A little over two years ago I gave my own laundry room a face lift. You can read about it here. A number of things in this room didn't work out as well as planned. My number two son left muddy boots on this rug and I was never able to get the stain out so color the rug gone. The washer and dryer, that were fairly new when this picture was taken have also hit the road. That washing machine was a huge disappointment and Lowe's apparently agreed because they were more than fair in working with us to replace it. I went back to a top loader washer and I am so much happier than I was with this one. The vinyl Ikea poppies are starting to peel up a bit too. I'm thinking I need to add this room to my ever growing list of projects. Nothing major here, just a few tweaks.
As I was looking around the internet I found a few good laundry room ideas for function and storage.
If your laundry room is small and you don't have room to leave an ironing board up and you don't have one of those built in cabinets for your ironing board you might want to consider this pretty option.
A very simple painted and decorated plaque with a couple of hooks to hang your ironing board from. This plaque has a fun quote that could be created with vinyl words or by painting it on. You could decorate your wall hanger in any style to coordinate with the rest of the room. It helps too that this ironing board has such a pretty cover.
A retractable valet bar is perfect in a small space and can be pushed out of the way when you aren't using it.
A hanger caddy is another nice feature to have close by. This one would keep those hangers within easy reach but they would look neatly corralled until you actually needed them.
Whether your space is an actual laundry room or just a washer and dryer tucked in a closet it is important to make this area look as inviting as possible. Let's face it, nobody really loves to do laundry. Do they? So while we are facing this chore let's make the space look at pleasant and clutter free as possible.
When it comes to laundry soap, stain treatments and fabric softeners you have two options. They can either sit out on a shelf or be tucked away out of sight.
I like an uncluttered look so I usually try and opt for out of sight.
In a cupboard is the easiest "hidden" option and I like to incorporate turntables inside the cupboard to fascilitate finding things easily.
If your space doesn't offer any cupboard space then consider a shelf with baskets or bins to contain and organize some of your laundry products.
I also thought this idea of transferring laundry soaps into clear containers and leaving them in clear sight was a good idea. If things are left out to be seen then make them pretty.
Those huge bottles from Costco or Sam's Club can be hard to handle so transferring the soaps in smaller more manageable and attractive bottles makes a lot of sense.
A set of storage drawers such as these would be a wonderful organizational aid either between the washer and dryer as shown here or off to the side if your units are stacked.
If your machines are stacked one on top of the other then a pull out shelf between the two is rather genius don't you think?
Albert Lee
Doing laundry isn't rocket science but streamlining the process in an attractive environment can cut down on time and make it seem like less of a drudgery.
The first step in this routine is collecting the clothes.
We live in an older home that has four floors. Fortunately we also have a laundry chute which is a Godsend.
I do laundry almost every day and I hang dry a lot of our clothes. So we enclosed the area where the chute drops out into a closet space with a louvered door for ventilation. This works well because the clothes have good air circulation for drying but are out of sight.
Inside the closet I have an old Rubbermaid tub to catch the laundry. The problem is that there is about a three foot drop from the bottom of the chute to the tub. As a result I am always standing on my head and reaching into dark corners to retrieve a wayward sock or pair of underwear.
While looking around the internet for laundry ideas I landed on this commercial style laundry cart on wheels. Put that baby on my list. I can wheel it out from under the chute and start separating.
If you are using a hamper instead then you might want to consider this stylish option for presorting your clothes. These fun laundry bags are actually pretty enough to set out.
When we bought our home the laundry was an open corner of the basement. It consisted of limestone walls and a concrete floor. We were fortunate though that this corner had big windows allowing a lot of light and a doorway to the outside and one to the garage.
Our home is old so a walk out like this is rare. We never even considered moving the laundry upstairs. There were too many other expensive projects on our list at the time and really it has worked out just fine where it is. We did add insulation, drywall, a tile floor and some storage cupboards.
One of my favorite additions that we did was this pantry cabinet with roll out shelves. My only regret is that we didn't buy a better quality unit. I guess I didn't realize how much use and abuse this room would take. Now, fourteen years later, the roll outs are beginning to sag a bit and are in need of some adjusting and reinforcement.
The concept here is that there is a basket on the left to separate the dirty laundry. On the right there is a basket for each person in the family. The idea was that the kids could take their baskets of clean clothes up to their rooms, put their clothes away, and return the basket. Wow, looking back on it now I realize I was asking way too much. That was an idea that only worked in my head. Elizabeth would take her laundry up but it would be days before her basket returned. The boys never even made that much of an effort. They would end up just get dressed in the laundry!
Anyway, if you want to give this method a try at your house but don't want to invest in a big pantry cabinet then maybe a shelving unit with baskets could work for you.
If space allows an island with cubbies for baskets underneath would be another good way to go. What I like about this is all that room for folding.
It doesn't matter if your washer and dryer are tucked away in a closet, sharing multi-purpose space in a kitchen or garage, or if you have a cavernous laundry room dedicated strictly to doing laundry. An idea that works wonderfully in any of these settings that you may want to consider is a laundry station. These well contained work areas help keep everything neat and organized.
This set up seems to be very popular to lift front loading machines off the floor.
Add your own personal touch for a dash of style and even more function.
When it comes to best use of space, though, this might have been the best thing I saw out there. I never would have thought of that but I'm impressed.
Laundry areas that are clean, bright and organized make this task feel like less of a chore. Add a TV and you can make it almost enjoyable.
:0
To find sources for these images click here.
I hope you found something that you can use in your laundry space. As for me, well, I was forced to clean out that pantry cupboard today before I took a picture of it. It has apparently been a while since that was done. Adam, I found your high school diploma at the bottom of your basket! When did you graduate? 2009?
:0
xoxo,
P
