7 Tips for Improving Your Laundry Room

Odds are the laundry area is one of the more neglected parts of any home. Although we all spend quite a bit of time in laundry rooms, we usually are just in and out. Few of us pay much mind to how a laundry room looks, or whether it is well organized.

As a result, many laundry rooms end up looking kind of dreary, and it doesn’t take long for a whole bunch of random junk to accumulate in them. Fortunately, if you’re tired of looking at the blank canvas that is your laundry room, there is a solution. A few easy steps are all that are needed to make a laundry room more attractive as well as better sorted.

Organize Supplies With Style  

Good Laundry Room Organization Saves Space and Time

Aside from washing clothes, your laundry room’s other big role is to store stuff. And since it tends to not have all that many good storage options, that can become something of a problem especially as things begin to outnumber places to store them.

However, this can be fixed with a few small additions. Baskets and plastic boxes are the most obvious solution since these receptacles can be placed almost anywhere and can store a whole bunch of stuff. You can even use small chalkboard labels on your baskets for added convenience and use an old bookshelf to store them. Keep a bunch of baskets on hand so that you have room for everything from dirty laundry to fresh towels for wiping up messes.

Laundry room storage can easily be made even more stylish by using “unorthodox receptacles”. For example, French-style glass containers normally used for storing flour or sugar can easily be used for storing detergent, laundry pods, and even close pegs. Even dryer sheet storage can be made fun of by giving a plastic dryer sheet box the arts and crafts treatment.

For an even niftier laundry area storage solution, consider investing in wheeled hampers. These tall clothes hampers can hold some pretty large loads and are easy to move around without putting out your back.

Maximize Use of Space 

Make Better Use of Space With Smart Laundry Room Storage Solutions

Laundry rooms tend to be the more cramped parts of houses, so it makes sense to save space wherever you can. One simple way to do this is to take full advantage of any vertical space you happen to have. Use wall-mounted hanging rods and racks as an extra place for clothes hangers and hampers. If you have enough room, a fold-away wall-mounted dryer rack is another great space-saving solution.

Of course, your washer and dryer are probably taking up the bulk of the space in your laundry area, but even that can be worked around. If space allows, a small storage shelf can be squeezed in between your two machines for just that tiny bit of extra space. For smaller gaps, a foldable clothes hanger and/or step ladder just might fit. If you happen to have a stacked washer and dryer, consider attaching baskets to the sides of your machines.

Alas, none of these solutions would do all that much when it comes to organizing random junk that finds its way into the laundry area. For that, a pegboard wall just might be the answer. A well-placed pegboard wall can be the ideal place to assemble all your cleaning supplies and even tools that keep getting in the way as you do your laundry.

Add a Countertop

Add Style and Practicality to Your Laundry Room With a Wooden Countertop

This one might seem a tad random, but it can actually be quite helpful by making the spaces look better as well as making better use of limited space. A countertop placed over your washing machines maximizes laundry room storage space, allowing you to place your clothes hampers and laundry supplies in an easy-to-reach space.

Turn a Closet into Your Laundry Room 

Laundry Closets Are the Ultimate Space-Saving Hacks

For the ultimate space-saving hack, consider eliminating your laundry room entirely and instead move it into a spot as small as a closet. Stackable washer and dryer units make this an easy task with a lot of benefits. For one, keeping your washer and dryer in a closet means you can free up an entire room in your house, which is great if you need extra storage space or perhaps a game room.

Plus, this setup keeps your washer and dryer out of the way and out of sight when they aren’t in use, which is awesome for avoiding clutter. Add some shelving and rods to your closet and you’ll even be able to keep your clothes hampers and laundry supplies in there as well.

Add Some Style 

A Stylish Laundry Room Is a Great Addition

You might not usually think of your laundry room as a place with a design style, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be a place that is as beautiful as it is practical. And since you use it on a regular basis, it makes sense to spend a bit of time and money on laundry room design.

There are plenty of various ways to give your laundry area its own unique flair with a few cosmetic touch-ups. Standard laundry room colors tend to be rather drab and utilitarian, so why not inject a pinch of color in a few key areas to offset those whites and dark greys?

Spice things up with an ocean-covered wall, Mediterranean-style tiles, or perhaps even a sharply styled backsplash? As with other aspects in life, it is the little things that count, so don’t overlook minor details. Perhaps your laundry room cabinets could use a fresh look with new finishes and strong brass handles, or maybe a fresh coat of paint can make a world of difference.

Get Rid of Clutter

Decluttering Can Be a Fun Rewarding Activity

We’ve already covered how to reduce clutter, but another measure you can take to improve your laundry area is to simply get rid of unneeded stuff altogether. Aside from regular plumbing maintenance, decluttering is one of the most important tasks you can do to keep everything spick and span.

Whenever you get a chance, take some time to empty out your small laundry room and go through it individually. This can be a fun and rewarding DIY project to improve your laundry room. Anything that is not needed for washing clothes or which isn’t cleaning materials should be taken out and moved somewhere else.

Depending on how much stuff you have and how big your laundry room is, this could be a painstaking process but it is nevertheless worth it. Filtering out the junk you don’t need is a much better way of dealing with it rather than constantly moving it around when it gets in the way. Once you’ve done this you’ll find that you have a lot more laundry area storage space to work with and you might even save time since a lot of obstructions will be out of the way.

Keep the Laundry Room Essentials Close at Hand 

Keeping the Laundry Essentials Close by Saves Time

On the flip side, you’ll want to make sure that all your laundry supplies are close at hand and organized logically. This will make finding items easier and save you time as you deal with many loads of laundry at once. Simply take some time to go through all your supplies and arrange them so that you can reach them easily without having to bend over too far — or go get a step out to reach a high place.

Should you decide to keep your cleaning supplies in the laundry room, be sure that they are not mixed up with your laundry. After all, one thing you definitely don’t want is to have something damaging like bleach get anywhere near your clothes.