An Inspired Laundry

I actually enjoy doing laundry, it makes me feel productive. And I think laundry rooms can be really pretty. I want ours to be happy place. Here are just a few photos of laundry rooms that make me swoon.

I love the fresh, clean looks of these spaces. And I'm a fan of open shelving! Seeing these photos (and many, many others) helped me compile a must have list for this space.

Laundry Room Must Have List:

1. STORAGE!
This is a biggie. I have always thought that a laundry room should be a place to keep dirty clothes, cleaning supplies, and extra linens.  I wanted to make sure we'd have space for all of that and I think we've succeeded! We have a tall cabinet for laundry baskets (three cubbies for darks, lights, and delicates!), and a few cabinets to keep the cleaning supplies. Also, the awkward space above the basement staircase opens to the laundry room - I plan to put in shelving and house all of our extra sheets and linens there.

2. FOLDING SPACE
Right now when my clothes get out of the dryer, I do my folding on my bed or in my living room. This is not functional. And since I never want to fold in this scenario, the clothes end up sitting in the basket and get all sorts of wrinkly. I wanted to make sure we'd have counter space so that I can fold things out of the dryer. My goal is that I won't put any clean clothes back in a basket unless they are already folded. We'll see.. but now I don't have any excuses.

3. HANGING SPACE
I wash/dry a lot of my clothes as delicates. This means I have a lot of clothes to hang to finish drying. It's easy to run out of hanging space by doing this. I wanted to be sure we'd have a fairly long rod for hanging.

4. HAPPINESS
Well storage and organization makes me happy first and foremost. But I also wanted light, fresh colors. I chose a light purple because I know that this is the only room in the house that I could get away with it. After all, I am probably the only one who will ever be in there. And the cabinets are a light, fresh color too.

Now let's see just how all of this works with some updated photos, shall we?

Above is the view of the laundry room from the hallway door. To the left is the closet that I plan to keep the linens. Straight ahead is the tall cabinet for baskets.

Here is the tall cabinet for baskets. I plan to hang an ironing board on the exposed side and store ironing supplies in the top cabinet where the doors are hung. You can see the flooring sample, it's a dark gray vinyl tile. And you may be wondering what that door is for. It's a pocket door that connects with our master closet (won't that be handy?).

This row of cabinets will house all of our home cleaning products. I plan to have caddies for cleaning supplies (one for all of the bathroom products, one for all the kitchen products, etc). I hate having to search for the select items I need and then having to juggle them to whatever room I'm cleaning! The drawers will be used for rags, magic erasers - those random little objects that one requires in a home. The big drawer to the far right will be used for random household items (tape measure, screw driver, etc).

A sink will be placed in the far left cabinet, with a long countertop running the length. There is an open space under the counter on the far right for a waste basket. You need somewhere to put the lint and used dryer sheets! Above these cabinets will be a long rod for hanging clothes.

And this is where the washer and dryer will actually sit. Those shelves fit the width and will be open. I  plan to get corbels for them to sit on. These shelves will host laundry supplies - easily accessible!

Obviously, I've put a bit of thought to this. I'm excited for the trim to get finished and the floors to get installed on Friday. Then we can put in the washer and dryer and it'll start looking like a real room!