The Creation of a Multi-Tasking Space in 3 Dimensions
Alma, of @Almafied on Instagram, loves a good find, diy, rearranging, and making a house a home (on a budget). She also has a gift for thinking outside the box when it comes to using space in her home.
With a young family and the whole work from home situation, Alma found they were in need of a space that could function as office, mudroom, laundry room, craft room, snack bar, and storage. Without a serviceable room to repurpose, Alma turned to finding a way to create a workable space. And it required some three-dimensional thinking.
The only space available for conversion was the garage, which was only accessible through a narrow walk-through laundry room. However, after a little spatial thinking, Alma realized it could also be made accessible from the front entry way on the other side of the kitchen and living room.
It would require the rearrangement of the water heater and the washer and dryer, but spreading out into the garage would give them a solid amount of space without cutting into the functionality of the garage. Plus, rearranging is Alma’s strong suit, so no problem there.
Alma turned to RTA Cabinet Store’s design experts and FREE design services to conceptualize the cabinets that would serve the three main purposes of the space. She selected Florence White Shaker cabinets, which are technically “kitchen” cabinets but work perfectly for all the functions of the office/laundry/mudroom.
Any diyer can appreciate saving a little money. That was Alma’s aim too. She selected RTA cabinets because of the high quality and on-trend design, but also because they are affordable.
Never backing down from a renovation challenge, she and husband, Jason, tackled the cabinet assembly and installation easily using the BILT app. It features 3-dimensional, step-by-step instructions making the whole process a snap. They also decided to make their own molding to save a bit on the budget.
Ready for more details? Here’s how Alma made the most of the new space.
Office Space
The main reason for this project stemmed from the need for an office space. Alma and her husband Jason set up a desk in the garage, which was not ideal in the hot and cold weather. They needed to bring it into the house asap.
They planned for a long desk with some office supply storage that could double as outdoor-wear storage. They also wanted to have a snack bar and mini fridge so coffee refills and afternoon snacking wouldn’t have to disturb work.
Though Alma wanted mostly cabinets with doors, they opted to do a section of drawers opposite the desk for easy access to office supplies. A small countertop space above the drawers offers a bit of horizontal work area perfect for quick tasks like stapling papers or digging for the right color marker.
RTA Cabinet Store’s Florence White Shaker offers soft close drawers, solid wood face, and a full overlay design perfect for Alma’s minimalist sensibilities.
Mudroom
The multi-tasking space was perfectly located to negotiate between the outdoors and indoors, like any good mudroom. Besides keeping muddy shoes out of the rest of the house, a mudroom is ideal for all the personal items every member of the family needs to grab on the go.
Alma opted for tall cabinets that could function somewhat like a locker for shoes, coats, backpacks, purses, etc. All the things that sometimes have a hard time finding their place, this was the space for that.
In her 3-dimensional way, Alma chose pantry cabinets for the bank of cabinets in the mudroom to get that locker type feel. These come in measures from 84-96 inches tall. Adjustable shelves allow you to arrange for as much vertical storage space as you want.
Laundry
When you look at Alma’s mudroom, you don’t immediately realize that it’s also a laundry room. The old walk-through laundry room pivoted to be a snack bar/wet bar complete with mini fridge. The washer and dryer scooted around the corner into the new space.
Alma opted to stack the washer and dryer to keep the footprint as small as possible. Where did all the rest of the laundry room stuff go? Alma, in her minimalistic way, purged the storage in the original laundry room, donating or tossing most of it.
A simple two door/drawer base cabinet just to the left of the stacked washer and dryer was added so it’s easily accessible for laundry purposes. The brass knobs and stone countertops tie this area to the rest of the space for a harmonious feel.
This mudroom/office/laundry room uses space, design, and RTA cabinets in ways only the most creative of minds could have conceived of. Alma’s collaboration with RTA Cabinet Store’s design experts resulted in kitchen cabinets flexing for the ultimate of flexible spaces. We think the outcome is top notch.
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