laundry room ideas

After 17 years of wife-ing to a man with a dirty job and three boys, I’ve spent a few hours in the laundry room. In our current home when you open the front door, you can see straight through the kitchen into the laundry room. It wasn’t until I was forced with the fact that unless I always closed the door that anyone who came to my door would get to look into our laundry room that I decided to put a little effort into getting it to look more presentable. Surprisingly, after a weekend’s worth of easy, inexpensive work, our laundry room was more user-friendly and even shockingly, a place I didn’t mind to walk into. Or use.

laundry room

Here are my laundry room must haves:

 

1. Surfaces

You know how once someone buys a minivan with automatic remote control doors they can never go back to regular, old-fashioned open-it-yourself doors? That’s how I feel about having a counter in our laundry room. HOW did we live without one? We have a front loading washer and dryer and I’ve always used the top of them for folding and stacking and cleverly disgusting piles of laundry. But it wasn’t until we installed a counter top that I realized how much space was being wasted. No more unbending hangers to reach that sock that fell behind the machine, now I have vast wall to wall to wall surface coverage–I feel rich with my luxurious laundry counter! No turning back.

laundry room ideas

2. A Hiding Place

Dirty clothes hiding capabilities are very important to me. Simple hampers or a few matching baskets look so much better than random piles of dirty laundry. I’d like to think that I’m a person who wouldn’t ever have piles. I’m pretty sure that person doesn’t exist so why not plan for piles and make them easier to live with? Why did it take me so long to figure that out?

laundry room ideas

3. Lighting

I love pretty window treatments, but in a room where I’m working and looking for stains to spray n’ wash I want to take advantage of every inch of beautiful natural light. My windows are uncovered. Laundry rooms are also a great place to switch out a boring light for lighting with a lot of personality, just make sure you have adequate task lighting.

4. Doors or something equivalent to close so you can forget about the piles of laundry, amen.

laundry room door idea

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What about you, what’s on your laundry room must have list?