Practical Black and White Laundry Room - How to Easily Plan the Layout

a black and white laundry room with tiled flooring, dark navy cabinets and white quartz worktops

Utility room, laundry room, mud room. Whatever you want to call it, the utility room is such an important space, it can have a huge impact on how you plan and use your home and I have always wanted a black and white laundry room.

It is often referred to as the “engine room” of a house, a place where you do all your boring chores like laundry and cleaning and can hide away your washing machine, tumble dryer, and boiler. Even though utility rooms/laundry rooms are often one of the smallest rooms in the house, if you plan it right, they can be a fabulous place to squeeze in a lot of extra storage space.

They can help take away the mess from the kitchen and make it feel less cluttered by keeping all your cleaning equipment like mops and buckets in a dedicated cupboard. It is a great room to keep your freshly washed clothes and bed linen away from the grease and grime of a kitchen.

utility room with herringbone wallpaper, white units with oak worktops and shelving with wicker baskets — This was the utility in our old house. The washing machine and large mop and vacuum cleaner cupboard were to the right. It never looked this pretty! :)

We had a utility room when we moved into our current house (read about my plans for our house renovation here) and it was a decent size (200cm x 170cm), with the washing machine, plenty of worktops and several cupboards cleverly packed into the space.

There was also a large cupboard where we could store our vacuum cleaner and mops and a door out to the garden.

floor plan of the downstairs layout — This was the floor plan when we moved into our house. The utility led straight from the kitchen and was a decent size.

When I planned our new house renovation and extension, having a large utility room was a must. We quickly realised that by knocking down our double garage and extending the house out at the back, we would be left with considerable space to create a large utility room.

A garage being demolished in a back garden — The garage down opening up the garden

the garage being demolished in a back garden — By removing the double garage and reclaiming our back drive into the garden, it doubled the space of our garden

new foundations going in the garden — Foundations for the kitchen extension and utility going in

the new extension going up at the back of the house — The kitchen and utility extension is complete! On the outside anyway… The utility door is on the left.

We also realized that we had the potential to create an annexe along the side of the house. This would include a bedroom and bathroom and by cleverly working the utility so that it could potentially be a galley kitchen, we would be able to Airbnb the annexe out. Our utility room would have to work hard!

the new downstairs floorplan with the extension and new laundry room included — Architect plans with the potential to create a large utility/galley kitchen and annexe to the right of the property.

Black and White Laundry Room Plans

With our extension plans in place and our builder ready to go, I had to start thinking about the layout and design of our laundry room.

The room itself would be 210cm x 500cm, so it was a large space. It also had a door leading straight out onto the garden so it would also double up as a mud/boot room.

the brick work going up for the new laundry room — The door is built to our utility room

As we live on the beach, I wanted this room to be a place where we could hang all our beachwear, body boards, and other equipment needed for a day on the beach.

The idea would be, that we could come in through the back gate and straight into the utility room, hang up all our beach stuff, and go straight into the downstairs bathroom to wash the sand off!

the new laundry room doors being put in — The house has a side path which gives our guests a separate entrance to the annexe by going in through the utility door.

Giving the utility/laundry room a separate entrance to the rest of the house would also mean our Airbnb guests would be able to walk down the path on the right-hand side of the house and have their own entrance.

Finally, we decided to go with underfloor heating as this would free up more wall space and it would be beneficial for when we use a clothes drier in this room in the colder, wetter months.

the dark units being put in the laundry room with the underfloor heating on view — Underfloor heating being installed

Laundry Room Essentials

woman sat at a kitchen writing out a design plan with magazines and a cup of tea — Planning our utility

The laundry/utility room had to work for us as a family as well, so with its many uses in mind, I made a list of what we would need to put in there –

Sink
Worktops
Room for washing machine
Tall cupboards for a vacuum cleaner, mop, and cleaning equipment
Plenty of storage
Fridge freezer which could be a spare one for family use and emptied for guest use
Bench and coat hooks for beach stuff and somewhere for guests to put their coats and shoes
Potential for a drop-down table and 2 chairs for guests
A countertop hob so guests can cook, but it can be hidden away
Pulley clothes airer
Underfloor heating to free up more wall space

Black and White Laundry Room Design Ideas

With our requirements listed out, I set about designing the room and researched utility room storage ideas. I knew before we even started knocking walls down that I wanted a dark utility room.

I love dark units but didn’t want my kitchen to be completely dark as this room is north facing and I thought it would be too gloomy.

two tone kitchen with dark kitchen island units, grey kitchen cabinets, steel beams exposed, white walls, brass pendants and metro tiles put up vertically on the walls. Open shelving holds glasses, mugs and plates — I absolutely adore our kitchen and went with a dark island

I also knew that I wanted a tiled pattern floor. As the utility room tends to be a smaller version of the kitchen, I think it’s a fabulous space to be creative and go for it with your design ideas.

grey/blue cabinets in a small laundry room with belfast sink, panelling and shelves. The floor has blue and white victorian patterened tiles — I absolutely love Gill’s utility room. Image credit: @mrs_k_at_the_bridge

I wanted the utility to flow easily from the kitchen, so we went with the same Howdens handles and taps in brushed brass. We also put in several brushed brass power sockets in keeping with the kitchen.

brass tap and white ceramic sink — Lamona Victorian Brushed Brass Swan Neck Mixer Tap – Howdens

dark units with white quartz worktops, open shelving and wicker baskets — Brushed brass power socket – Screwfix

We put in a large window as I wanted to maximize the light coming into this room as it is north-facing. We also added a glass door that matched the bi-fold doors to the kitchen so that it all looked uniform from the garden.

Finally, I decided to add a glass door from the kitchen into the utility so light would be able to flood in from both directions.

view out of the window from our utility room — The window is east-facing so it brings plenty of light into the room in the mornings

view through a white glazed door into our laundry room — Door to the utility. Eventually, I will paint this anthracite grey.

laundry room with black and white patterned flooring and mid-century furniture in the foreground — I decided to add a glass door in between the kitchen and utility to help more light flood into both rooms.

Choosing the Utility Hardware

We worked with Howdens to put them in our kitchen and decided to use them to do our utility room as we were impressed with the quality of their products and had used them before.

drawing out the plans for the utility — Working out the measurements and units

We went with Howdens Chelford Navy units and the same Silestone white marble quartz worktop as the kitchen. As we tend to do a lot of cleaning and laundry in this room, we wanted a large sink so went with the Lamona single bowl ceramic white sink.

We also went with a Lamona integrated fridge freezer which is nicely hidden behind the Chelford doors which keeps this utility room symmetrical!

laying down the underfloor heating in the utility room — We installed a glass pane door to match our bi-folds in the kitchen. The integrated fridge freezer is to the left

the tall dark units going in — Lots of storage options

open shelving with wicker baskets, a washing machine, dark units and black and white patterened tiled flooring — Howdens Chelford units

open shelving with wicker baskets, herringbone wallpaper and a view out of the windows — The large Lamona ceramic white sink is perfect for all the cleaning and laundry jobs

integrated fridge in the utility room — Perfect as extra fridge freezer space and also so that our guests can use it.

The Décor

With the units being dark, I thought it best to keep the rest of the room neutral and bright so we decided to tile the walls with a white metro tile.

I had some herringbone-style wallpaper left over from our last house which would look perfect! As the wallpaper didn’t need to go around the sink, I used this to create a tile effect and it saved us around £500!

the walls being plastered in the utility room — The wallpaper didn’t need to go near the sink, so it was the perfect solution to save money and time!

the plastered walls dry and ready to be wallpapered — Getting ready to wallpaper

the herringbone wallpaper on the walls — Looks like real tiles at a fraction of the cost

As I said before, I knew I wanted patterned flooring so I spent many hours scrolling through the internet. I fell in love with some tiles, but they were going to cost in the region of £500.

I found a similar pattern in the form of vinyl from onlinecarpets.co.uk and they look like tiles! Another saving bonus.

black, white and grey patterened vinyl — Scottsdale vinyl flooring – onlinecarpets.co.uk

black, white and grey patterened vinyl on the floor

I have a real passion for biophilic design and I wanted to add lots of natural elements to this room with lots of natural materials and plants.

I decided to put some utility room shelving in here, just like our kitchen, so I could add wicker baskets to pop in all the odd bits and bobs from day to day like tea towels, napkins, light bulbs, and tablecloths.

dark units and black and white patterened tiled flooring — I’ve also added lots of plants to this room. They love it here as it is nice and bright and not too hot!

Useful Utility Tips

The utility room is a space for organized chaos! With cleaning equipment and products and laundry to organize, I wanted easy access to everything.

I added a wire basket underneath the shelves from Dunelm to store all the odd socks (like how? How have we got so many odd socks?!?). I bought a laundry tin to keep my washing powder looking pretty and added a metal pole from IKEA to hang up all our cleaning brushes and cloths.

dark units, brass handles and open shelving in the utility room — Our odd sock basket from Dunelm

wicker baskets on open shelving in the laundry room — These baskets are so good at keeping everything organized!

That’s all there is to it really! It is always a lovely bonus to have space for a utility room and if you can reconfigure your house to add one, it is 100% worth it!

Our utility room helps keep all the day-to-day clutter out of our kitchen and it is nice to be able to close the door and walk away from all the mess that comes with cleaning your house. Ironic really! If you’ve been inspired to reimagine or create a utility room in your home, you can browse a range of outstanding laundry essentials at ArchiPro.

woman doing the laundry in a laundry room with dark units, open shelving and wicker baskets, tiled flooring and herringbone wallpaper — I’ve never looked so happy to do my laundry!

Which feature is your favorite?

In Part 2 of our utility, I will be explaining the opposite wall and my plans to install boot room-inspired cupboards and a drop-down table!

sage green cupboards and panelling in a small boot room with a bench, sheepskin rug and plenty of wicker baskets — Boot room inspiration. Image credit: @building_the_forever_home

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