UPDATE: See The Newest Small Laundry Room Makeover at Our New House here!
Not everyone is blessed with a room specifically dedicated to laundry. Actually a lot of homes (mine included) and apartments only have a small closet that houses the washer and dryer. Just because you don’t have tons of space doesn’t mean you can’t make the area more functional. And since doing laundry is a task that will never end, you might as well decorate a little to make the job more bearable.
I bet your laundry closet looks something like this…
With a little paint and some baskets, it can look like this!
This was probably the easiest project I’ve done in a long time. I could have painted the walls but the closet seems so dark and shadowy that I decided to leave the walls white to keep it bright. The existing shelves were just spray painted with matte gray.
Just for a pretty element, I covered the rod with some fancy wrapping paper. You could paint on some Modpodge over the paper to make it more durable, but I don’t use the rod very often so I didn’t seal it.
A fun rug adds color to the space, as well as something cozy to stand one while transferring clothes from the washer to the dryer.
This storage cart is my favorite thing about the whole space. It’s super narrow (5 inches to be exact) and fits perfectly between the appliances to hold cleaners. I’ve been known to just roll the whole cart out of the laundry area and into the living area during cleaning day. It beats going back and forth to grab more supplies. You can buy this cart here.
Hanging baskets house missing socks and hand-wash only items. I found baskets specifically for wall hanging for about $15 a piece. Um…no thanks. I walked a couple of aisles down and found these wire freezer storage baskets for $5. I attached them with a couple of clips and saved $20. Yay!
A change jar stays in place on the dryer by sitting on a rubber coaster.
A combination of different sized baskets hold an array of laundry and cleaning supplies. The little baskets with the chalkboard label were only $5 at Walmart. Unfortunately, my son turned our chalk into carpet crumbs so my baskets are currently unlabeled. It’s on the shopping list…
I like to keep my sewing kit close by also. That way if a button appears at the bottom of the washer or I notice a tear in a pair of jeans, I’ll have the tools at arms reach to fix it immediately instead of putting if off til later and risk forgetting about it.
Update: I ended up with ANOTHER small laundry space at my new house. See how I organized it here.
So now that you see how easy it is to make a small laundry area more function, get to work on your own space! After you’re finished, let me know what ideas you came up with to customize it for your needs. I’d love to hear what works for you.
