Lessons for an urban Indian apartment: The Laundry Room edition

Small urban apartments rarely leave any space for experiencing the simple pleasure of feeling warm, crisp, sunkissed clothes. The spaces are tighter and monsoons only amplify the issue with lingering dampness that quietly lead to bigger problems. It is a far cry from the days when homes were not vertical but laterally expansive. Generous terraces or open yards offered all the space needed for drying laundry under the sun. With the shrinking of outdoor space and limited access to the terrace, most apartment layouts force people to bring the entire laundry workflow indoors. For many, a designated laundry room is just limited to a modest utility nook which is often a mere handspan of an extension of the kitchen housing the washing machine, a conventional ceiling-mounted, manual drying rack, and a pile of dirty laundry waiting for its turn. Well, modern constraints also make way for smarter solutions. A few thoughtful touches can sometimes make a noticeable difference. We have listed down some practical space-efficient solutions to consider when designing the laundry area of an urban apartment.

Identify the Right Space

Where the laundry room should be located in the home is one of the most important and surprisingly tricky decisions. As much as laundry is part of everyday life, we clearly don’t want it constantly in our line of sight, draped over the balcony railing or hanging overhead, undermining the overall elegance of the home. Most modern apartments and flats do offer a compact, dedicated area for washing and airing clothes, yet storage and organisational needs are often overlooked in this layout format. If you are a tenant then it further limits your options and hence it is important to shift focus to utilising the available area in the most efficient way. The utility area off the kitchen, balcony (if you have one), or bathroom can work well, just make sure you segregate the wet and dry areas of the bathroom. Best case scenario would be to have a spare storeroom that can also double up as a laundry room.

Make it Discrete

While making it completely discrete is a complex solution and may not always be feasible, reduce any visual clutter by installing storage cabinets which can neatly tuck away your laundry basket, detergent, and other washing essentials. When hiding away isn’t possible then embrace the problem with nice-looking accessories: organise the area with interesting damp-resistent storage baskets. Consider concealing the area with a sliding door, which is practical and won’t interfere with the aesthetics of the rest of the home.

Upgrade Your Laundry Appliances

While an efficient and robust washing machine is essential, a dryer is a gamechanger, especially in the places that experience wet weather extensively. A dryer will resolve 80% of this problem by drastically cutting down the drying time, thereby reducing the need to have clothes hanging around the house. The two can be placed next to each other or stacked on top of each other, based on the space provision.