We all dream of that perfect extension, and have great fun imagining what that outdoor living space or combined kitchen-diner might bring to our domestic lives. But there’s a more practical addition to the home that you might have overlooked: the utility room.
Photo by Nathan Van Egmond on Unsplash
The utility room is among the least glamorous, and most underappreciated, rooms in the modern home. If you don’t have one, then you can be sure that you’re missing out. Let’s take a look at exactly why this might be.
Hides the Ugliness
Let’s face it: there are parts of your home that are far more functional than they are great to look at. While designers of washing machines and tumble dryers might have taken great pains to make their products look sleek and visually appealing, the fact is that if you had a choice, you wouldn’t spend much time looking at them. A utility room provides a space to keep these items out of sight, thereby beautifying the rest of your home.
Allows you to mentally compartmentalise
When you’re in the utility room, it’s difficult to think about all of the other, more entertaining, distractions in the home. You’ll be totally focussed on the task in hand – whether it’s the washing, the drying, or the ironing. That way, you’ll be able to get it finished more quickly, and you’ll ultimately become more productive than you were previously.
Provides a Space for Your Boiler
One of the first questions you’ll be asked by any engineer looking to install a boiler for you is: where would you like it to go? In most cases, it will need to be attached to an exterior wall. But even a modern boiler will create quite a lot of noise, and so you’ll want to put it somewhere that isn’t immediately next to a bedroom, or to a living space. Then there’s the practical matter of the thing connecting to the existing pipework.
A utility room solves many of these problems. It’s an obvious location for your boiler, for the beautifying reason we’ve already mentioned, but also because it’ll make servicing and monitoring the device that much easier. If you’re shifting an existing boiler, you can make sure that you’re protected via cover from WarrantyWise.
Frees up Space Elsewhere
One thing that’s guaranteed to make a home feel more spacious is having all of the storage space consolidated in a single room. If your kitchen cabinets are so rammed with tinned goods that you can scarcely reach the items at the back, then shifting larger items (like sacks of potatoes and big bags of rice) into the utility room will help you to keep everything easily managed. By the same token, household tools, refuse sacks and those little miscellaneous items will have a home once you’re established a utility room.
If your home is a little on the cosy side, then this might be an extremely effective measure, but even if it isn’t you’ll be amazed at home much space you free up with just a small utility room.