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How to Completely Organize Your Laundry Room in Three Easy Steps

How to completely organize your laundry room in three easy steps!

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Laundry “room” is a generous word in our case.

Our laundry “room” is actually just a laundry alcove in our “mud room”… which isn’t really a room, but instead is a hallway that leads from our garage through to the main hallway of the house.

A few years back, the laundry room was one of the first projects we “did” when I started this blog. I won’t even send you over to look at those old, terrible posts. But I will tell you that during Laundry Room TAKE ONE, we added the horizontal tongue and groove paneling, added the laundry countertop, moved the cabinets up higher on the wall,  added the shelf,  and painted the walls and cabinetry the lovely bright turquoise and yellow combo that you see in the before pics below.

After living with it for a few years it had not only gotten to be a ridiculously-messy-constantly-cluttered-drop-zone; the colour scheme was also grating on my nerves every time I walked through it. Like, I had to keep the door closed whenever I was home because walking by and peaking in felt like listening to someone scratching their nails down a chalkboard. EEK! It was honestly getting a bit traumatizing.

But now it’s so pretty again! And the colours are so soft and calming! Because, even though I promised in my first post about this ten week organizational challenge that I wouldn’t take on any BIG projects and focus totally on organizing; I couldn’t help it. Once I got this laundry space all organized, I really wanted it “pretty” too!

So, I painted. No biggie! One evening and it was done!

And I think it’s greatly improved in organization and looks. I can’t wait to here what you think of the change!

Here is how the laundry room area was looking when I started…

And that was on a “clean” day! Like I said, it was a messy and constantly cluttered drop zone.

And when you opened the cupboards… it was kind of a random assortment of used/not used cleaning supplies etc. Really, just a big ol’ mess all around.

Across from the laundry alcove and hidden behind the door to the hallway sits a somewhat difficult to access coat closet that had also become a junk zone. Sorry for the poor quality before pictures, this room also has NO natural light. Zero. Zilch. A completely interior room.

It stored a few cleaning products and some reusable grocery bags amongst other junk. I pulled everything out of this closet before beginning to organize this room. It really should be a dedicated coat closet but we had our coats stored out in the garage.

I also pulled all the stuff out of our cupboards.

And then I started to purge.

First!

Pull everything out and get rid of all products that are old, expired, unused, empty, or belong in a different area of the house.

It is ridiculous how many bits and pieces of cleaning products I had that were not worth saving (like, one swiffer pad to a swiffer that is long since broken). It’s even more amazing how I had cleaning products that I’ve carried with me through TWO house moves and NEVER. USED. Seriously. Time to “let it go”!

Second!

Next, group what is left together by theme.

When I was finished I had grouped my items like this:

  • household cleaning supplies (glass cleaner, anti-bac spray, special cleaning cloths, and gloves)
  • stain treatments (for laundry but also including goo gone, magic erasers, and sticky rollers)
  • shoe products (cleaner, polish, spray etc.)
  • carpet and upholstery cleaners (including carpet or upholstery spot treatments)
  • laundry detergents/bleach/oxy/dryer sheets and clothes pins
  • General overflow: extra dishwasher tabs, baking soda, septobac, lysol wipes, light bulbs, Borax, Extra dryer sheets, paper towel, large garbage bags etc.

Third!

Those grouped items? Figure out how you want to store them. Be creative. I placed some items in the covered cupboard area, but left some things out more accessibly on the countertop and display shelf. You might want to consider investing in some shelving or storage solutions if your small laundry room doesn’t have any. Even simple open shelving can work wonders when used with lovely storage containers – check out my post on beautifully organized SMALL laundry rooms here for some more great ideas!

I reorganized many of our items and create storage right on our laundry countertop in order to have easy daily access to them. In addition to the laundry tabs, Oxy powder, dryer sheets, I created two carry caddies with cleaning supplies and stain treatment supplies. I got my caddies at Michaels on an amazing sale, but I’ve sourced a couple of options below for you if you are looking for something similar (see the bottom of this post).

On the shelf, I used three Byholma Baskets from Ikea for storage on the little shelf- I love the greyed finish that they now come in. These baskets holds: (1) rags for cleaning (2) floor cleaning supplies such as my spray mop cloths and extra vacuum heads (3) lonely socks without a partner; just waiting to be reunited with their true love.

I used the other side to store our paper towel, and the two sections of the shelf are separated by one of my shadow box frames with our boys’ baby clothes in them. I can hardly believe they were ever that tiny!

On the side of the alcove wall, I  used a men’s pant hanger to display the little printable art I made;  you can grab your own free version here (and I made it available in TEN different colours for y’all). I toyed with both the aqua and rainbow versions, but it turns out I was really feeling the extra pop of colour so I went with it.

Big glass jars are perfect for storing laundry detergent tabs, dryers sheets, Oxy powder, and clothes pegs {those are just for fun!}. These glass jars used to live in our kitchen but I’ve since repurposed them to the laundry room. I’ve also had the round tray basket for a couple of years now and it’s been in several spots in our home.

Isn’t that little baby boy outfit the cutest? I can still remember our oldest son wearing it at Easter.

As I mentioned, the two cleaning caddies are from Michaels and I added some Martha Stewart chalkboard labels to them. I found some similar caddies at World Market if you love them as much as I do (see below). The “Stain Removal Guide” art was a find from a little home decor boutique many years ago and it’s traveled with us to all of our homes.

In the cupboards, the storage isn’t quite as pretty, but it’s all organized by category, and there is still plenty of room available, which I love! I always thinks it’s a sign that you have purged and organized well when you have extra room left in cupboards and drawers at the end of it.

Ahhh… I have to say I like the laundry space much better when the cabinet doors are closed.

Isn’t the new blue colour pretty? So much softer and calmer. It is “Serenity Blue” Chalk Paint by Rustoleum {leftover from a project}, and I also painted the walls Sea Foam by Benjamin Moore {leftover from painting our bedroom}. It’s pretty great to repaint a room using only leftovers!

Well, quite an improvement, right? I’m still planning to add an extra drying rack and will share that tomorrow when I show how the rest of this room has been reorganized! It’s not really a full mud room because it’s so small; but in addition to acting as our back entry and laundry room, this space also houses our coats, bags, extra outwear, keys, and grocery bags. So, lots more organizing left to show!

Did you see something you want to add to your laundry room organization project?

Here are some finds that are similar to my laundry room look or that I think would work beautifully to help you organize a small laundry space.

Want to remember this?

 

This is awesome! Pin it to remember it!

I’ll be back tomorrow with my MUD ROOM organizational makeover in the rest of this “room” aka hallway!

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13 Comments

  1. Please send more about small spaces! I feel like my whole house is a small space. I am not the most organized person; please send more ideas please! I got to get this place organized. Once I finish that I can go outside and do something out there. One job at a time. Help is Great, and so I small space ideas. Your Great

    Ruby in AL

  2. Do you have to pull your washer and dryer out to fix it? I want a shelf over mine so things won’t be falling behind it. But I need to be able to get behind them to unplug or get to drain pipes (we really need a new set. lol).

    1. Hi Amy, yes – we recently had our washer and dryer fixed and we pulled it out. It’s such a small alcove that we would have to anyhow. And the countertop actually lifts right off the washer/dryer and is removable. I should share a tutorial on that countertop installation so it makes more sense!
      Krista

  3. I love this space. I am hoping to redo my laundry room soon. I wish I had a front load washer so that I could do the shelf above it like you did. The jars you used are a fave for storage in my house.

  4. I like what you did with your space. I wish my laundry room was inside, but our house is older and so I guess laundry rooms weren’t a priority and my washer and dryer are in the garage. It’s hard to make it look nice, but I think maybe I could take a couple of your ideas and make them work for me. I try to remind myself just to be grateful I have a washer and dryer and that I don’t have to go to the laundromat!

  5. I’m totally jealous of your before picture (that’s how bad my laundry area is). Lol. Definitely want to steal your cabinets above the machines idea. That would be fabulous! Thanks for sharing your tips with us at Merry Monday this week!

    1. Hi Marie! Cabinets, or even open shelving with storage bins or baskets, definitely add a ton of function to a laundry area. Thanks for popping by and for hosting!

  6. Looks great! Everyone comes to our back door through our laundry/mud room. I want to spruce up the room a bit to add more character and decor. Mine is pretty organized – just needs some love. Thanks for the inspiration!

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