Compare Listings

Wash N’ Fold

  • February 3, 2017
  • Blog
  • 0
Wash N’ Fold

If you are getting ready to put your house on the market this year, you might want to consider your laundry space. Is it attractive and functional? Is the aesthetic dreary or fun? Shabby or chic? Cool laundry rooms are definitely a trend homebuyers will be looking for this year. I think it’s going to pay off for sellers and their agents to consider this space when staging a listing.

Photo Credit: Laura Loe, www.lauraloe.com

At the time when historic homes were built, the laundry was done by ‘the help’ and usually happened in the back yard. Which means that, until they are renovated, older homes contain no real laundry space. Finding a nook or cranny, or even giving up a bedroom are typical solutions to carving out a real laundry space in older homes. Fortunately, today there are lots of great solutions to this problem.

A traditional butler’s pantry, if still intact, is a great place to put a laundry space. This space usually located between the kitchen and dining room, can be covered behind doors or screens. But, think outside the box on this and have fun with it. Barn doors, screen doors and shoji screens make for an elegant and fun transition.

In one of my previous Fan houses, we removed shelving and doors from the 3rd floor upstairs hall closet in order to tuck in an apartment-sized washer/dryer unit. Then did the same thing in a 2nd floor niche. This turned out to be a great solution. Instead of taking up a whole room, we carved out 2 small spaces for 2 small units.

In new construction homes, laundry rooms are becoming very important. Whether they are a separate room or just a space in another room of the house (like a utility or mudroom), laundry rooms are being finished with nice materials, good flooring, hard-working cabinetry and sexy surfaces for folding and ironing. Even the washers and dryers are getting a style maker with wonderful color options, retro styling and sleeker curves.

A space that was once considered low on the list of buyer priorities, the laundry room has become important to buyers and should therefore be considered important to sellers. Make sure yours fits the style and level of finish that the rest of your house has. And have fun with it!

Related posts

Body Language & Selling Houses

As real estate agents, people assume that when representing buyers, agents will attempt to persuade...

Continue reading

How to help the RVA community during the COVID-19 outbreak

When life gives you lemons, just make lemonade! This has always been a favorite quote of mine....

Continue reading

Determined to Building A Better Richmond Public Schools

When we started The Scott Garnett Real Estate Team, we wanted to give back to the community just as...

Continue reading