May 24, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — If your washer and dryer truly have a room of their own, it’s probably not just a space to do laundry but a catch-all for cleaners, garden tools, pet food and other supplies.
So, organizing to save space and keep the clutter under control will make the room even more useful. Since laundry rooms are usually more compact than other rooms in your home, an efficient way to organize and store things is to literally “look up.” The experts at HGTV suggest installing cabinets or hanging shelves to increase vertical storage space.
Open shelves are convenient for storing large bottles or boxes of laundry detergent. Your household cleaners can hide behind cabinet doors to make the room look tidier. Lower shelves should be wide and deep enough to store laundry hampers so you can clear paths for foot traffic through the room.
You can add some flair and color to the laundry area with decorative baskets for storing dog leashes, pet toys and other non-toxic items. Any pet medications or flea/tick sprays, etc. should be placed in a container with a lid and stored out of the reach of young kids.
If you want to store mops, a vacuum cleaner and other cleaning equipment in the laundry room, it’s best to designate a so-called “cleaning wall” or area to keep all these like items together. Designers with Houzz.com suggest hanging a sturdy rack on the wall high enough to hold brooms and mops. On another wall, you might want to consider installing a specially designed rack to hold your ironing board and iron. Some racks even have a space to store a can of spray starch.
Only you know how much clutter must be cleared to leave space for the “real” task of washing and drying clothes. If your space is limited to a closet area, proper organization and storage is crucial and you will want to carefully plan your space and limit items only to those things needed to do the laundry.
