Working Vertically in a Horizontally Challenged Laundry Room
Case
Create a working laundry room out of a narrow space.
Challenges
- The prior homeowner had taken former kitchen cabinets and installed them over the space for the washer and dryer. A large opening where a microwave sat in the cabinet’s former life was an odd space to fill.
- The owner owned numerous cleaning items and home care items (such as spare light bulbs) that could not fit into the cabinets.
- Dirty laundry frequently sat on the floor until it was wash time. Since the laundry room is also an entry room into the home from the garage, the owner did not like the visual appearance of the piles of clothing.
- The family needed a space to store their coats and shoes and the owners wanted a system that their children could maintain without them. At the same time, the vacuum and other storage items needed to be stored in the closet as it was the only closet on the first floor.
- The closet needed to be flexible for family growth and change.
- The new owners had removed the bi-fold doors off of the closet because they were consistently getting in their way. They were happy with the doors no longer knocking into each other but, visually, it was less than appealing.
Before |
After |
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Former kitchen cabinets had found a new home in the laundry room, however, all of the owner’s laundry items did not fit and were hard for the owner to reach. |
Everything has a place and is labeled for easy access. |
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We purchased a rolling shelving unit for supplies. Our before picture shows it right after assembly. |
Shelves were organized by type of cleaner & each space labeled for easy placement of items. |
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The coat closet in the laundry room was the only one in the house. The owners wanted it to be more presentable for guests as well as hold their belongings easier. |
Each member of the home owns either cubbies or drawers at heights that work for them (for example, the 4 year old owns the bottom drawer for all of his shoes). The floor space is adequately used as well as the vertical space. The owners also have a system to add to the closet as there is still quite a bit of room for growth. |
Getting Down to Work
- We emptied the space and sorted like items together.
- Often items made for one purpose can serve another. In this case, the paper towel holder was converted into a holder for extra hangers.
- We used 7 different organizers to pull the space together: baskets, a heavy gauge wire shelf over the washer, and a rolling shelving unit for the cleaning supplies, a divided hamper for dirty clothing, cubbies and drawers for shoes, hats and gloves and a shopping bag holder on the wall for all of the extra plastic grocery bags.
- We labeled all the shelves and baskets so that the owners could know at a glance what each container held.
- Items used less frequently, like the extra light bulbs, were placed in baskets above the cabinets to fill unused space.
- The rolling shelves were assembled, filled and labeled.
- We used a shower tension rod and a coordinating curtain to softly cover the opening when not in use. The curtain is easy to operate and does not get in the way of the other doors.
- After adding the cubbies and drawers for the shoes, we installed a coat hook on one side so that the youngest member of the household could hang his own coat.
Results
The homeowners are thrilled with their new laundry and closet space! Everyone knows where their things go in the closet and personal items are consistently put away now! Cleaning items are put away and laundry is a snap to do now that all appropriate items are within easy reach. “We are thrilled with how easy this space is to maintain!!”
