Laundry Room Organization

Hey there, friends!  :-)

It's pretty rare these days for me to do an evening post, but I just couldn't wait until tomorrow morning to write up this entry!  ;-)  I was very, very busy today organizing our laundry room.  The before was downright ugly -- and messy to boot!  We live in an 800 square foot apartment, and our laundry room is very small.  But hey, we count ourselves lucky that we actually have both a full-size washer and dryer inside of our apartment!  We definitely lucked out on that front.  There are two shelving units, and each one was stacked with stuff.  Plus, did I mention that there were things piled in its entirety?  We basically had to pull everything out in order to wash our clothes, and then throw everything back in.  It was awful.

Just to tell you -- both units were also topped with randomness, and it was basically insanity.  And the dust, OMG.  Enough to send you into an allergy attack!  

Before I go on, I just want to tell you that my goal today was not to make this laundry room necessarily pretty.  We just spent quite a bit of money yesterday on new furniture, so the last thing I wanted to do was spend a lot on this space, too -- especially because we have a door covering it.  I really was going for function.  I just wanted a friendly space that didn't make me want to cry every time I opened the door.  Know what I mean?

This is what my living room looked like when I emptied the space.  Can you even believe there was that much stuff piled up in there?!  Where did it all come from?  I was shocked. 

I began to throw stuff in the "It's Going In the Trash" pile.  Basically, anything that I forgot was up there, no longer wanted, or was broken, I tossed.  Yes, it may be been slightly wasteful and I'm sure that I could have donated it; but I wanted everything out, NOW.  It was only me doing this project, and we don't have a garage, and, and, and -- I'm trying to justify myself to my fellow DIY Divas as to why I threw out a scratched lamp that could have easily been painted.   But the thing is, I've been saying "I'm going to spray paint this," or "I can totally use this!" for months now, and I haven't.  So, I tossed a lot.  And I actually feel great about it.  

Okay.  Whew.  Glad I got that off my chest.  Moving on.

On the left shelf, I was left with this -- just our nested suitcases, and some room to stack the plastic bins that I was planning on buying.

And this was the right shelf -- just my hubby's army bag.  It was too heavy to get down, so I left it there.

I put up this little "shelf" to store some of my crafty supplies that I don't keep in my craft bins (which are in the bedroom right now, but that room is next for organization!).  The "shelf" is actually made out of a piece of metal that came with our Ikea bookcase -- it is the piece that you are supposed to use to bolt it to the wall; but we don't have any little ones yet, so it's better served here!

I also hung up this little basket and filled it with leftover toilet paper.  I know, I'm weird.  But we keep our extra toilet paper in the laundry room, and this was a way to get it out of the raggedy bag and into something a tad cuter.

See it coming together?  I also hung up our drying rack!  Easy to grab, off the floor -- I like it!

At that point, I was making quite a bit of progress on the floor.  I had piled everything up into items that I felt should be boxed together, and then I went to The Container Store to pick up some plastic bins and a couple of shelves...

And now, I'll show you how everything came together...

This is the left shelf, after.  The bin of books are my blogging and design books that I usually read into daily, so I placed them there for easy access.  Next to the book bin are my husband's tool kits.

The iron rests here now -- not on the floor.  This is below the left shelf, and above the dryer.

This is on the right shelf.  Miscellaneous items -- very easy access, and no clutter!

These bins are located on the right shelf, as well.  The top is for any decor that I am not currently using, and also seasonal wreaths.  And the bottom bin houses my design books -- I've got a lot of them, and they were cluttering the top of the washing machine before!

And these bins are to the right of the larger bins.  Miscellaneous tools, booklets and light bulbs, and plugs are inside of these cuties.  Oh, and if you're wondering what the labels are made out of -- it's just scrapbook paper and a sharpie.  I used my scrapbooking tape roll to place these labels on the bins for easy removal if and when I need to change them out!

Here is the new laundry essentials shelf.  This is, of course, above the washing machine (and below the right shelf).

Here is my (new) broom and my trusty feather duster.  Easy peasy!

On the wall, I added some old photographs with drying clips (we are in the laundry room, after all!).  I think it adds just a touch of cuteness to the space and is sort of fun.  :-)

And finally, here it is!

Nothing spectacular, but definitely a whole lot better!  ;-)

I really am very happy with it.  I feel accomplished, and it really takes a lot of anxiety out of me now that I can open that door and not be overwhelmed by how totally messy it is.  I'm proud of myself because most of the resources I used I already had -- I didn't have to buy much at all.  My husband isn't home from work yet, but I can't wait until he sees what I've been up to all day!  ;-)  I think he'll be pleasantly surprised!

Oh, and by the way, I realized this morning that the pictures I took and put on the blog of my new furniture are kind of fuzzy, so here are two new ones that better showcase what we did:

:-)

I hope you all have a wonderful night!  I will catch you back here in the AM, and thanks for letting me share my new laundry room with you all!

Have you tackled any organizational projects lately?

love, maria

PS: I'm linking-up with 52 Mantels for Thursdays Are Your Days.