...because home doesn't happen overnight.

After the paint dried on the laundry room walls, it was time to contemplate storage and functional needs.  First and foremost, my laundry room serves as a place to wash, dry and fold clothes.  I quickly realized that it kinda acts as a closet, too.  I store items that come with the territory such as detergent, bleach, clothespins, stain removal wipes, a lingerie wash bag, an iron and ironing board (which I primarily use for sewing projects not ironing clothes).  I also store items that we don’t use on a regular basis in there.  Like lightbulbs, WD-40 (squeaky doors are annoying), dryer sheets (I don’t use ’em but have them in case guests want to), the washer and dryer manuals, air freshener (not good for house air but I have some nonetheless) and an indoor/outdoor out-of-season rug.

Luckily, I have overhead cabinets to hold items I need within easy reach.  I just purged a few things and then re-organized.

I placed 3 seagrass baskets above the cabinets to house our lightbulb stash, bag o’clothespins and dryer sheets.

After the baskets were put up, I figured climbing up onto the dryer probably wasn’t the best way to reach them.  I needed a stool…

I had purchased this IKEA stool a few months ago thinking I would use it in my boys’ bathroom.  However, once I got it home, I found it to be a great washer-door-propper-opener (yes, that is its official name).  See, I have a front-loading washer.  One of the only drawbacks is that the door seals so effectively that if the washer isn’t fully dry, smelly mold can develop.  To avoid this, I always leave the door propped open when it’s not in use.  This stool happened to be just the right heighth for the job…and it looked better than the trash can I was using beforehand.  The wood tone was a bit light, so I conditioned and stained it.

Pre-conditioning the wood helps the stain take better and I highly recommend it.  The stain I used was a Minwax stain+polyurethane in one, so one coat and I was d-o-n-e.  Staining and polyurethaning can have quite a strong smell.  I usually do this outside but it was the middle of winter.  Instead, I did it in the bathroom with the door shut and fan on.  (I did slide it out to take a picture afterwards in better light.)  Then the fuming stool went outside on the front porch for several days to air out.  Sorry, neighbors!  I brought the newly stained stool back into the laundry room and have been very happy with its function (holding open the washer door + making it easier to reach the storage baskets) and style.  Function + style = happy Dana.

For even more storage, I added a narrow rolling cart just to the right of the dryer.  I placed a small trash can for lint on it but haven’t thought of anything else to put on it yet.  I like having space to grow.  The out-of-season rug mentioned earlier got rolled and stood up behind the cart.

Finally, I hung a few hooks on two walls to hold 1) drying bras and 2) the ironing board.  Yes, that’s right, I said drying bras.  One must-have on my laundry room list was a place to dry my bras discreetly.  Up until now, I’ve been using my trusty old drying rack from college.  But I have to prop it up in the guest/playroom.  More than once, Layne has come out from playing in there with a wet bra around his waist.  So, I put a row of hooks behind the laundry room door just for my over-the-shoulder-boulder-holders.

A hook for the ironing board went on a separate wall. 

At last, my laundry room was workin’ it… as in doing and holding all the things I need it to.  I know it’s not the most exciting thing but figuring out what you want a room to do for you before figuring out what you want it to look like is pretty important.  Check back later to see how I prettied up the space…

4 Comments

10.February.2010

Let the record show that my wife had an unfinished piece of furniture and did NOT paint that piece of furniture white.

[…] painting the walls and putting everything in its place, I was crazy excited to work on the details of the laundry room.  The room totally functioned […]

14.April.2010

Hello! I read somewhere (might even have been YHL) that the mildew smell with front loaders often stems from water trapped in the gasket on the door…a reader had mentioned she wipes it dry with a towel (making sure to dry the crevices) and she no longer has that problem. I don’t have a front loader (someday…)…but, for whatever reason, I remembered this bit of info.
:D

14.April.2010

Dena – Luckily, we don’t have a mildew smell problem with our front-loading washer. Not sure if propping it open when not in use is the reason or not, but I have never had to dry out the door with a towel. Thanks for the input! Here’s hoping a front-loader finds its way into your laundry room someday…