Laundry Room Makeover

Laundry Room Makeover

laundry_room_organization2bI’m in love with this makeover!  I think it’s because of the stenciled dotted wall.  I love polka dots, they just make me happy.  I actually finished this project, well, 98% finished it – all I needed to do was put the labels on the boxes sitting on the top shelf.  I’m notorious for almost completing a project then taking weeks or months to do that last little bit to complete it.  Anyway, now it’s done, Whew!

I started out by taking everything out of the room.  That is always the best way to organize any room or area.  You need to clear out the space and get rid of the junk so that you can figure out what deserves to be in the nice clean organized area!

After I had cleared out all the junk and cleaned everything left, I dug out the polka dot stencil that came in the same package with the huge dots stencil that I used on Lael’s walls an eon ago.  Stenciling is really not hard, it just take time and patience.  Of course I only did one wall, I figured one wall of dots was enough!

I knew I wanted a shelf behind the washer and dryer because I get really annoyed when I drop stuff behind there!  If a sock went back there it was never seen again, coat hangers would fall, who cares??  Not to mention all the dryer sheets, dust, trash from pockets and change…….So, a shelf was desperately needed to cover that cavernous black hole!  I bought the shelf and brackets at Lowe’s and promptly turned it over to Todd.  All shelf hanging in our house is done by him!

On the shelf I have my detergent in a old glass candy jar that I got from my grandmother.  I think she used it for flour or something.  I have Oxi-Clean in another glass jar I picked up somewhere.  The dryer sheets are in a basket I bought at Wal-Mart.  Spare change is collected in a metal pail I got at the thrift store.  The pail was red in it’s previous life and was used at the Dr. Seuss baby shower I helped to host.  The last couple of things on the shelf were bought at Dirt Cheap, for yes, you guessed it really cheap!  A lamp that stays on all the time and an organizer.  The organizer is supposed to stop the pile up of mail, coupons, receipts, school papers etc on my kitchen counter!  On the wall behind the washer and dryer are cork squares that I covered with scrapbook paper.

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To the right of the washer and dryer right beside the door leading to the garage I hung a dry erase calendar where I put our monthly menu, the kids activities, appointments and anything else we have going on that month.  I also hung a blank dry erase board to jot down grocery store needs and other notes.  I still had some blank wall space staring at me, and you know how I hate blank walls!!  I decided to create some inspirational prints, I call them “Daily Looks”  I told my family when they leave the house every day, they need to take a look at the prints, read and remember!  I created the prints in Photoshop and am offering them here for you to download if you want.  My favorite is the doggy one, what about you?

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To the left of the washer and dryer is the laundry sink.  The sink used to be in the garage, but I wanted it in the laundry room, just makes more sense to me.  I have used it way more than I ever did when it was hiding in the corner of the garage!  My super handy hubby moved it for me.  It’s so nice to be married to a man who knows how to tackle these projects I come up with, and even better that he is willing to tackle these projects!!!  Above the sink is a short shelf that holds assorted laundry needs.  I stuck them in a basket to try to hide them a bit…..it sort of works!

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On the other wall is where our laundry sorter hangs out, and trust me when I say it usually not this empty!  Todd hung some hooks for the kids backpacks and my school bag.  I hate it when the kids come home and drop their backpack in the middle of the kitchen floor!!  Sooooo annoying!  Oh, and Lael photo bombed my picture!

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Above the backpacks are two shelves.  The bottom one hold my cookbooks stashed in magazine holders from the Dollar Spot at Target.  Then there are lots of plastic shoeboxes that hold everything from pencils to batteries to extension cords.  I used the same labels that I used in the garage.  Gotta love a labeled box!  The top shelf holds more plastic shoeboxes and some liquor stored in a wooden thingy that I got at the thrift store.  I have no idea what it is supposed to be used for!  I just know that those little openings are a good size for a Malibu Rum bottle!

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Last thing is the shelf above the washer and dryer.  This shelf is way up by the ceiling so I definitely need a step stool to get stuff off of it.  It was always very difficult because I had just stuck miscellaneous stuff up there haphazardly and it was anyone’s guess as to what might get broken in the process…..a leg, arm or the crock pot I was trying to get down!  So, I decided to use boxes to store items in, a box is so much easier to get off a shelf!  I used Girl Scout cookie boxes because goodness knows, we had enough of those around!!  I covered the boxes with kraft paper, then used duct tape to seal the top edges and made labels for the fronts.

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So, that’s it – the grand tour of the my new laundry room.  Do you love it as much as I do??  Here’s another picture of the finished product.

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