Laundry / pet room makeover

[orps]

Would love some advice/ideas for redoing our laundry space to accomodate our two cats. 

Right now, this is what our laundry looks like, it's set into a nook in a tiled thoroughfare that leads to a main bathroom/powder room. 

I've had the idea to better utilise this space, and make room for the cats' litter tray/food and sleeping/lounging/playing areas. During the day they have free run of the house but at night we like to put them away in their own space so they stay safe. 

My rough idea is below... 

- Take out the large laundry sink we now have, as we never use it. 

- Move the washing machine to where the sink currently is 

- Mount the dryer high up on the wall, leaving enough space for a bench top

- Put a slab of wood as a bench top 

- Next to the washing machine, have some cupboards separated into two section, one for the litter tray, and one for the cat sleeping area. These would have normal cabinet doors on the front to allow for easy cleaning, with cat doors cut into them. 

- Up above the bench, put in some open shelves, with gaps between them so the cats can jump up and play/lounge. I would add carpet tiles to these for traction and also a scratching post. 

- Their food would go on the bench top (which I estimate to be about 64cm deep, based on the washing machine) 

- Possibly a small sink in the middle of the bench, above the cavity where the litter would go (can you easily switch the position of the washing machine/sink with the help of a plumber?)

- Ideally, on the far right of the bench top we'd cut a hole in the bench so the cats can jump up from their sleeping area. Alternatively, I need to come up with an idea for them to jump from the floor up to the bench for their food (right now they have taken over our bathroom and jump from the toilet up onto the bench where their food is) 

Finally, the nook area leaves a gap of about 30ish cms in front, and I am thinking of getting roller style wardrobe doors to seal off the space at night time. 

My questions are:

-What do you think of the plan?

-Do you have better ideas to maximise space/combine the needs of a laundry room with a pet space? 

- Do you have suggestion for a compact laundry sink?

- What sort of wood slab might work for here and can you get that cut to size at bunnings? (it would need to be VERY water proof if we went ahead with the sink idea as our cat has a love of water play...) 

- Are there easy options to install shelves like this that can be cut to size easily? (and be strong enough to hold two cats, potentially 10kg+?) 

Looking forward to your feedback! 

Cheers 

 

[redracer01]

Hello @orps 

Can I trouble you to post the wall sizes all around the laundry room please. I am a big fan of cats and will do my best to design you a nice cat lounge.

Red

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @orps. It's fantastic to have you join us and many thanks for your question.

I'm fairly certain as soon as you mentioned cats redracer01's ears started twitching. I've had a quick go at your design, but flipped, as it might be easier to keep the sink in the same position just a smaller in bench version. 

I'll leave the design up to @redracer01 as I'm sure it will be amazing! I can't wait to see what he comes up with.

Mitchell

[orps]

Thanks for the speedy replies @redracer01 and @MitchellMc 

The wall sizes are included on the floor plan below. 

Note the left wall appears to measure shorter as a door frame to another room eats into that wall. 

Our washing machine is approximately 60wide and 68 deep.  

I'm very grateful for any and all ideas. At the moment, I'm considering bi-fold doors across the front of the space so the cats can be safe at night but still not confined to too small a space. Would also love some ideas for storing large amounts of cat food and litter (we buy in bulk bags of 30L), in an ideal world it would have been great to have a pulley drawer with two big bins and a scoop to distribute, but I don't think it will fit in this laundry, so after a new idea! 

To summarise, would love the room to have a few "zones" 

Zone 1- laundry (washer/dryer)

Zone 2 - litter tray 

Zone 3 - cat sleeping areas

Zone 4 - cat food area (fine on bench as they are used to jumping up for it) 

Zone 5 - cat lounging/play/scratching post area 

Thanks again for your help! 

[orps]

Correction for you @redracer01 and @MitchellMc  the washing machine's exact measurements are: 

600mm wide 

665mm deep 

850mm high 

[redracer01]

Hello @orps 

CAT CONDO

Cat's as we know are predatory animals and it is in their instinct to want to be able to see everything from a vantage point. The higher the better! If there is two of them, there should be enough space to lounge and observe everything going on. The top shelf near the ceiling is 300 mm away from the ceiling, enough room for the cat to be in a sitting position. The walk ways are 200 mm wide enough for them to cross over, I've provided multiple exits in case they meet each other head on. I hope you enjoy the idea, you can place the shelves however you want, just make sure to provide a minimum distance of 250mm between shelves or adjust to cats height ( from paw to top of ear while walking ). A gap of 200 mm between exits or again adjust to cats dimensions. If you wish to see other ideas please drop us a line here on workshop. Good luck and stay safe!

Cheers!

Red

[MitchellMc]

That looks fantastic @redracer01, great work!

We look forward to hearing your thoughts @orps on redracer01's designs. The renderings certainly look like they have taken all your requests into account and have given you a fabulous visual aid to base your project on.

It will be great to follow along with your project as you develop this space. Please keep us updated on your progress and let us know if you have any questions or need advice.

Mitchell

[orps]

Wow!!!! @redracer01 this is amazing!!!! I would never have thought to have the shelves like that, that's so clever. I also love the idea of that top shelf going all the way along the room so they can spy down on us. 

Downton Tabby is too funny. 

I would love your ideas on how I could add doors of some kind to the alcove to keep the cats in at night time. As you can see there isn't much space, so I was thinking maybe some sort of bifold door or similar. I also thought about some sort of roller door from the roof down but I'm not sure if that even exists (or if it's impractical for someone so short as me!). 

On the other side of the washing machine is a wall that leads to our linen closet. I am considering putting a hole in the wall on the laundry side and making the bottom shelf of the linen closet a cosy cat cave. See photo below, they already love exploring in there each time I open the doors.

The question is, would there be an easy way to "seal" that lower space somehow so the rest of the linen closet wouldn't smell like cats? (As much as we love them, we love the smell of clean sheets too!) It would be great if we could somehow seal the bottom shelf in a way that we could still access it from the linen cupboard doors for cleaning. I was thinking maybe some sort of plastic/perspex panel or something. Would love any ideas you have and @MitchellMc will definitely keep you updated on our progress.   

[Jason]

Hi @orps,

Just wondering if you've made any progress on this project?

I'm sure adding bifolds is a possibility, although you will lose some space. Hopefully @redracer01 might be able to update his wonderful designs when he gets a chance. 

Jason

[redracer01]

Hello @orps 

I was thinking just regular louvered doors/panels. This will allow air to circulate in the room and should avoid the bulkiness of a regular door. As for the access to your linen closet, I suggest giving them a separate cave or shoe box to play in. I'm in agreement with you on "keeping the sheets clean". I feel that you want to keep your cats curious and find new spaces in the house to lounge and hide, I suggest looking on the internet for making box castles for cats. You can then move this castle from place to place in the house making it a moving lounge area which the cat will discover. You can then decorate it and put all manner of soft items which I'm sure your cat will love. I hope my suggestions have given you inspiration and that you make your own creation! Good luck and stay safe.

Cheers,

Red