When youre trying to wash, dry, and sort through pile after pile of your familys laundry, an organized and functional workspace can make all the difference. And yet, when we think about the rooms we want to remodel or redecorate in our home, our minds first wander just about everywhere elsethe kitchen, the bathrooms, the living room, our outdoor space, and even our bedroomsbefore we think to spruce up the laundry area.
But whether you have a dedicated laundry room, or just a corner where the washer and dryer live, it could probably serve you better if you spent a little time reorganizing and revampingand it doesnt have to cost much at all.
Your laundry area could almost certainly use more storage
It can be a surprising how much storage we actually need within reach of our washer and dryer. Its not just the detergent, dyer sheets, and stain removers; its also the leather cleaner you need on occasion, the Dryel starter kit you bought several years ago, the bucket of OxiClean and the bottle of bleach that need to be stored somewhere (that somewhere being out-of-sight and out-of-reach if you have young children). Adding a small cabinet with doors to hide away chemicalseither for safety or just because you dont care to look at them all the timeis a good first step toward organizing your laundry room.
If youve got the space, a set of wall-mounted cabinets above the washer and dryer can be convenient, but a freestanding cabinet will work, as well. If youre really tight on storage space (and funds), though, even something as simple as this narrow, rolling laundry cart can help you stay organized.
Right now everything in your laundry room is all hard lines and edges. To make the space a little more welcomingyou spend a lot of time in there! you deserve to feel welcomed!soften it up a bit with some wicker or woven storage bins and baskets. Youll probably want a hamper of some kind, at least for the familys on-going collection of dirty towels. And a little stand like this, with hanging fabric storage bins (and bonus shelf!), would be perfect for storing old towels, rags, and other linens that you dont use regularly but keep around for extra-dirty clean-up situations.
And finally, Im not saying you need a little storage basket in a cheerful color, Im just saying those spare socks need a home until you find their partners, and this is as good a home as any.
You need counter space more than you think you do
Ever find yourself folding and stacking T-shirts on the dryer, only to sigh once again, as the stack gets too high and starts sliding down the slightly-less-than-flat surface? Just me? Well, what I needand what I bet you need, toois more work space. Im willing to bet, though, that you dont exactly have the space to add counters or you would have done so already.
Instead, you can (and I should) mount an ironing board that folds down and does double-duty as counter space. (You can also iron on it, a thing I do only on the most special of occasions.) As with anything, you can go as fancy as youd like with extra cabinet space and adjustable swivelor keep it simple and cheap with a board that hangs over the back of the door. Either way, T-shirts wont be sliding off the dryer anymore.
You need a place to hang and air-dry things
You could do like I do and haul all your wet sweaters up two flights of stairs, from the basement to the master bedroom, every time you need to hang something out to air dry. Or you could do like Id like to do and mount a drying rack right in the same area.
Depending on the set-up of your laundry space (and how much you tend to air dry), you could opt for space-saving retractable racks, a rack that can be temporarily or permanently mounted, a retractable rack that also offers shelf storage and extra hooks, or something like this that looks oddly cute.
A rugyour laundry area needs a nice rug
My laundry area is the back corner of an unfinished basement in a nearly 100-year-old East Coast home. Its not cute or cozy, is what Im saying. The literal first thing I did in this house, before even a single box crossed the threshold, was purchase a pretty rug to lie down in front of the washer and dryer.
Did this rug magically transform my laundry area into a space I cant get enough of? Obviously not; but it did make it more homey for those times when Im challenging myself to a game of catch-the-stack-of-folded-T-shirts. Depending on where your laundry area is located in the home, if youve got room for a rug, it can help warm up the space.read more
How to Create a More Welcoming Laundry Area (Because You Deserve Such a Thing)
