One Room Challenge Week 4 – Spring 2019: Laundry Room Renovation

Hi there,

{Thanks for stopping by. I’m an Interior Decorator located in Milton, ON just northwest of Toronto.}

Welcome to Week 4 of the One Room Challenge. I am renovating my tiny laundry room this time around. If you missed my previous posts where I shared before photos, inspiration and the design concept, you can click on these links to get caught up.

Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3

This week is all about the appliances. I visited my favourite appliance store, Goemans Appliances to find out everything I could about washers and dryers. I was debating about whether to go with another front load washer or switch to a top load. I had seen a number of posts on Instagram and Facebook where people were asking thoughts on one versus the other. I would say the majority of comments were from people that were switching back to a top load washer. To confirm this, I did a poll on my Instagram story and 1 out of 3 people said they had switched from a front loader to a top loader. The primary reason as you can probably guess was the mildew/mould smell. This is something that I found as well with the appliances that I inherited when I bought this house.

These were some of the messages that I received on Instagram:

I was tired of the musty smell and my clothes not feeling clean. Went with a top load…clothes are definitely cleaner.
Yes, much lower breakage and the top loaders don’t get so stinky/mouldy.
I haven’t switched back yet but I want to. Our front load stinks and no matter what we do, it stinks.
I haven’t switched back to a top load yet but I want to. I get so frustrated with the tangled mess of pant legs and towels and sweater arms. Are those things really being cleaned when they’re all twisted up so tightly in knots?
Yes, just switched back to a top load. Cleans awesome, uses minimal water and no stink!! No regrets!
The front load is a moldy, mildew mess with tons of upkeep. My seal on the washer leaks.

These are just a few of the messages but you get the idea. Now, you would probably say “Vanessa, seems like a top load is the way to go.” And you would probably be right. Except, I’m a decorator and I’m doing this for the ORC and I want the room to not only look good but be functional. I decided to go with a front load washer in the end because I really, really want to run a counter above the appliances as my laundry room is very small and I need to maximize storage and just have a place to put things down, oh and style pretty of course. 🙂

So, once I decided on front load, I met with Jeremy, an appliance specialist at my local Goemans. He walked me through a few options pointing out the pros and cons of each so that I could make a decision. I didn’t need a washer with all kinds of bells and whistles but I definitely wanted one with a tub clean/sanitize cycle. My former washer didn’t have this and I’m hoping this makes a difference.

Jeremy and I sharing a laugh.

I decided to go with this washer from Electrolux because it is the only brand (North American 27″ width) offering the option of switching the door hinges. Did you know that most washing machines are designed with the hinges on the left and are placed on the left with the dryer on the right with a right hinge? (Miele in the European 24″ size also has the capability of switching hinges.) Yes, I could have had my contractor reconfigure the dryer vent hose and the water supply lines but decided to keep things simple and not change the current location of the appliances. I have the washer on the right and the dryer on the left. But that’s not the only reason I went with the Electrolux brand – they were high in the Consumer Report ratings and I previously owned an Electrolux range and was very happy with it. Another thing to note is that there are not too many white front load washer/dryers.

Jeremy stated that most customers use too much soap in their front load washer which is one of the main reasons why mould and mildew forms. The soap just sits there between washes either around the gasket or between the drums. He says that customers could use half of the soap that they are currently using because they are used to top load machines which use 3 times the water of current front load machines. Here are his maintenance tips for keeping mould and mildew at bay with your front load washing machine:

use vinegar and the tub clean cycle periodically which most new front loaders have
always leave the washer door open after using it. Just a couple of inches is all that is needed.
if you see any soap residue after the wash is completed it is a sign that you are using too much soap
clean around the gasket from time to time

I did hear from some people that they didn’t experience the mould issue with their front loader and I’m hoping that is the case for me going forward. #smallworldproblems right? If you are in the market for any appliance, drop into your local Goemans – there are 7 locations in southwestern Ontario. Their appliance specialists are there to help you with your purchase and answer all of your questions.

In other renovation news, the initial plumbing was done – shut off box moved down, rough in of the wall mount faucet and the sink drain connection. Also, the Ditra underlay was installed and we laid out the herringbone tile to make sure it looked good. It has more speckles than I thought so we just ensured the least speckly ones were in view. OK – so there are only 7 business days until the photographer comes and we still have a long way to go! But it’s a small space and my contractor is optimistic there is plenty of time. 🙂 And since this is my tenth time here, I’m pretty sure it will all come together in the end.

PS Isn’t the opening inspiration image pretty? There’s a big hint about what I will be doing but think I want to save that for the reveal. Hope you stay tuned!

Check out the One Room Challenge blog to see what everyone else is up to. And follow these hashtags on social media to see 100’s of other transformations: #oneroomchallenge and #bhgorc

Thank you for following along!