. Maybe its just the drawings but it looks like the back corner will be tough to access. Just a though!

    By the way – for those saying its super loud – the function way outweighs the noise. We have a laundry ‘closet’ in the hall between our bedrooms and its so convenient and we (and the kids) sleep though it noise no problem!

  20. Lol! Survive IKEA. Isn’t that the truth. Hubs & I took out 3 kiddos with us several months back & I have PTSD from the experience.

  21. Will you tell us how much $? We have a similiar situation – 2 closets (with a huggeeee open space between for a makeup counter/sitting area), and want to re-do them and add W/D. No clue if I should budget 10k or 50k.

  22. Game changer, and well worth pairing down your wardrobe to make room! How close are your current water lines and drain? Will they have to tear out/patch drywall? Our area has ranch homes with basement laundry, and that is the one change that would allow us to live in our home long past retirement. I know a couple people with limited mobility who would benefit from accessible laundry, too.

  23. My father in-law built his home 35 years ago and designed it with the laundry room upstairs with the bedrooms. Everyone thought he was crazy at the time. He was ahead of the game and realized that most laundry is accumulated around bedrooms. From daily laundry to bedding and towels. Only laundry on the main floor is usually dish towels and hand towels. I totally get why you would do this. You will love it.

  24. I want to redo our closet so badly with the Pax system but it is quite overwhelming to decide what we need. We have a good sized closet but I just don’t think it’s organized well. Same for my kids’ closets.

  25. Also- our laundry is upstairs (thank goodness) and I can’t even imagine taking it all down and back up. A laundry shoot would help with one trip. I can barely put the laundry away and I just have to walk down the hall.

  26. “survive IKEA” lol!!
    My washer dryer is in my garage – which you can only get to by walking outside. I can totally relate to the dragging laundry around problems! Like when I start a load, and then it rains, and I have to drag out an umbrella to go move it to the dryer. : / So I’m all in for this makeover!!! Excited to follow along!

  27. I am in awe of your genius! I thought you were going to wall off a part of your closet and cut a door to the hall or something. But to keep it in the closet….. brilliant!

  28. Can you talk a little about what you have to do for the structure to reinforce the floor? When we built our house we put our laundry room upstairs and BTW – it. is. awesome! No problem with noise, the dryer runs at night and the kids sleep just fine. It is so nice having the dirty clothes all upstairs and immediately put away.

    I am trying to talk my parents into a retrofit but I think the people they talked to said it was a lot of structural changes and reinforcement due to the weight of the washer when full.

  29. I was a very busy mom with six kids and had one washer and dryer in my basement and it worked out fine for our family. It’s true many new homes have the laundry rooms on the top floor but they don’t have a second (actually third) laundry room as you will have. I don’t understand the need too undertake all this work in your closet in order to do laundry when you still plan on doing the kids downstairs in your laundry room. I guess that is why you have the DIY blog and I don’t….ha,ha.

  30. All four of our bedrooms are upstairs. And we have a laundry Nook right outside our bedroom. I could not love it more. It was such a waste of time taking laundry up and down the stairs. The people that lived here before us, however, did not have an washing machine pan under the washer. My husband thought that was crazy. If it leaks I would have been a disaster

  31. We have that flooring in our laundry room and LOVE it!!! It’s so durable and looks phenomenal. You would never guess it’s vinyl. And I love the Billy’s as shoe storage! We have a Billy that I was going to get rid of but now I think it’s gonna go in my closet!!!

  33. Yeah I mean – I don’t think that this is for everyone but we are excited about it. Different folks different strokes I guess 🙂
    xo – kb

  34. Thankfully our floor didn’t need anything – we talked to a structural engineer and they said we were good to go!
    xo – kb

  36. We tried to figure that out but with the plumbing and the electrical it needed to be either on the future PAX wall and it would stick WAY too far out or the back wall. I hope in the end we can utilize all the space that is there in the best possible way.
    xo – kb

  39. I will definitely be sharing all that. Right now the plumbing costs were $1000 and the electrical was $850 because we had to add a whole new breaker sub panel and run the new lines (we had no more room in the current box) so the rest will be added up as we go.
    xo – kb

  40. That was the original plan but the depth of the washer would make it almost impossible to access. It was going to stick out really far and look crazy.
    xo – kb

  41. So many people suggesting that! I love the idea but I don’t know if it would work just simply because it would have to slide on the inside of the closet and that might look weird.
    xo – kb

  42. You are sweet to say that but honestly we are just like everyone else surviving out there! We are all trying our best, right?! And I love my laundry room but I just know that this small improvement will be a big help!
    xo – kb

  43. What a cool idea about the hampers! I guess I am learning all these new ideas and still trying to figure out what will work best for us.
    xo – kb

  45. It would fit but the plumbing wouldn’t work over there. Unfortunately it would be REALLY expensive to run the drain that far and so that is why we came up with this plan.
    xo – kb

  46. Two thoughts…. is there any way that you and Jeremy could combine all your clothes into what us currently your closet and then turn his closet into a dedicated laundry room? That way you have two dedicated spaces, instead of one space doing double duty. My second thought….. I know you are using the PAX system. I’m wondering if there is a way to integrate your laundry hampers into the closet system. We have the Elfa closet system with laundry hampers that roll in and out with removable canvas bags. Makes carrying cloths to the washer so much easier!
    Looking forward to seeing how this all turns out!

  47. Honestly we probably could but I would HATE it. And I’m sure he would too. We operate very differently with our clothing and I would literally be so angry if I had to go into his closet every day. ha! xo – kb

  48. each of mine has their own hamper as well, and it really does help with the sorting later. And totally agree: Color Catchers are a MUST!

  49. Hello Katie! Love the laundry plans! We have considered adding an extra washer and dryer to our extra upstairs bathroom for this exact reason. I didn’t see anyone ask and I don’t think I’ve ever heard you mention…. Is it possible to put a laundry shoot to your laundry room downstairs? Might be awesome to shoot the kids clothes to the laundry room? Also, I hate sorting clothes so we keep our kids clothes separated by child and that seems to work for us most of the time.

  50. You are going to LOVE having your laundry upstairs. My first house had an upstairs laundry and I miss it so much!

  51. If if recall correctly (loooongtime follower, haha!), isn’t there’s a small room that connects two of your kid’s bedrooms? Like a small room that the jack-and-jill bedrooms can access? Since kids generate the most laundry, have you thought about making that room a laundry room/one big kid’s closet instead? The kids clothes all get hung up in there, and worn clothes go in hampers in there at the end of the day. Washed, dried, and stored all in the same room and you can get everyone dressed and ready in one central location. I know a family with 6 kids that operate this way (one big closet for all the kids in the laundry room) and it really streamlines things!

  53. Hint for sorting clothes for same gender kids. Use a marker and put one dot on all the labels for the oldest child, two for the next, three for the next, etc. I am a boy mom (all raised and on their own). When second son gets first son’s clothes, add a dot, third son gets a dot added for his hand-me-downs, etc. This saved me many moments of, “Who belongs to this shirt?” Kids could sort them that way too. Good luck! The struggle is real. My w/d was in the basement, but then we moved to a ranch and that was great!!

  54. The layout is really weird and not accessible. It is on the front side of the house and there is no access to it without going through their rooms and then through the bathroom so it is just not feasible. I would honestly love to do a big boys closet where everything is in there together…but it would mean a TON of structural work, reframing, drywall and the budget would be blown through the roof to make it all make sense.
    xo – kb

  55. The only place we could put a shoot is in Jeremy’s closet…and he doesn’t want the kids in there so it doesn’t work 🙁
    xo – kb

  57. Great plans! I can’t wait to see your completed project!
    Thanks for sharing a link to the sputnik light! I’ve been wanting one for the longest time and the ones I found were just too expensive. I can get the hubs to agree to this price! 🙂

  58. Can’t wait to see your review of that sputnik chandelier. I had seen it on Amazon but would love to see good pictures of it in a real space!

  59. Hey Katie! I can testify that the Billy bookcases are *perfect* for shoes. I did that in my last closet and they were just so dreamyyyy. Good luck with this project!

  60. Did you ever think of making your old main floor laundry room a pantry? You could have put in extra fridges and had tons of pantry room and room for vacuums etc… I know you had mentioned not liking the view of the “pantry wall;” you did, so this is why I ask. I dont recall you ever showing the inside of the pantry wall but it seems like a bunch of small cupboards more or less
    So, your house will have 3 laundry rooms

  62. Wow, this sounds like the ultimate dream closet! Curious as to what you’ll come up with for the corner hacks – you guys are so creative. I wonder if a lazy-susan type thing might work here?

  63. I would go look at Anna White’s Laundry Room they put in their house. So many really good ideas! I haven’t read any of the comments, so ignore me if someone else suggested the same. 🙂 Also, I think instead of hacking the nook areas it might be easier to build to fit in that awkward space and paint it all to match. Either way I know it is going to look amazing when you are done!

  64. I’m excited to see your closet makeover! Just wanted to say – in our first house our Landry room was on the first floor off of the kitchen and lugging the laundry up and down those stairs all over the house was AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL. When we moved we had the laundry upstairs along with all the bedrooms and it was magical. My husband was thrilled and amazed that I suddenly started staying on top of the laundry all the time. So when we moved into our current house, having the laundry on the second floor was on my must have list and THANKFULLY it is!

    When we were living in our first house, we stayed at a beach house once with the washer and dryer right outside of all the bedrooms and I did SO MUCH laundry and it was so easy and that was the first time I realized the Life Changing Magic of having the washer and dryer I’m very close proximity of bedrooms

  65. Reading your (and other American bloggers’) complaints about lugging laundry up and down stairs always makes me giggle! Here (a mostly sunny bit of Australia) we tend to hang our washing outside unless it’s actually raining – cheaper, better for the environment, and whiter whites from the sun! – so it would always have to come downstairs anyway. Honestly I think the first time I saw the idea (John and Sherry maybe?) I was actually confused, forgetting about the possibility of a dryer. Lots of folks I know don’t even have one! It’s funny how different our cultures are, even in ways we don’t realise 😛

    Your plans sound exciting – anything to make household chores more doable 🙂

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