Our Lovely Laundry Room

Over the last couple months we've been trying to make our small second floor laundry room work better for our family.

We went from this:

To this:

When we first moved in to the house, we had a normal size door that would open into the small laundry space, and it was claustrophobia inducing...which is saying a lot because I don't usually get anxious about small spaces.  The dirty clothes would be behind the door, so you had to shut the door to maneuver in the space.  It was super annoying.  One day while Bill was at work, I took the door off the hinges.  I quickly learned that it was solid wood and was not able to move it far without Bill's help.  We lived with a gate in front of the door (to keep the kiddos out) for several months and then we had a bifold door installed that opens into the hallway.  (We looked into installing a pocket door, which would have been ideal, but it ended up not being an option due to the architecture and electrical/gas lines placement.)  The new door matches the rest of the doors in our house in terms of color and style, so it blends really well.  Since we coordinated the bifold door order with our basement finish two years ago, we were able to save money on the cost of a new door by reusing the old laundry room door in the basement!

This is a Kohl's closet filled with pictures of the family.  It used to be in Charm's nursery and works here now!

I made this bulletin board following this tutorial and an old bulletin board.  I used Robert Allen Kiki Pinata fabric available at Hancock Fabrics.  I liked the idea of doing a bright multi-colored floral print with the black and white rug from this post.  I also love having a calender in the laundry room.  I use it to mark 'sheet washing' day:).  I also have plans to some day be so organized that I have specific 'laundry days', although with young kids that might not happen for quite some time.  In my fantasy world, I'd mark laundry day on my calender and do all the laundry for that house on that day/s each week:).

Bill made this 'bra dryer' for me using knobs from Hobby Lobby and a piece of scrap wood from the garage.  We also use it to dry Lucky's tights.

We have a trouble with matching socks and often end up with lost socks.  We put unmatched socks in either the 'little socks' or 'big socks' bin depending on if the socks are little (Lucky and Charm sized) or big (adult sized).  Every once in awhile we take down the bins and make matches!

Bill picked up these laundry sorters at IKEA for 99 cents each during a promotion, although I think they normally are $4.99.  I had thought they would be good for awhile until I found something better, but I actually really like them!

I like having Post its handy because I never remember when I put things in the washer that shouldn't be put in the dryer.  If I make myself a note and stick it on the washer, I remember:)!

The counter basket stores clothing like sweaters that I wash in a 'hand wash' cycle once I have enough clothing in the basket to justify running a wash cycle.  

We have lots of cabinet storage in this room.  The cabinet above the sink is where cleaners and towels are stored.  The next two cabinets hold our swimming bag (everything we need for swimming lessons) and extra toilet paper and kleenex.

The cabinets above the washer and dryer contain our 'sorting bins' for clean clothes.  We don't often fold clothes when it comes out of the dryer because of time.  We do try to do a quick sort of the clean clothes so that folding is really easy at a later time.  We can just grab a bin a night.  Each bin has a chalkboard label on it with an initial coordinating to a family member: L, H, M, D and there is a bin for linens and one for towels.  

Now the change isn't that dramatic, but you must consider that the space we were working with is super small...like about 25 square feet.  Before the feeling was blah and now, I love opening the door and getting to work!

Linking up to Thrifty Decor Chick.