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A couple weeks ago I finished solving a major problem in our laundry room when I installed our Dryerbox.  I love the added space it gives us.  Our laundry room isn’t really anything special; it was built with enough space for a washer, dryer, and some shelving…and that’s it!  Of course, I wasn’t satisfied with it and I have been trying to make the most of this small space for the past year. Finally, I finished modifying, organizing, and painting this space so that it functions more efficiently. This is what our laundry room looked like before: So as you can see we had an organizational problem.  The builder had given us some shelving, but it still wasn’t what we needed to make the most of this space.  Like many people, we store a lot of junk in our laundry room that has little to do with actually doing the laundry.  I have worked on not allowing this space become a “catch-all” for anything that doesn’t have a home.  Recently, I was able to get the extra pet supplies into their own home.  You can read about that process here.

 However, there are still some non-laundry items that we need to store in here.  For example, we needed space to store cleaning supplies, mops, brooms, bug spray, various furniture polishes, paper towels…you get the picture. My first step in organizing this space was sorting “like with like”.  This is probably the single most important thing to do when organizing…even when you don’t know exactly what all you are keeping yet. It forced me to categorize and find new homes for some things and determine the amount of space I needed to dedicate to other things.  In doing this I realized we didn’t need as much clothes hanging space as the builder allotted, but we did need more shelving space. You can read about how I solved that dilemma here.

After solving the shelving problem, I finalized the color scheme.  I had already painted the walls a powder blue color that reminds me of fresh laundry.  I chose lime green, teal, and a touch of red as my accent colors.  I chose these colors to try and collaborate what I already had with the light blue walls.  After I finished painting the room and organized all of our belongings, finally, this is the result:

Quite a difference from where we started!  I can’t believe how messy I let it become.

I love this little framed stain fighting guide that I printed from Martha Stewart.com.  It’s a perfect resource for the laundry room.

I added this little display shelf for my late Aunt’s antique iron.  She took pride in keeping an immaculate house, so I cherish that I will forever have this as a keepsake.

I used sturdy wire mesh baskets for extra cleaning supply storage.  They have a spot for labels too, so everything is easily put back in its place. I left some empty space on the 2nd shelf for folded laundry.  I can quickly take things out of the dryer, fold it and store it there until I have a chance to put it away.

I keep my dryer sheets in this sealed glass storage jar so they stay extra fresh.  I painted a little stripe of chalkboard paint on the front so I could have an easy-to-change label. A simple white bowl holds dryer balls and a little piggy bank is within easy reach when “someone” doesn’t empty their pockets. 🙂

I also use shop towels quite frequently because they are thicker and more absorbent.  So rather than trucking to the garage each time, I put a paper towel holder right above my washer and dryer.

I already had these baskets, except they weren’t green to start with.  I spray painted them to match my laundry room color scheme of lime, teal, and powder blue.

Here you can see the free Pottery Barn ironing board cover (yes, free!) I got as a cash-back bonus when we purchased our dining room table.  I wasn’t too keen on the colors at first, but since it was free I incorporated the teal and red/orange colors as accents. The fabric has a bit of a vintage look, which I do like. My lime green accent color is also found in some of my cleaning supplies, like my Casabella Mop.  The chalkboard is a nice helper too.  My fiance and I have different schedules and although I do most of the laundry, he occasionally needs something done “right now” for an event the next day.  To help with planning and avoid some last-minute stress, I hung a chalkboard in here for little notes to each other.

I made an ironing board holder out of some scrap wood and an old picture frame.  I simply painted it to match our wood trim and secured a bracket to the wall behind the frame for extra support.  Then I took coat hooks, purchased from Walmart, and attached them to the front of the wood in the frame.

One thing I can’t stand is washing cleaning rags with any other towels.  I don’t care what color they are, if they’ve been used to clean up a puppy accident or to dust off the ceiling fan blades, I certainly don’t want them washed with towels I use in the kitchen!  To solve that problem I have two baskets: one for kitchen towels and one for cleaning rags.  Kitchen towels are stored in the kitchen, but all cleaning rags are stored in this handy little teal cabinet I picked up at Garden Ridge.  

I spray painted this little cabinet, too.  It was red, which I liked, but I just didn’t want that much red…so I just left the inside red and let that be a little surprise pop of color.  I thought about painting it by hand, but shockingly it only took one can of spray paint.  I used Rustoleum American Accents and it covered the red very well.

I love this little laundry sign.  I got it on clearance at Marshalls and it was my inspiration for the red accents in the room.  It has a pretty good message too. 🙂  The hanging space we have is just enough and allows me the freedom of hang-drying some of my more delicate pieces.  The classic white hangers came from Ikea.

These three little metal bins hold some laundry supplies (iron and spray) and all the other “junk” we keep in our laundry room.  They too, have a spot for labels and a nice little handle on both ends.  I love their vintage locker-style look.

To make life easier I added some cup hooks to the underside of our shelves and put our clothespins in these hanging mason jars I picked up at Pottery Barn.

So there you have it…that’s our totally re-organized and modified laundry room.  It’s not the largest or most elaborate laundry room, but it’s much more functional and easier on the eyes. I couldn’t be happier with the result. What have you done to make things easier in your laundry room?

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Thrifty Decor Chick, DIY Sunday Showcase, Coastal Charm, Home Stories AtoZ, A Stroll Thru Life, Tweak it Tuesday, Clean and Scentsible, Wednesday Blog Hop, DIY by Design, Thrifty Thursday, Fridays Unfolded, Homemaking Hearts, IHeart Organizing, Organizing Junkie