By now I’m sure you’ve figured out that not only do I love to organize, but that I also love to improve spaces, use power tools, and DIY solutions that make an impact for families. Any chance a project comes my way that’s a combo of organizing plus DIY / design…well, it’s a very good day!
A few weeks ago, a sweet mother of 2 contacted me about her garage. This family of 4 had recently renovated a few interior spaces, but in the process lost their indoor laundry room. So the task was to create a small laundry space for her in the garage.
Here was our starting point…
The obvious first step was that we needed walls. She was dreaming of an Elfa system from The Container Store (it was on sale at the time) so I put on my listening ears and took in all of her requests…
( shirt | my favorite $30 pants | boots )
She wanted some shelving over the sink…
She needed a hanging spot over the dryer and shelves / drawers to the right of the dryer too…
These newer HE machines have a deep footprint. But when you add a pedestal under the machine, it’s nearly impossible to reach very far over the top. We kept that in mind when planning for shelving. There really wasn’t a reason to add shelving over the top anyway because the rest of the garage is going to be outfitted with shelving pretty soon.
The next step was having my handyman install drywall and have the walls painted. That was completed a couple weeks later. Was so excited to return to this view!…
What a difference drywall and a coat of paint makes, right?! Looks much cleaner to not see the studs and wall guts…
Finally, it was time to install. Enjoy this after!…
Who knew a paper towel roll fits perfectly through an Elfa closet rod? Well, now we all know! The bar gives her enough space to hang a cleaning rag to dry as well. She also has plenty of shelving for dryer sheets, laundry detergent and anything she’d like to tuck into a basket for cleaning. Tip top shelves, which aren’t easy to reach, will contain their paper towel and toilet paper supply…
On the right side, a hanging rod for short and longer clothing. There’s a little counter top for folding, a laundry hamper for the dirties, a basket for containing overflow laundry items and the very bottom drawer is for trash. That was her idea and I thought it was brilliant!…
This is a good example of how deep these washer / dryer units can be. Makes it a bit hard to get to anything over the top. A hanging rod just made sense…
Truly can’t believe how much this little space transformed in just 4 weeks time!…Before…
After…
And crazy enough, she seemed pretty excited about doing laundry! Ha!… maybe that feeling will wear off, but at least she has her own little space to get this chore done.
If you have limited interior space, you too can easily set up a garage laundry room of your own! Elfa is easy to install too. This system came in at a great price – on sale for 30% off.
Back soon guys!
*some affiliate links were used for your convenience. you will never pay more for anything you click anywhere on my site – ever. i promise!
Your idea for the laundry area with the baskets & clothing rod is exactally what I have been wanting to do in my laundry area.It’s just hard for me to get anyone to do anything where I live.People here aren’t about doing anything for anyone regardless of whether you pay them for their services or just need them to do it out of the kindness of their heart.I am a 62 yr old great grandmother with cancer & I have rented a 10 room farmhouse that I am trying to get reorganized & back into shape from being gone & paying people to stay there while I was gone due to the cancer & them destroying it.Now that I’m back at home I am trying to get reorganized, & fix it back up.I have started to redo the floor in my game room,then I plan on redoing the floor in the living room.I think you will have alot of ideas to help me get reorganized as well as ideas for storage since there is not any closet or storage space in the main rooms of this old house.Thank You so much for your website I think it will be a godsend for me.
Oh my goodness – what a shame! I wish I lived closer and could pop over to help you set up a system like this! If there is a Container Store in your area, they have installers that will in fact do this for you. (I’d wait for the sale later this fall though)
So glad you’re here on the blog and can find some good ideas! I’ll keep sharing them…there are loads of posts that haven’t hit the blog because I’ve been swamped. But am so glad you’re here!
xx,
Sam