25 Stylish Small Laundry Room Ideas With a Top-Loading Washer

When designing a small laundry room, there are plenty of good reasons to choose a top-loading washer. These old-school machines may not be as trendy as today's supersized front-loading washers, but they may be your only option if you're outfitting a shallow laundry closet in an older apartment or home.

A top-loading washing machine may be the best choice for a small or narrow laundry room that doesn't have a lot of wiggle room. And while it limits the possibility of installing a countertop above to allow room to open and close the lid, that's nothing that some clever laundry room shelving can't solve.

Check out these stylish, functional small laundry room ideas that feature top-loading washers for inspiration.

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Add Custom Cabinetry

Melissa Roberts Interiors

Maximize storage and conceal plumbing and electrical hookups with floor-to-ceiling cabinetry on either side of your top-loading washing machine and dryer. Melissa Roberts Interiors installed open shelving on a vertical chevron-patterned glass tile backsplash for additional storage and display.

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Try a Galley-Style Layout

Bless This Nest

Optimize your laundry room layout for maximum efficiency. Blogger Carissa from Bless This Nest chose a galley-style configuration in this small space, then decorated with paint, an inexpensive chandelier, open shelving, and created a DIY thrift store wooden ladder drying rack by adding hooks and attaching it to wall studs.

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Hide With a Beaded Curtain

A Beautiful Mess

Make it easy to access your laundry room by trading a beaded curtain for a door. A Beautiful Mess added wall-mounted open shelving above this top-load washer to keep laundry essentials at arm's reach without interfering with opening and closing it.

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Create a Farmhouse Feel

Cherished Bliss

Give your space a modern farmhouse feel with a neutral palette and DIY design touches. In this small laundry room makeover, Cherished Bliss added warm gray cabinetry above the washer and dryer and a chunky wood shelf to store everyday items and help conceal plumbing connections. A painted faux mosaic tile floor stencil adds a decorative note, and a letterboard sign above the washer keeps it real.

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Conceal With Cabinet Doors

Marie Flanigan Interiors

Create a clutter-free look by hiding your machine behind custom cabinetry or doors. This top-load washer-dryer combo hidden behind a stained wood cabinet from Marie Flanigan Interiors creates an efficient laundry corner in a guesthouse that fades into the background when not in use.

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Decorate the Walls

Stay Home Style

Create a budget-friendly alternative to wallpaper with a simple DIY project. Blogger Ashley Whatley from Stay Home Style used a one-inch brush to create a matte black painted pattern on the wall behind the top-loading washer, and installed stained pine shelving to fashion wall-to-wall storage that maximizes the small space.

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Use Cohesive Colors

A Beautiful Mess

If your laundry room is a pass-through space, use the same palette to connect adjacent rooms. A Beautiful Mess decorated this one-wall laundry room between the garage and a powder room in the same black, white, and green color palette that is carried throughout the house.

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Match Finishes to Appliances

Pizzale Design Inc.

Pair stainless steel appliances with shades of gray for a cohesive look. Pizzale Design Inc. paired the tonal palette with brown wood cabinetry and installed two different tiles on the backsplash and flooring to add interest.

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Incorporate Personal Touches

Up to Date Interiors

Use leftover paint and wallpaper to give your laundry room a budget-friendly makeover. Blogger Kathy Baugher of Up to Date Interiors mixed her own paint color to match the wallpaper, adding wall-to-wall cabinetry and a floating shelf to display sentimental decor objects relocated from elsewhere in the house, including a vintage basket and gold box from her grandmother.

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Hang a Pendant Light

Charbonneau Interiors

Turn your small laundry room into a destination with statement lighting. This petite and polished laundry room from Charbonneau Interiors has a top-loading washer, marble effect quartz countertops and matching backsplash, gold hardware, and dark blue cabinetry. A globe pendant light hangs in front of the arched window to add some glamour.

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Install Peel-and-Stick Tile

Lydi Out Loud

Give your space a budget-friendly makeover with peel-and-stick tiles. Lydi Out Loud gave her tiny laundry room some love with a peel-and-stick subway style wall tile backsplash and a mix of open and closed storage.

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Optimize the Laundry Closet

Cherished Bliss

Trade oversized appliances for an old-school top-loading washer to optimize space in a small laundry closet. Blogger Ashley from Cherished Bliss decorated her rental laundry space with a chunky stained wood shelf lined with linen storage boxes, a wicker basket with wood-top glass storage jars for supplies, and a small lamp to add some ambient lighting. An eye-catching laundry sign helps camouflage hoses and cords.

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Make Room for a Drying Rod

Elizabeth Burns Design

In a shallow laundry closet sandwiched into a corner and accessed by bi-fold doors, a top-loading washer and dryer set may be your only option. Elizabeth Burns Design made the most of a small kitchen space by decorating the back with removable wallpaper in a black-and-white buffalo check pattern. They replaced builder-grade wire racks with a small cabinet and drying rod, and added antique brass
cabinet pulls for warmth.

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Include a Central Island

Whittney Parkinson Design

Even if your laundry room is large enough for any kind of appliances, some people prefer the design of a top-loading washer. Whittney Parkinson Design built cabinetry around the appliances that provides clearance for the lid and space for a shelf behind the machines for housing supplies in clear glass storage jars. A central island adds a spot for folding clothes.

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Add Beadboard Wall Trim

Jen Woodhouse

Beadboard wainscoting will give your laundry room a cozy feel. Blogger Jen Woodhouse installed beadboard wall paneling and custom floating shelves to add style and functionality to this small laundry room.

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Use Vertical Space

Just a Girl and Her Blog

Maximize a small laundry room by utilizing vertical space. Blogger Abby Lawson from Just a Girl and Her Blog installed a pair of cabinets and an open shelf on a painted vertical shiplap wall, hanging a mirror that reflects light above stainless steel appliances.

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Stick to Black and White

Charbonneau Interiors

Create a cohesive look with a black-and-white palette. This laundry room from Charbonneau Interiors features a strict color scheme down to the black hangers on the black drying rod. Cabinetry runs to the ceiling to maximize vertical storage and patterned tiles to add interest to the floor.

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Keep It Renter-Friendly

Up to Date Interiors

Conceal plumbing fixtures and cords with lightweight wall baskets that double as decor. Blogger Kathy Baugher of Up to Date Interiors cheered up the laundry room in her rental apartment in Japan by decorating the top-loading washer with gold polka dot decals leftover from her daughter's room makeover.

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Save Space by Stacking

Design by Marie Flanigan Interiors / Photo by Julie Soefer

Stacked appliances are a small space's best friends. In this kitchen pantry laundry room closet from Marie Flanigan Interiors, open shelving and a small drying rack is built around a stacked washer-dryer combo that makes efficient use of space.

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Make a Multipurpose Mudroom

KG Designs

Confine the laundry area in a long rectangular combination mudroom and laundry room to the far wall for an efficient use of space. KG Designs paired a top-loading washer and dryer set, a row of wall-to-wall cabinetry, patterned backsplash tile, and a small countertop space for folding laundry that blends in with the neutral decor of the space.

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Decorate With a Wall Map

In My Own Style

Paper the walls of your laundry closet with nostalgic National Geographic maps sourced online, like this space from blogger Diane Henkler of In My Own Style. Freshen up wooden louvered doors with spray paint to match appliances and upper cabinetry.

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Make It Multifunctional

Charbonneau Interiors

Create a functional laundry corner in a multipurpose utility room with a gray tile backsplash and storage cabinetry for supplies. This utility room from Charbonneau Interiors shares space with a giant extra refrigerator and the dog's bowls.

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Add a Powder Room

Finding Lovely / Ruth Eileen Photography

Decorate a combination downstairs powder room and laundry room to elevate the space so you'll be happy to share it with guests. Finding Lovely painted cabinets in the same shade of warm gray as the adjacent kitchen, and hung illustrated floral wallpaper as a finishing touch.

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Keep It Colorful

Southern Hospitality

Personalize your laundry room with paint, wallpaper, and decor. Blogger Rhoda from Southern Hospitality turned her windowless upstairs laundry room into a colorful space, mounting a yard sale glass-front wood cabinet above the top-loading washer and dryer to display favorite objects.

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Use an All-White Palette

Hannah Tyler Designs

Opt for an all-white laundry room design to create a space as clean and minimalist as a freshly laundered white shirt. This space from Hannah Tyler Designs has pristine white walls and cabinetry, a top-loading washer and dryer, and a simple globe pendant for a serene feel.

How do you hide a top-loading washer?

You can hide a top-loading washer behind the cabinet doors of a tall cupboard, behind folding doors in a shallow laundry closet, or behind a curtain. Conceal it beneath a butcher block countertop by cutting a piece of matching countertop to fit the front and top. Then add hinges to the top piece so that it can be lifted out of the way for loading and unloading the machine.

How much room do you need for a top-loading washer?

The key to making sure your top-loading washer fits in your space is to check that you have enough clearance to comfortably open the door for loading and unloading laundry. It is recommended that you leave between 16 and 18 inches of space above the machine to ensure that it's comfortable to use.