Room by Room: Closet/Laundry
Traditionally, laundries were relegated to the basement to avoid wasting precious living space on big, noisy machines, as well as having convenient access to utilities. Only recently have architects gotten more sensible about their location, and now they're inching their way into living areas. I situated mine in perhaps the most logical place of all: the bedroom closet.
My walk-in closet is behind the entertainment center and beside the bathroom. In terms of layout, the location made it convenient to the bedroom, and in terms of utilities, it was directly adjacent to the bathroom plumbing system (not that this was critical; it was merely a bonus). In addition, the closet/laundry serves as something of a mechanicals room, with the HVAC blower located in an overhead compartment: it's central to the house, and the dropped ceiling doesn't intrude on any living spaces.
By May 2016, the sill plates started going down; the closet pretty much fills this view, with the laundry at the back center:
The platform, below, will raise the washer and dryer to "human height" so as to be kinder on my back.
Update: The pedestal was removed owing to the new washer being a top-loader. But then it was rebuilt since the top-loader was DOA and I needed new appliances, which wound up being front-loaders after all.
At the far left of this view from the bathroom is the plumbing for the washer.
And at the far left of the overhead view below, the HVAC air handler platform is taking shape.
The air handler platform was rebuilt in September 2017 to accommodate a different model. The access door, which occupies most of the image below (with the platform to the right), is large enough for the blower to be removed and replaced if necessary, something that was not possible before. The transition from high to low ceiling was, for a while, a point of contention; see Reconsidering.
The ceiling was sheetrocked on 4 February 2019.
The first washer and dryer were temporarily installed on 14 June 2019 (below). But the washer was DOA.
After ordering new appliances, rebuilding the platform and framing the bookcase, the laundry was functionally finished on the afternoon of 10 July 2019.
The rest of the space was rocked six days later.
And a clothes rod got installed on 26 July.
The laundry also provides access to the hi-fi shelf of the entertainment center via a small door, below left, installed on 18 September.
The floor was tiled on 15 November 2019.
