The Design Trick That Makes Laundry Day So Much Easier, Depending On Your Home's Layout

Laundry can be a surprisingly time-consuming and laborious task. You have to gather your dirty clothes, carry your heavy basket all the way to the laundry room, wash and dry everything, and carry back your basket of clean clothes — plus, the average basket of dirty laundry weighs between 10 and 25 pounds. Luckily, you can learn how to create a functional laundry room and make your laundry day far easier. One design trick that makes laundry day so much simpler is to install a laundry basket that can slide through a wall between a room and the laundry room. This unique design lets your laundry sit between your primary closet or bathroom and your laundry room, offering easy access from both spaces. You can add this feature to your home as long as your property has the right layout. If you are tired of dragging your laundry basket from room to room, then this laundry design hack is just what you need.

TikTok user @shreyakolluri shows what this feature can look like. In a large walk-in closet with built-in shelves, there is a handle on the wall that pulls out like a large drawer. On the laundry room side, there is a cabinet with a handle that can be used to pull the large drawer into the laundry room and push it back into place in the cabinet and wall. This design looks nice from either room and allows you to deposit dirty laundry directly from the bathroom or closet into the drawer or a basket in the drawer, and then slide it into the laundry room.

Along with the ease of use, this hidden laundry hamper can make both rooms look even better. Rather than having an unsightly basket of dirty laundry out in the open, you can tuck it away like a pull-out hamper and reap the benefits of hiding away your dirty laundry, such as avoiding odors in your closet or bedroom. Although you may need to clean or air out the interior if you frequently fill your hamper with smelly clothing, the overall effect of this built-in feature is a more luxurious and convenient home. If you have space to put the cabinet near the laundry machine, you can put clothes directly into the drawer, but you can also put one or multiple baskets into the drawer to separate the clothes or easily move them from the cabinet to the machine and back.

There are a few ways to add this feature to your home as a DIY, depending on your style and size preferences. First, have a professional assess the potential location and wall to make sure it is safe to cut through. Then, carefully cut a hole through the wall and back of a cabinet that your pass-through drawer will fit through, frame the inside of the hole to finish it, insert a two-way drawer slide at the bottom of the opening, and add your hamper or drawer. Choose from many beautiful laundry room cabinet ideas for less clutter and more storage space and some shelving to integrate the sliding laundry feature for a cohesive look.

Of course, this genius feature will unfortunately not work in every home, and it may not be the best design for you. This only works if your laundry room shares a border with a room that could potentially hold dirty laundry, such as a bedroom, bathroom, or closet. In homes with multiple bedrooms, especially across multiple stories, you will still find yourself lugging around laundry baskets. And, while removing the need to carry a basket from even one of the rooms may sound nice, you should remember that you would be eliminating what is likely one of the shortest walks, as the rooms must be side-by-side. Plus, you may run into problems that are difficult to fix due to the design, such as clothing falling out of the hamper and blocking the tracks or overfilling the hamper and jamming the drawer function. Worst of all, depending on location and type of door, laundry noise may be a problem and should certainly be considered. Access directly from a bedroom may be too loud and not worth the convenience.

Overall, this laundry design hack can be a great addition to your home, giving you the ease of a laundry chute between two adjacent rooms. Check out these laundry room ideas that will make you think about a remodel and consider incorporating this genius laundry design, or, if you are in the designing phase, you may want to revisit your layout plans to include this handy feature.