If any space in this house has challenged me more, it’s this little laundry room….
The laundry room is a tiny room you pass through from the garage into the house. You can see the door to the garage here on the right…
Not only has this small space frustrated me, occasionally the items contained inside have irritated me too. Ha!
Oh, where shall we begin?
Let’s first start with the old washer and dryer. I had a Maytag HE set that was sitting on pedestals. I loved this set very much and it worked well in my large Arkansas laundry room….
Sadly, the set just barely fit under the cabinets here in California…
In order to fit them under those cabinets, the feet had to be removed. You know what that meant? A whole lotta racket was going on every time I washed a load of anything. The washer would bounce all over the place through its various cycles and bump into the dryer pushing it away from its spot as well.
Not to mention, they stuck out too far therefore I couldn’t easily open the doors to switch wash to dry and then again from dry to fold. I couldn’t easily access the shallow cabinets above the set, too.
Let’s just say there were a whole mess of issues going on and since we know how much we live in our laundry rooms (ugh!), something had to change. Quickly. I sold the Maytag set on Craig’s List and grabbed myself a new set of Samsung HE machines…
I love love love this set! It’s super quiet, I can reach into the cabinets above, and I gained a few more inches of floor space in front of the set in order to actually get in there to do laundry…
Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a very tight space.
Moving on…there are more things to share.
Before I considered selling the Maytag’s, I called a plumber to discuss moving them to the wall you see straight ahead. With the space being so tight, it made sense to move the set to that short wall along the back. Then I would have a ton more floor space and could re-work cabinets or open shelving of some kind above it and on the side. I was excited about the idea. Buuuuut not all great ideas work out….or are cost efficient. The plumbers quote (along with several others) to do the job was out of my price range. Especially when I had bigger fish to fry at the moment, like securing our swimming pool, covering 20,000 sq ft of dirt, putting up fencing, and more.
And if I moved the set to that back wall, I would have lost my utility sink that is tucked away back here…
So, the idea of having a different laundry room set up – whelp, it’s high up on my list. But will have to wait until I win the lottery. Next week I’ll be sharing dream ideas I have planned (eventually) for this space. But for now – for now – I will appreciate what the good Lord has provided me and make this little space work to its best potential!
And that, my friends, is where we are today. I’m here sharing with you my current laundry room organization. Then next week? Laundry room tips, my schedule (and those of others I have admired), future dreams for the space, and incorporation of some color in this super over the top white room. Why not just go ahead and add some padded walls, Sam! Eeek! I’m all about keeping it simple, but I need a little something color-wise going on in here. And I’ve already got it on order…and it’s being shipped to me now! 🙂
How’s that for an intro into what this post is actually about – laundry room organization. Last I checked my blog title didn’t say ” laundry room complaints”.
That said, let’s start with what I have in the cabinets and how it’s all contained….
As usual, I got creative in here and used a few solutions that aren’t intended for a laundry room. I love to re-purpose and re-cycle. Starting in the far cabinet, above the utility sink…
Top shelf: iron, steamer, seasonal hand soap (pumpkin, spice, etc), and extra rubber gloves.
Second shelf: laundry detergents, laundry sprays, a small tin of dryer sheets for easy access. I’ve had the tin for a long time. Was found in the $1 section at Target…
Bottom shelf: large laundry detergent container (the kind that has to sit on its side – I wanted it here for ease of dispensing) and a 3-drawer office organizer for holding small items…
Oh yes, should be used in the office…but I found a great use for it in the laundry room…
Extra dryer sheets and soap bottle lids…
Washer cleaning pods and travel laundry needs…
My supply of air freshener refills…
Love it on this shelf!…
I purposely have my detergents in this cabinet because I can open the cabinet without having to close the lid to the washer. I’m telling you – it’s tight in here!
I also have the cup for that laundry detergent right under this cabinet on the sink ledge…
The cup gets yucky so I make sure to rinse it out each time it’s used and leave it here on the sink.
Middle cabinet…
Top shelf: soap bottle holders, silver cleaning and bbq cleaning products (both are rarely used therefore are up high).
Second shelf: supply of hand soaps, silverware tray holds a few cleaning tools. You’ll remember I ditched these from the kitchen when I recently re-did our kitchen drawers.
Third shelf: my supply of cleaning rags in a basket with an open front…
Also have mop head cloths and dusting refills on this shelf.
Fourth shelf: cleaning supplies and a container of laundry detergent tabs…
Found this at the Container Store and it works perfectly for containing those tabs you toss into the machine…
In the final cabinet…
Top shelf: a box full of supplies for our cat.
Second shelf: bin that contains small flashlights, that way if we need one I can get to it right away…instead of tripping over things in the garage on my way to the tool box.
Third shelf: battery organizers and another silverware tray that contains my Oreck vacuum bags and air fresheners…
Bottom shelf: another silverware holder contains a few items needed in a pinch; lint rollers, hand sanitizer, wd-40, hand cream, a tape measure, a few small screwdrivers (yes, I’m sometimes lazy and don’t feel like walking another 20 steps out into the garage tool box to grab those – ha!), and more…
On the inside of this cabinet door…
I have 2 Martha Stewart wall pockets that hold my washer / dryer manuals. The microwave and dishwasher manuals are in here as well because recently I’ve been having issues with those 2 appliances. I want those manuals close at hand but don’t want to see them all the time…
Finally, I hung a Command hook in here to hold this little brush…
I grabbed this brush at the Home Depot and use it to clean the tiny dryer lint section. It’s always right here when I need it.
Now that you’ve seen inside the cabinets, let’s talk a little about a few fun new items I brought into the space over the last week. One is this great heavy-duty, divided laundry basket…
With the space being so small (have I said that enough already?!) it’s tough to drag in 3-4 laundry baskets from various bedrooms. I used to bring all of the hampers to the doorway and sort everything out, leaving most of it on the floor back here. I found this sorter at the Container Store and it fits perfectly in this back corner. Don’t ask me how that happened! The laundry God’s finally came together in my favor. The sorter is also on wheels, making it easy to move if needed.
Ooooooor if I feel like walking down the kid’s hallway calling out “housekeeping!” and knocking on doors…
I’m such a fun mom. Right?
Anyway, the sorter keeps me from having to deal with a bunch of hampers crowding me in. I just bring the dirty clothes to the door, sort and the hampers go back to their place.
The other new item I invested in was a small, thin step stool…
I needed a stool dedicated to this space for reaching those top cabinet shelves, but didn’t want something bulky or anything more going out to the garage. This stool tucks away perfectly on the side of the washer, where only I can see it…
There are a few features in this laundry room that have worked well for the time being, like this folding table that is attached to the wall…
This was definitely a DIY project from the previous owners. After living in this laundry room for a few months, I can relate to why they created it. I do like it, for now. I also like this little hanging section they added…
It’s semi-hidden behind the door and looks to be a few pieces of base moulding with inexpensive hooks added. It’s working for me now because I need somewhere to hang wet clothing as well as my broom / dustpan, which are used daily around this mess of a house…
And that is my current laundry room set up / organization! As I said next week there will be more…and I’m hoping many of you will chime in a share how you schedule laundry in your home. Getting laundry done appears to be a constant chore for all of us. Maybe we can inspire each other to get it done more efficiently.
Have a great day!
Although small this is a really nice laundry room! I like the cupboards above the washer/dryer. I need to have that done in ours. We have front loaders with pedestals too.
Question…what pods are those for the washer? I have never seen clear ones before. Just wondered what brand and if they are unscented?
The All Free and Clear ones look like that, and they are unscented. That's my guess 🙂
Thanks for posting your set up!!! My laundry room is very similar except picture that our door to the garage is where the folding table is and where the door to your garage now is is where I have a closet door. It's a fairly sizeable closet because it's deep. I also have a window over the sink. Love the natural light, But I FEEL your pain!! It's tight quarters. It functions as a laundry room, mudroom, coat closet (only closet on our main floor!), and has the only utility tub…. for a 2,000 sq ft house. Craziness. Currently ours has the plywood floors showing too b/c we're working on other projects. These darn Michigan winters make it so hard to do house renovations! I actually don't mind the washer/dryer combo like you have b/c then you have the space on top of the dryer to set things down to return to people before leaving out the door. Do you have a special place you put items needed to be returned to people, stores, things you need for errands, etc.?
We have a small pass-through type laundry room too. I love your ideas! As for that messy detergent cup-we just toss it in with the load. I never knew about this trick until my husband showed me.
Nice job! Do you know that you can throw that clear detergent cup right into the washer with the wash? I do that every time and it's great… No sticky cup to rinse ou.
You have the same problem I do!!! I so badly want to move my washer/dryer (similar to your Maytag) to the far wall. I don't have a sink to think about. It might be on our list this summer. Your choice to not disclose the cost makes me nervous about how much it was going to cost!! The laundry room, by far, is my least favorite room in my house. It creates a lot of anxiety and not because it's a work room, it's just a tight room!!
great job, we have a small laundry room also, really just enough room for the washer and dryer side by side. But it is the main entrance we use from the garage daily. I replaced the wire rack with some upper cabinets and added a nice paint job and decor. That made all the difference. Can't wait to see the next phase.
Instead of rinsing the detergent cup out, I toss it in the wash. It gets clean that way, and I pull it out when I put the clothes in the dryer. No detergent wasted in the laundry sink 🙂