Washer and Dryer Pedestal

My washer and dryer pedestal is in place!   I have no regrets building my pedestal.  When we decided to replace our set, I knew I didn't want to buy the matching pedestals that came with it because I had heard from several people that it was too small to even put laundry detergent in.  Since our space is small, I needed to maximize it and building my own would allow me to place laundry baskets underneath for added storage.  It didn't hurt that it also saved me $420 as well since the store bought pedestals were $250 a piece and the total price I paid was roughly $80 for the wood.

Here's my how-to.  I took the plans from here and modified it to my space.  The maximum height my pedestal could be would be 17 inches due to a pre-existing cabinet above the dryer.  Therefore, I had to somehow figure out a way to shorten it, without shortening the opening since the typical laundry basket is 10.5 inches, I wanted an 11 inch clearance.  The only way to shorten the overall height was to use 2x3s instead of 2x4s which the plan uses.

There are two floors to the pedestal.  Since the bottom floor would really have no weight to bare other than laundry baskets, I used 2x3's and placed it on its side (the 2inch side). 

 

The dimensions of the floors were 57x35.  In hind sight, I would have made the width shorter had I known the dryer vent was at the exact location of one of my pedestal legs.  That's something to think about. The location of the dryer vent may force you to build it less wide, or drill out a space/hole to allow it to connect.

For the top layer, I also used 2x3s, but I placed them vertically (on the 3 inch side) for more support.  This gave the over all height to be 16.25 inches, giving me a 3/4 inch clearance under the cabinet.

 

Most of the plans I found online used MDF.  Water and MDF don't mx well and since I have had enough experience with water spraying everywhere in my laundry room, I decided I would use ply wood instead.  That also allowed me to stain it to match my cabinets in the room.  I used 1/2 inch thick of plywood for both layers.

Now for the legs.  Everyone online as able to find 4x4s in the store, but of course, untreated 4x4 is no where to be found where I live.  Therefore, I nailed two pieces of 2x4s together to make my legs.  Since I had a lot of the same cuts to make, I clamped a piece of wood at the end of the saw and just budded all my pieces to it.  This allowed every cut to be exactly the same and what was even better, cutting all the legs were fast.

I glued and nailed the boards together.  One thing I hate about 2x4s are the curved edges.  When I nailed them together, there was a groove in between that I didn't care for.  I wanted it to look like one piece and it didn't so I used a planer to shave off that curve so that it would look seamless.

 Whatever gaps remained, I used a stainable wood filler.  You can also make your own.  It is basically just glue and sawdust.  I sanded all the pieces down and then added trim around all the exposed edges.  

I didn't like the unfinished edge of the plywood so I decided to cover it up.  I think adding trim around the edges of the plywood makes a HUGE difference. 

A coat of stain and then two coats of polyethylene, with sanding in between finished the look.

After reading a lot of horror stories, I thought installation would be tough.  With a little preparation, it wasn't so bad.

 I really do love the look of it, even more than the store bought one.

I contemplated painting the pedestal, but I am glad I stuck with staining it because we have a locker-style built-in cabinet on the other side of the laundry room that is stained as well.

What's left to do?  I need to build a shelf or roll out for this space.

I have this plastic thing right now, but it looks a little out of place so I hope to build a pull out or shelving unit to match the rest of the room.

Oh, and here's my tip for buying a washer and dryer.  I was against buying a new set because there really wasn't anything wrong with our old set.  Since it was a top loader and I am rather short, I would have to use a step stool to get the clothes out of the washer, but I got used to it.  My hubby didn't like that so I researched for a new washer and dryer.  Once I found "the" one, I waited..and waited until the sale.  I found an incredible price online to which I brought to the store for a price match.  They price matched and took an additional 10% off that price.  To top that off, I bought them on appliance tax-free weekend.  Did you know that even existed?  I didn't.  Apparently, the government has one weekend a year where energy-efficient appliances are tax-free.

So what did I end up paying?  My washer and dryer retailed for $1399 each.  Crazy huh?  It had high reviews (that's probably why it was oober expensive).  I found a store selling it for $940.  I priced matched it at my local store and got an additional 10% off.  That brought the price down to only $846 each.  If I bought it on any other weekend for the regular price, it would have cost $3028.84.  I saved a whopping $1336.84.  Because of that savings, I was willing to splurge on a new set.  I was also able to sell my old one for $300.  Therefore, I was only out of pocket for $1392 for both the washer and dryer.  That's like buying the washer and getting the dryer for free or getting over 50% off which is definitely better than any black Friday deal I have seen.  I love my new set, and for the price, I have no regrets.