When we were looking to buy a new house last December, function and storage were my top priorities. Our previous house just didn’t work the way I wanted it to. I love that our house now has lots of closets and cabinets. Having a laundry room on the same floor as the bedrooms was also a priority. Our house has a good-sized laundry room, but it wasn’t functional enough for me. It was the one room that constantly irritated me (probably because I’m constantly doing laundry).
Pinterest and Houzz are filled with dreamy laundry room pictures, but let’s face it, most of us don’t have a laundry room the size of a studio apartment or unlimited funds to put into a room where the door stays closed 90% of the time.
Instead, I chose 3 inexpensive and simple improvements that increased the function of the room and gave me the most bang for their buck.
3 Ways I Increased Our Laundry Room Function
1. A clothing rack
Having nowhere to hang clothes as they came out of the dryer was driving me crazy. I would hang clothes on the front and back of the doorknob until they would no longer fit. Then there was the issue of the hangers themselves. Since I had no hanging space, I would stack them on top of the dryer, but if I didn’t stack them just right, the vibrations would send them all over the floor.
I bought a clothes rack at Ikea for $12.99. It is adjustable in height and has a shelf on the bottom. It fits perfectly into the space beside the dryer. I’m also able to sit the mop bucket and laundry baskets on the shelf.
2. A wall-mounted mop and broom holder
My assorted brooms, mop and other such cleaning tools were all stacked together in the corner. By purchasing a mop and broom holder, I was able to keep them off the floor, and I no longer have them all falling when I try to pick up a broom.
I purchased a Casabella holder at Target for $9.99. It hides behind the door so the cleaning tools stay out of sight. This also freed up the corner where I placed the clothing rack.
3. LED bulbs
This may not sound like much, but switching from CFL to LED bulbs made a huge difference in the laundry room. CFLs are slow to reach their maximum brightness. Because I am often in and out of the laundry room in only a few minutes, the lighting was always very dim. The difference is hard to see in the pictures, but it is very obvious in real life.
Creating a functional space doesn’t have to be expensive. My solutions also might not work for your space. Get creative. Think about what improvements would really make an impact. Shelving, racks, and organizers can provide a fairly inexpensive fix if you shop around.
Maybe one day I’ll have a dove grey laundry room with whitewashed cabinets and individual cubbies for each laundry basket, but until then, I have a useful space that functions well and reduces my stress level.
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