The challenge

This is my personal experience about my own home, so the scope of the project is a little more than the typical home organisation job. My original 1980s laundry was in desperate need of a renovation. My laundry also doubled as a second bathroom when interstate guests came stay and place to wash hands when family or when friends came over to share a BBQ, so it was important for me to ensure that the laundry looked more like a bathroom than of a standard utility room or laundry. During the Canberra Winter months, I was tired of feeling overwhelmed by having my living areas filled with clean washing on clothing racks or hung on coat hangers along the curtain rails in my main living rooms as they dried, so it important that the new laundry could be used as a space that could manage the whole laundry process including, a place to dry our clean clothes on a cold Winters day.

The solution

A local bathroom renovation company, Stellar Bathrooms were engaged and the entire room was gutted, fully redesigned, tiled and new fittings and custom cabinetry was installed. The team turned an ugly, dated and tired room into a highly functional and beautiful space – absolutely stellar! Rather than going with the stock-standard laundry cabinetry, I took the approach of making sure that every storage space in the room worked exactly for my family’s needs. At my request, the team at Stellar Bathrooms worked closely with Queanbeyan Joinery to design and manufacture custom-made cabinets to fit my needs. The pièce de résistance was the enclosed laundry sorting system. I purchased the Elfa Storage System from Howards Storage World which I had enclosed within some custom-made cabinetry featuring retractable doors that it converts an extremely practical laundry sorting space into a stunning cabinet when not in use. I also commissioned some custom-made stainless-steel ceiling bars which we mounted to the ceiling to dry our shirts and dresses on coat hangers during Winter, plus installed underfloor heating and double-glazed windows to ensure the room was kept warm and toasty during the Winter months.

The results

My husband and I are overjoyed with the transformation of the room. It is a warm, calm and relaxing space and has come to be my favourite room of my home. I’m still so excited to show it off to anyone and everyone years after the renovation. The ceiling mounted drying bars have been a game changer and have made a dramatic change to the family’s household. This simple change has allowed us to regain our living space. I am so pleased that I chose to run with the custom cabinetry, it was definitely worth the extra effort and investment.  I would highly recommend Matt, Grant and the team at Stellar Bathrooms to anyone who’s looking to renovate.

Tips

1. Planning the space and understanding exactly what you plan to store in the room is crucial before installing new cabinetry.
2. With some creative thinking you can solve problem areas in multiple areas of your home with a single change.