ByLydia Geisel,Photography byAmanda Jane Jones
PublishedAug 31, 2022 12:50 PM EDT
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When graphic designer Amanda Jane Jones and her husband, Cree Lane Jones, moved from Chicago to Utah, their 9-year-old daughter Jane had one non-negotiable demand: no more sleeping next to the washing machines. ‘Poor kid. Her bedroom had basically been a laundromat with a bed,’ Amanda recalls. Luckily for Jane and her brothers Miles, 6, and Wes, 3, their new 2,800-square-foot Provo house finally had space for a real laundry-slash-mudroom connected to the garage.
It took some doing, though. The area had been a covered carport, and the ground underneath was sinking. After engineers jacked up the house and stabilized the walls, Amanda got to work on floors, appliances, and one brilliant addition that made laundry day feel slightly less like a punishment.
Amanda quickly realized that ordering kitchen and laundry cabinets together saved money and sanity. Plus, she’s a sucker for cohesion. ‘I think being a graphic designer broke my brain—I want everything to match,’ she says. She chose Form Kitchens, a European brand with made-to-order cabinets minus the showroom sticker shock. Local fabricators poured the white concrete countertops on-site.
Cree initially side-eyed Amanda’s splurge: Fireclay floor tile. But the matte rectangles turned out to be a mudroom MVP. The dark brown color hides dirt that gets tracked in from outside. ‘Utah is way dustier and dirtier than city life,’ Amanda admits. Translation: less time Swiffering, more time pretending the floor is always this clean.
After leaving their old washer and dryer in Chicago, the couple needed new appliances that wouldn’t drain their bank account or stick out from under the counter. A Labor Day sale delivered LG models that checked both boxes.
Because the room is a pass-through to the garage—and therefore the great outdoors—Amanda added a few practical accessories. A round mirror over the sink lets tall family members do a final hair-and-outfit check, while tiny individual key hooks keep important things from vanishing into the abyss.
In the Jones house, laundry happens about once a week, ‘but it somehow takes the entire day,’ Amanda notes. With everyone constantly walking through the room, a flimsy floor drying rack was basically a booby trap. So she installed George and Willy’s ceiling-mounted pulley system, which lifts clothes out of the way and puts them closer to the warm air up top. It’s like a clothes elevator.
Cree insisted on adding a drinking fountain because he had one growing up. ‘I thought it was ridiculous, but I’m shocked how useful it is,’ Amanda says. There are no half-empty cups abandoned around the house, and her youngest, who can’t quite reach the kitchen sink yet, can hydrate himself. It’s the one accessory that makes everyone feel like they’re living in a very clean elementary school.
Lydia Geisel has been on the editorial team at Domino since 2017. Today, she writes and edits home and renovation stories, including house tours, before and afters, and DIYs, and leads our design news coverage. She lives in New York City.
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