Problem: You’re constantly tripping over the laundry basket in your walk-in closet/bathroom/laundry room. It’s something you need to catch the dirty clothes until wash day, but can’t it be less troublesome?
Solution: Design Basics’ plan customization specialist, Tricia Baker, developed a handy and attractive design amenity, the Laundry Solution. It can be incorporated into your closet, bedroom, or bathroom, integrated into your cabinetry as a tilt-out or pull-out drawer. On laundry day, simply lift the clothes basket out of the drawer to transport to your laundry room.
Another concept is a pass-through from your closet, bedroom, or bathroom (see cover image). If your home’s design facilitates a shared wall between one of these rooms, the Laundry Solution conveniently “drops” dirty clothes into your laundry room!
Storage. It’s a much-needed element in any home. And, we rarely hear homeowners say they have too much storage. But, that square footage costs money, and now averages upwards of $150 per square foot. Let’s say you have a 6’ x 10’ closet space; that’s 60 square feet, or approximately $9,000. That means storage space is expensive. One way to mitigate the expense is to include a well-designed storage system. They not only maximize space; they help you organize your stuff—and your life!
Areas where you can maximize storage space without adding square footage include extra shelving over your washer and dryer, under the stairs, or in the garage – again, storage systems are an excellent way to organize and contain items; also, think suspended shelves or shelves above your garage door tracks.
Specialized Storage. Do you dream of a huge kitchen pantry? How about a cedar closet for your households’ off-season clothes? Where will you stash the 36-roll package of toilet paper? Do you have room for the grand-kids’ toys and games? Is a wine room in your future? Wouldn’t it be great to have a handy place for your Christmas tree?
Over the years we’ve often heard homeowners requesting specialized spaces to accommodate their own unique needs. Gathering up all the ideas, we created what we call a Signature Space® – a small flex space/room measuring 6’ x 8’ that can be used however the homeowner wishes. The Serena (#42282) plan’s Signature Space could be used as a craft room, toys/games room, or customized storage.
Our Livability at a Glance™ color-coded floor plans help home buyers focus in on the elements they desire most in a home: Storing, Flexible Living, De-Stressing, andEntertaining. As in the Tillamook (#43038) plan, the different areas of the home are identified by color (Storing is orange) so you can visualize where storage is located/could be located. Using our Livability Search Tool, you choose which area(s) of the home are most important to you and those plans identified as being strong in this area(s) will filter into your plan search. Which of these four areas are most important to you? Take our Livability at a Glance Quiz to find out!
Sometimes placement of the laundry room presents a unique situation for venting the dryer. Maybe your vent needs to run up before it can exit the home. This can cause energy and safety problems as lint can become trapped in in the vent and more frequent cleaning is needed. Introducing a ventless dryer!
The new breed of ventless clothes dryers not only use less energy, they also eliminate the need for a dryer vent. Even if you are disciplined in cleaning out the lint filter regularly, dryer vent hoses/pipes typically clog over time, lengthening dryer cycles, wasting power, and shortening the life of your dryer. Some vent hoses snake around the home’s framing and are very hard to clean out, a leading cause of the 2,900 home clothes dryer fires reported annually (U.S. Fire Administration). Whirlpool’s HybridCare™ True Ventless heat pump dryer offers a large, 7.4 cu. ft. capacity and dries clothes in about the same amount of time as the company’s traditional vented models.
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Sometimes placement of the laundry room presents a unique situation for venting the dryer. Maybe your vent needs to run up before it can exit the home. This can cause energy and safety problems as lint can become trapped in in the vent and more frequent cleaning is needed. Introducing a ventless dryer!
the need for a dryer vent. Even if you are disciplined in cleaning out the lint filter regularly, dryer vent hoses/pipes typically clog over time, lengthening dryer cycles, wasting power, and shortening the life of your dryer. Some vent hoses snake around the home’s framing and are very hard to clean out, a leading cause of the 2,900 home clothes dryer fires reported annually (U.S. Fire Administration). Whirlpool’s HybridCare™ True Ventless heat pump dryer offers a large, 7.4 cu. ft. capacity and dries clothes in about the same amount of time as the company’s traditional vented models.