If you’re trying to hide unattractive elements in your laundry room or you want to see photos of a laundry room with a top-loading washer (most online images show front-loaders with counters), this post should help. After months of planning, the beach house laundry room/mudroom finally came together over the weekend. It’s a simple space we’d been collecting ideas and materials for since December 2017, but other projects like the walk-in pantry and the wall-to-wall bunk beds kept taking priority. With those completed, we cleared out lumber, tools, and dust, and turned this room into a functional space that’s about 89% nicer to look at.
To go back to the beginning: this was one of the ugliest areas of the beach house when we bought it. It had been a porch someone enclosed poorly using interior flooring instead of siding, which led to rot and large holes by the time we purchased the house. Combined with an unstable foundation set in sand instead of concrete footers, that side of the house had to be rebuilt entirely.
By the end of last summer things started to look promising after drywall and floor tile were installed. The tile was an affordable option from Lowe’s and we used a warm gray grout that worked well with the slate-like flooring.
For months the room functioned as a temporary storage area for tools and building materials because we don’t yet have a garage or shed. When our washer and dryer arrived around Black Friday it still felt like a workspace more than a finished room. We selected models we already used at home and liked a lot, so we purchased the same ones for the beach house.
The main challenge to finishing the room was concealing the tankless water heater and keeping it accessible for service and emergency shut-off when the house is vacant. Our solution was an IKEA hack using a PAX wardrobe. The 20″ wide, 24″ deep module fit the space between the wall and the washer with only minor modifications to provide access to the breaker box and service points.
We chose the shorter 79″ height so the cabinet visually aligned with the window and doorways, rather than towering over the room. After bringing the PAX home, we cut a large section out of the back panel before final assembly to create safe access to the water heater while maintaining enough structure for internal storage.
We also cut a precise opening in the side to clear the water heater breaker box and added wooden spacers and blocking to secure the cabinet to the wall studs. The side blocking was set 3/4″ behind the finished cabinet face so we could attach a primed filler strip later and make the unit look built-in. A thin plywood panel painted to match the cabinet covers the side gap and completes the seamless appearance.
With the cabinet in place we added floating shelves above the washer and dryer. These shelves hide hookups, the dryer vent, and the large gap that top-loading machines usually create at the back. We used iron brackets in a natural waxed finish and 1×12 whitewood boards stained to match the home’s existing wood tones. The bottom shelf sits just high enough to allow full use of the washer while covering the plugs and valves behind the appliances.
We finished the shelves with a stain and sealer to match the beach house’s pine accents. Baskets hold supplies, while a few decorative items add personality. The shelf design lets us lift the bottom board off easily to access the plugs and valves when needed.
The mudroom side of the room still needs a bit more functional storage. For now we brought down a wood bench and kept previously installed hooks for coats and towels. Once the outdoor pathway and patio are complete, this door will likely become a primary entrance after beach trips, so a welcoming, tidy mudroom will be especially useful.
Updating this room made a big difference: it’s now pleasant to walk into instead of stepping over tools and scrap lumber. The slate floors, black light fixture, open wood shelves, and simple finishes create a cohesive, beach-friendly space. For those asking about paint and finishes, the walls are White Heron and the trim is Stone Isle, both Sherwin-Williams.
We still have small tasks left — interior cabinet organization, hardware, additional mudroom storage — but the room now works and looks much more finished. It’s a practical, attractive laundry and mudroom that suits the needs of a beach house and hides the less attractive but necessary mechanicals behind a simple, built-in-looking solution.