Rebecca’s Utility and Boot Room

At my house I have a utility cupboard. We’ve made the most of the limited space, stacking our appliances on top of each other and adding shelving and hooks to store all the paraphernalia. It does the job but wouldn’t it be amazing to have a space to store muddy boots, do your laundry and snip a few flower heads too? Enter Rebecca’s utility room of dreams.

Before Ben and I moved house, we had a list for what we’d want in a forever house. A utility room and boot room came pretty close to the top of that list yet I never imagined what it might look like. We were so busy planning the kitchen that we didn’t really give much thought to the utility area, figuring that we’d sort that out once we’d got somewhere we could cook!

But then once the brain fog of kitchen decisions passed and everything was on track I suddenly realised that just because a room needed to be utilitarian, it could still be beautiful too. So then came the idea for patterned floor tiles, dark Down Pipe cupboards and panelling. And funnily enough everybody who visits actually prefers the decor of this room to our {much more expensive/planned out} kitchen!

Bespoke Joinery

Ben has built the run of units to keep costs down in here. He had doors made by a bespoke kitchen joiner he found on eBay and sent him a design and measurements over. He then made cupboard frames out of oak veneered MDF for the doors to sit on, custom making it all to fit the space. We’ve got an angle at one end of the room but the doors hide this making it look like a flat run. We’ve used the utility end of the space for a washing machine and tumble drier stacked together as well as a big cupboard to store laundry and cleaning supplies etc. We’ve got an extra sink out here for washing allotment vegetables/as a flower cutting sink and an extra fridge for Christmas. On the visible end panels and the wall behind the sink he fitted mounded MDF tongue and groove effect panelling. At the other end we went for two full height cupboards with a panelled bench seat in between to create storage for the boot room area. All of this was primed and then painted in Farrow & Ball Down Pipe. We’ve put up shaker style peg rails, which Ben has made, which are partly decorative but also v useful.

Because it is a fairly dark room in the middle of the house we’ve left the other walls light {Farrow and Ball Wimborne White} and then went for statement floor tiles {if you’ve ever seen my Instagram when there’s a pretty floor around you’ll see me hashtagging #ihavethisthingwithtiles} which are the Berkeley range in charcoal from Topps Tiles and I’m so pleased with them. I love antique brass so we designed a bespoke tap from Bespoke Taps in this finish to come out of the wall above the butler sink which also ties in with the door furniture. For the handles/knobs our kitchen maker got the brass handles from a hardware shop in Edinburgh and then distressed them.

The reclaimed cast iron radiator, from Ribble Radiators, should keep it toasty in here whilst looking the part too. We chose a pewter sparkle colour to go with the floor tiles and I think it looks really in keeping.

Finishing Touches

The run of units is definitely the main feature in here so we’ve kept everything else quite simple in terms of decor. We’ve framed some vintage kitchen prints by Ros Shiers and put up a Cox & Cox wire shelf rack to store a few bits but other than that we’ve just dotted some plants around from Ikea and hung a few baskets. The back door, which we painted in a light pink {Farrow and Ball Pink Ground} and fitted a cute bee door knocker has become one of my all time favourite features in our house now. I want to get a couple of blinds made for the door and window but can’t decide on fabric just yet! I chose a French linen grain sack for a bench seat cushion by an independent seller I found on Instagram called Maison Brocante. Lastly, we’ve fitted a large coir door mat in the step which I’m sure will be well used this winter as we’re going to use this as our main door with muddy boots. The star door mat is from Lisa Valentine Home. For more details you can view the post on my blog, Roses and Rolltops.