Laundry Rooms…a place we mamas spend a lot of time! Every time I went in to mine it made me dread doing laundry even more! It was small, basic, ugly and didn’t have nearly enough storage. I mean look at all that unused wall space (photo below)! So, I had to do something about it! Basically, I needed to make it more beautiful and useful (thank you William Morris)!

Here’s the before photo…

So after a lot of thought about how to make this space efficient AND inviting, here’s what I did…

Paint

First thing on the list was painting the ugly beige from 13 years ago. I chose Sherwin Williams Contented in a satin sheen for easy clean-up. Contented is a calming green/blue/greige color that looks great in my house! If you’ve read any of my other posts, you know I don’t take picking paint colors lightly. Don’t rush through this! There’s nothing worse than choosing a color because it looked great in the store or in someone else’s house and then deciding you hate it at your house. This has happened waaay too many times to me! Remember when EVERYONE was painting their walls Sea Salt??? I loved it in every photo online and thought there was no way it would look bad in my house. Well, it did! It was way too cool-toned, way too blue and way too pastel-y. Take time to choose a few swatches, put them in the room, and get the right color. You won’t regret it!

Shelving

Next, I added shelving. I wanted a farmhouse , open shelving look which I was easily able to accomplish with some 1×12’s cut to size at Lowe’s. I stained them with Minwax Early American stain and got the hubby to help me hang them with these L brackets from Amazon. I really didn’t want the brackets to show, so I hung them upside down. Now, I am no expert, but this worked for us. A carpenter may be able to tell you a better way to get floating shelves with no brackets hanging down. We just made sure we put them in the studs and that the brackets could hold plenty of weight…so far it’s worked for us one year later!

Organization Products

Here are the links to the black wire baskets, galvanized bins, and mason jar dispensers all from Walmart! I actually made my own labels in Microsoft Word and attached them with tape or tiny clothes pins! I keep the things we rarely use like ice cream maker, waffle maker, rice cooker, etc. up high. Yes, I would prefer for these things to be stored in my walk-in pantry, but since I don’t have one they are stored here! Plus the laundry room is right off the kitchen, so it’s not a big deal.

The “Lost Socks” jar I picked up at Dollar General one day. It’s only available in store, but here’s the link to the one I got.

I also got this Laundry Detergent Cup Caddy, which keeps minor spills/leaks cleaned up. Definitely a must if you use a beverage dispenser for detergent and fabric softener.

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I also found this wall mounted drying rack from IKEA. It was not cheap, but I wanted something to fit the space that could collapse when not in use. This is the best I could find to meet all that criteria, and I do love it!

The laundry hamper is from Target. It also seemed a bit pricey when I bought it, but it has held up for many years!

I added an additional hook to hold extra hangers. It’s probably from Target, Lowe’s or Home Depot.

I LOVE my collapsible laundry basket! It fits between the dryer and the wall, so I don’t have a laundry basket sitting out all the time. I seriously use it every day.

I also have an ironing mat on the dryer that attaches to the dryer with magnets. I love this thing! It works for 90% of my ironing jobs, so I don’t have to pull out the ironing board.

This caddy for the ironing board, mop and broom is behind the door, so you can’t see it. Honestly, I can’t remember where I got it, but you’ve seen caddies similar to these at Target, Walmart, Amazon, etc!

Here’s the link to the plastic bag dispenser on the wall too.

I actually made this board with hooks with a leftover 1×6 I had and some hooks from Target. At first I thought it might be overkill to have these hooks plus the IKEA drying rack. But I was wrong! I use ALL the hooks and the drying rack ALL the time!

Fun Extras!

I also found these super cute Washer/Dryer decals on Etsy that make the washer and dryer pop.

As far as the sign, I literally used a leftover piece of wood, leftover paint and printed out a stencil to use for the lettering. I don’t love it, but it was the right size for the space.

I also have a corrugated rug in the room along with a valance I threw together one day. Neither of these are necessarily functional, but they are pretty and make me happy which is important!

So there you have it! Here are my ideas and the products I used to make my more laundry room a more useful and inviting space. It’s been this way a year now and I still love it! I can’t think of anything I’d do differently. The fact that it looks pretty motivates me to keep it clean! I hope I’ve helped you find ways to improve your laundry room and make it more efficient and inviting! Because, let’s face it, we don’t need any more reason to avoid laundry!