House Walkthrough 6 - The Laundry

Although it is not very common to do so, we have decided to add a specific laundry room to our house. In Japan washing machines are often kept in the taking-clothes-off area of the bathroom and sometimes even outside the house or on a balcony somewhere. Ironing takes place in the living room or on any available flat surface. Simply put, most houses do not have enough space to have a specific room for laundry.

I mentioned to Yuko before we even started this process that I thought it would be a useful thing to have if we could somehow manage it. I thought it made sense to put the whole process of laundry into one place and that having a room for this would also provide storage for all the cleaning products, towels, laundry supplies and all the other things that are difficult to know where and how to store. Yuko was unconvinced. “Unnecessary” she remarked. (A common theme)

Initially reluctant to forego the standard patterns of Japanese house-making efficiency, Yuko started to come around to the idea that sometimes I am right and that this might actually make life a bit easier. A few Google Images later and she was as good as sold and we were already coming up with ideas. The next question was how to actually fit them into the design.

The first plans from the architect featured little more than a sink on a wall by the back door with no real ironing space and not much in the way of cupboards and storage. A bit of a miscommunication. We had to re-explain the concept somewhat and things improved markedly in the next plan. A few tweaks here and there and we have ended up with a space of about 2.5m x 1.8m in the south-east corner of the house which is open on one wall to the corridor that runs towards the back door. (Since it’s open on one wall, is it a room still? Should we call it a space, a nook, an area? I’ll stick with room)

Layout of the laundry room

The room will have an 88cm high counter top running around two sides with the north end being double the depth at 70cm (for folding / ironing). Underneath will be lots of cabinet storage space for cleaning utensils and supplies, which we often buy wholesale at Costco as most things are cheaper and better quality. We ummed and erred about leaving this as open shelves but have opted to cover with sliding doors as no one really wants to look at rolls of toilet paper and bags of pegs. Above will be lots of cabinet space which we will leave open and probably use in combination with some wicker basket storage. Alternatively we might just use to store things that are nice-ish to look at like towels and soaps. Maybe even some flowers!

North aspect with the ironing and folding area and shelves above.

East aspect. Note the floor will be tile, not wood like the corridor

West aspect. Ironing and folding area to the right (700mm deep). Cupboard layout reasonably clear here.

To the South side will be a place for the washing machine and a small sink for hand-washing. We really need to get a new washing machine as our 10,000-yen second hand one is starting to rattle and shake a bit, but we’re likely to take it with us and run it into the ground before buying something new. New washing machines are expensive, constantly being upgraded and not particularly joy-inducing so we’ll wait as long as possible before getting a new one.

The back door at the end of the corridor can also be found on the south side and leads to an outside (covered) laundry area where we can hang clothes out to dry. Again, having this right next to the laundry area should make the whole process of doing laundry a bit easier. If the weather is horrible outside, the bathroom will almost certainly have some kind of indoor drying function, although if the ventilation is good, we may well be able to hang laundry in the laundry room itself.

Unfortunately, due to fire regulations and the back door falling a few inches the wrong side of the “safety line”, we have to get a special “fire-compliant” door. This is basically exactly the same as a regular door but hideously expensive. Terrific.

South aspect with (L-R) fire door, washing machine, window, sink, cabinets.