Bringing Style, Function and Organization to a Small Laundry Room

How do you view doing laundry?  In a large family, it may not be a task approached with excitement, but more a task approached due to the necessity of it.  Considering the amount of laundry we do in our family of 10, the laundry room is a room often visited and hours each week are spent there.  If hours are going to be spent in a room, shouldn't that room provide some joy, beauty and purpose?  I believe so.  My laundry room wasn't necessarily a chaotic place or one that needed great improvement, but seeing the amount of time we spend there it did need some revamping.  Last summer, we set out to liven it up, improve the usability of it and add a little bit of motivation to the room.

Prior to the revamping it was fairly plain, white as the wall color on three walls and light blue on the inset wall behind the washer and dryer.  The cabinets above the appliances were stock laminate cabinets {Closet-maid, I believe} and had been introduced to a liquid spill a year or so prior, so the inside of one of the cabinets had some damage {bubbling and the press-wood shelf was swollen due to the leak}.  It felt a bit cluttered as it seemed like the items in the laundry room were put there for storage purposes...not because they belonged there.  

The view from the hallway looking into the laundry room; laminate cabinets that did not go up to ceiling, blue wall behind appliances and the dirty clothes organizing system next to washer. ~ taken 2010 

The storage cabinets here are wider than the ones we replaced them with, but due to their construction of press-wood were not a good choice for storing laundry liquids...hence the inside damage caused to the left one.  They also became a catch all on the top for putting bins of fabric, a photo bin {what are photos doing in there?!} and the extra refrigerator shelf {REALLY???!!}.  Needless to say, it was high time to do some purging and relocation!

The view in front of the washer and dryer; a high shelf with closet rod mounted underneath for hangers.
Underneath {not shown in this picture} is a cabinet, small table with my 6 gallon bucket of homemade liquid laundry soap and extra bottles of bleach, Simple Green, etc. under the table.

Before starting, we emptied out the room and my husband gave it a fresh coat of paint as well as repainting all the trim work.  That made a big difference, as changing the color of a room has a tendency to do.  For the walls, I decided to go with a neutral bisque color with ultra pure white gloss trim.

Top Left:  Upper all wood cabinet to ceiling with crown molding - storage of laundry supplies
Top Middle:  Ikea Trofast unit for storing sewing supplies and fabric; top has the powdered homemade laundry soap I love, a small bowl for catching misc. pocket finds then a flameless candle for accent
Top Right:  Another all wood upper cabinet to ceiling with crown molding - storage of sewing notions, dryer sheets, misfit sock bin, etc.
Bottom Left:  View from hallway into laundry room with the addition of the vinyl decal of Romans 8:28
Bottom Right:  View from hallway toward the right of our laundry room 

As you can see from the above pictures, we made some minor changes which have increased storage and beauty, in my opinion.  The upper cabinets are a kitchen stock cabinet from Lowe's that are solid plywood construction {and heavy!}, which were on clearance...yeah!  I added clear Liberty acrylic clear knobs to all four cabinet doors to give a simple finishing touch.  To keep the doors from damaging the walls when opened, I added a clear door cushion to the center of the knob.

My husband hung a round closet bar under the right upper cabinet for keeping extra children's hangers and skirt hangers, making them convenient for hanging clothes straight from the dryer.  He added a straight closet rod between the two upper cabinets for adult hangers, which also provides long space for hanging clothes until they are retrieved to be put away.

Another cabinet was mounted with crown molding across from the dryer.  This cabinet is an over the refrigerator sized cabinet keeping it high enough to avoid anyone hitting their heads.  He added a melamine shelf underneath that cabinet so I could place my laundry baskets when not in use.  {I can fit three nested together.}  The supports are solid wood, which he painted to match the trim paint used in the room.  The dirty clothes system was moved from next to the washer to the opposite wall, positioned so the drawers pull out facing the hallway door.  I replaced the white plastic top with the butcher block one, which was also found on clearance at Lowe's.  {Yes, I am a CLEARANCE girl and love when the Lord provides great finds for our home projects!}  The old framed pictures were removed and replaced with a vinyl wall art, Romans 8:28.  It serves as a good daily reminder to all who enter the room.

Some finishing touches to the laundry room revamp ~ 2013

Some finishing touches were done to bring functional beauty to the room.   I researched on Pinterest {don't you love that venue!} for how to better organize all my ribbon.  What a blessing to find the ribbon holder pictured with how-to's on making them.  I bought the material and gave my husband the measurements I desired for each; he made them and painted them to match the trim of the room.  I love the ease in accessing them and the pop of color they give to the room.  They are mounted above my washer; now that wall has color and function.  

Another way I increased the beauty and function to this small space was by adding a floating shelf, from Target, under my laundry basket shelf.  This provides a place to display the sweet glass jars I found on clearance at Lowe's over a year ago, which are perfect for storing my buttons {sorted by whites/clears, colored, and neutrals}.

The other small touches include the display of the homemade powdered laundry soap I have fallen in love with.  I did a whole post on this with information about each ingredient used and the lovely jar I bought to keep it in.  A flameless candle was added for beauty and a small white ceramic bowl for all the pocket finds.

Finally, my thread/bobbin holder was mounted behind the door, along with these great brushes for keeping the dryer vent cleaned.  Our ironing board was mounted behind the door which keeps it close to the outlet when needed, but conveniently out of sight and the way when not in use.

So far all is running smoothly and the laundry room continues to be a happy place to visit each day. Thanks for sitting a while and making it to the very end!  Yeah for your perseverance! So, how do you bring beauty to spaces in your home?

Happy laundering ~

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