Beautiful big houses

The family room had its day, so did the great room. But if ever there was a room that needs rebranding, it’s the laundry room. The very words conjure up images of a drab place where dirty clothes pile up—sort of like a huge hamper with a door. More and more homeowners are rethinking this space to better integrate the laundry room into living areas. In larger houses the layout of the laundry room may resemble a kitchen while in smaller homes it may be tucked away in a bathroom.

“We’re seeing a split in tastes between boomers and millennials—large, showy houses for boomers and smaller, more efficient houses for millennials, ” says James Roche, CEO of Houseplans.com, an online database of ready-made house blueprints. “In larger laundry rooms we’re seeing an island in the middle—real places that are beautiful and functional—a Pinterestization of laundry rooms. And in smaller homes a laundry room may be combined with another room—a mud room or bathroom.”

Either way, the dimensions of the washing machine and clothes dryer are critical, as is the space needed for the dryer vent. Roche adds that some homeowners are installing a washer and dryer off the kitchen and another smaller pair near the master bedroom. That’s one way to keep the laundry moving. Another is to choose a washer with a large or even jumbo capacity and a dryer to go with it. Here’s a laundry list of recommended washers, dryers, and detergents from the experts at Consumer Reports.