In an ideal world, every laundry room would come equipped with a little laundry genie, who’s responsible for sorting, laundering, folding, ironing, and tidying. As great as that sounds (unless you’re afraid of genies, I guess), I haven’t heard of laundry genies being sold anywhere. So we’ll have to make do with organizing and tackling piles of dirty clothes ourselves.
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Spend less time in the laundry room and more time doing enjoyable activities with these laundry room organization pointers:
• Create a laundry sorting system. This HGTV article recommends attaching light and dark pillowcases to the wall for sorting, while Martha Stewart recommends sorting whites, colors, delicates, and other items into bins or carts.
• Include a utility sink for rinsing, soaking, and spot-cleaning. Suspend a rod or line above the sink for drip-drying.
• Plan for a stretch of countertop so you have a spot to sort and fold clothes.
• If there’s not room (or the budget) for built-in countertops and cabinets, consider a portable cart. Use the storage below to stash laundry supplies; the surface atop the cart works for folding. Plus a cart on wheels means you can easily move it around to where you need it most (or shove it out of the way).
• Many new washer and dryer models even have storage add-ons, such as drawers that fit between the units and pedestals that raise your front-loading washer and dryer to accessible heights while providing a spot to stash laundry detergent and dryer sheets.
• Purchase a drying rack for delicate clothing.
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• Install a rod in the laundry room for hanging clothes immediately after you remove them from the dryer to minimize wrinkles.
• To save space, get the ironing board off the floor and attach it to the wall. Or purchase a wall-mount storage unit that holds your iron and ironing board.
• Remember to include a garbage container for tossing dryer lint and random objects you fish from pockets.
• If there’s room, consider including a spot for mending as well. Set up a table or desk with your sewing machine and other mending supplies so you can tackle lost buttons and ripped seams right away.
• Make sure you have good lighting in your laundry room. Natural light is ideal, but you’ll want to supplement it with bright, full-spectrum overhead lighting. You may want to include additional lighting for task areas too.
• Regardless of how you organize your laundry room, be sure to leave plenty of clearance between items so you can easily open and close washer, dryer, and cabinet doors and drawers.
Whip your laundry room into shape in no time with these DIY instructions from Reader’s Digest for installing a closet rod, shelf, cabinetry, and more in your laundry room. And BHG presents ideas for planning the perfect laundry room, whether it’s in a breezeway or a butler’s pantry.
Looking for storage products to outfit your laundry room? No big surprise here—Real Simple has just what you’re looking for. Lowe’s has some handy laundry organization ideas too. And once you’re finished reading about them, you can start shopping for everything you need to outfit your laundry room.
Until tomorrow,
The Home Know-It-All
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