A Real Laundry Room

If you have a pretty, spacious laundry room, you can just stop reading now.

If you have a tiny, windowless laundry room, this post is for YOU.

My laundry room is only 62 inches by 62 inches.  Yes, I measured.

Laundry isn't one of my favorite chores.  Then things got out of control in the laundry room and I really started to dread doing laundry.

Yeah, that's an ugly mess.

The first step was obvious: Get the dirty stuff off the floor and into the washer and the piles of clean clothes needed to be put away.

Our laundry room has to double as a pantry for overflow items from the kitchen.  Since the ceilings are 9 feet tall, I had added a second shelf above the original a few years ago.  I reorganized the shelves to put the stuff I use regularly within easy reach.

I made a trip to Lowes and Home Depot to check out some organizers.  I had thought about putting a shallow shelf right above the washer and dryer until I spotted these hanging baskets.  Perfect!

My mantra in a tight workspace is keep it open and keep it within reach.  So I removed the lid off the loose change jar and took the extra drinking straws out of their flimsy box.

Next I rounded up all the paper products and stashed them in a pretty basket.

Small bottles don't stay upright on these wire shelves, so I made a tray for them out of the lid from a copy paper box.  I covered the cardboard lid using heavy cotton decorator fabric and a glue gun.

And the odd-sized items go into their own basket.

With several large items on the shelves, now I have room on the floor for a small shelf.

This little shelf only cost $12 at Lowes and takes up only 12 x 12 inches of floor space.  The brown woven basket is for junk mail (the shredder is in the basement).  The small white wire basket is for dirty kitchen towels or the socks that get peeled off after working in the yard.

Speaking of socks, there are always lonely socks who have lost their mates in a laundry room.

This is probably my favorite part of the laundry room now.  I just took a scrap of lumber, about 1x3 inches, painted it, distressed the edges a little, and glued clothes pins on it.  Be sure to put a couple of bumpers on the back side to protect your wall when you press the clothes pins open.

I think every household fights paper...receipts, photos, ticket stubs, reminder notices.  If you have room in the laundry room, put up the largest bulletin board that will fit (you could pin your lost socks on it too).

We have a baby gate that is used for the dog, only she's much better behaved now.  I had been stashing the baby gate next to the dryer, then I realized it could make a handy shelf if I turned it on its side.

The support bracket for the shelving holds a hanger with extra placemats and the tablecloth for the patio table within easy reach but out of the way of daily traffic.

And let's not forget behind the door.  3M Command hooks are expensive but I love that they hold so much without having to drill into the doors.

Every room needs a little art, but I'm not a fan of cutesy laundry-themed wall decor.  I found this print at Goodwill for only $3.

The colors are great, but I thought the frame was rather boring so I switched it out with another frame I had on hand.

So for a small investment for the wooden shelf and the hanging wire baskets and a little imagination, my laundry room now looks like this:

I'm linking up...
Coastal Charm
Savvy Southern Style
Handy Man, Crafty Woman