Come see our plans for our small, organized laundry room! Just because it's not a big space doesn't mean we can't maximize storage and make it beautiful!
Friends, I am so excited because this post has been years in the making. And it's finally here!
When we moved into our house in 2016, I knew I wanted to make some big changes to the laundry room. But though I was excited about the possibilities for the space, it wasn't at the top of my list of projects. It was functional and we had so many other rooms that we needed to tackle!
our laundry room on the day we moved in
But then the more I lived with our laundry room, the more irritations started to creep in...
Laundry Room Problems
I'm really short, so I can barely reach my laundry supplies on the [not-so-cute] wire shelf.
There is no great place to put laundry baskets in the small space. They're always in the way. (In the photo above, they're sitting in front of the linen closet. If I move them away from the linen closet, it's hard to access the washer and dryer.)
The linen closet is super duper tiny. And again, the wire shelves aren't my favorite.
So, always the optimist, I put the laundry room on my to-do list for 2019. I was convinced I was going to tackle it!
But honestly, the little things that irritated me about our laundry room were just that-- little things. They really weren't negatively affecting my life in any serious way. So other projects took precedence. And by the end of 2019, the laundry room looked like this...
...pretty much exactly the same. Oops!
But now here we are, a little more than halfway through 2020, and we are finally, finally ready to tackle the laundry room! Cue angels singing!
Creating a Small, Organized Laundry Room: The Plan
This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.
This space is far from "worst laundry room ever," but it is definitely pretty "blah" right now. I am really excited to change that! Here's a little peek at my plan for this room:
Towels | Light Fixture | Cabinet | Paint Color | Shelf | Hangers | Washing Machine | Dryer | Lidded Bin | Un-lidded Bin | Tile
Because I always have organizing on the brain, my first thought is usually storage. We plan to rip out the single wire shelf and replace it with two IKEA SEKTION cabinets. We installed an IKEA kitchen in our townhouse and loved it. I'm so thrilled for an excuse to use the SEKTION system again!
I hang Connor's hockey gear to dry pretty frequently, so I knew I needed a place to hang his items in this space. I'm going to put a rod between our two cabinets with a shelf above it to give a little bit of extra storage. (Or provide a spot for cute decor-- one or the other!)
Because I love shelves for both storage and aesthetic purposes, we're also going to add a wall-to-wall shelf right above the washer and dryer. This will help to hide some unsightly-but-necessary water and electrical hookups in this space as well.
And speaking of decor, I want to add a pop of color to the space. The plan is to add some vertical shiplap to the back wall behind the cabinets and paint it a pretty aqua color. I will probably use the shade that I've used several times in the rest of our house-- Sherwin Williams Rainwashed. But I might have it mixed at half strength to make it a bit lighter.
my office nook painted Sherwin Williams Rainwashed
Because we built our home with a community builder rather than going totally custom, we had limited options when it came to the tile flooring in the laundry room. And I didn't love any of them. The one we chose isn't terrible, but I'm looking forward to upgrading it to something a little more fun during this renovation!
Some renovation projects end up reminding me a little bit of that If You Give a Mouse a Cookie book. This is one of them. Since we plan to tear out the floors, we'll also be removing the baseboards.
Since the baseboards will already be out, we plan to replace them with a chunkier version that we've already been putting in on the lower level of our house.
And since we're putting in chunkier baseboards, we'll also be changing out the trim around the doorways to match, giving it a more craftsman look. With such a small space, it seems like a simple project. But upgrades like these end up taking a good amount of extra time!
You can see the difference in trim work and baseboards in these two photos from our mudroom.
We have plans for a few other small changes as well. We'll be changing out the light fixture from the plain model the builder put in to something a little prettier. Our dryer has a small dent in the top, so I've been brainstorming ways to fix it and make it good as new.
To solve my dilemma of the laundry baskets always being in the way, I'm thinking of trying collapsible laundry baskets that I can tuck away in our linen closet instead. And we might even give the wire shelves in the linen closet a little upgrade while we're working on this space!
The laundry room is small, but I spend enough time in here that making it more functional and beautiful will make a big difference. This won't be a "quick weekend project," but I think the results will be worth the time and effort we put into it!
Projects to Complete
So to recap, here are the projects we'd like to complete in the laundry room:
- Remove the wire shelf. Hang two cabinets instead.
- Add a hanging bar and a shelf between the two cabinets.
- Install a wall-to-wall shelf above the washer and dryer.
- Add vertical shiplap on the back wall, painted aqua.
- Remove old tile and install new tile.
- Replace baseboards and trim work around the doors.
- Update linen closet shelving.
- Replace light fixture.
- Fix the dent in the dryer.
Update: The laundry room is finished! You can see all of the projects from this renovation (including the reveal!) in the posts below:
Reverse Canvas DIY Wall Art for the Laundry Room
The Best Way to Install a Tile Floor
Installing a Vertical Shiplap Wall
How to Organize a Small Linen Closet
DIY Shelf Above Washer and Dryer
Have you done any laundry room upgrades in your home? I'd love to hear about them in the comments below!
Thank you so much for following along! Have a wonderful week!
This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.
Oh, I'm looking forward to seeing how this comes together. My laundry room is small, as well, and I would love to have a better system in there. My biggest issue is the laundry baskets are always in the way. So, I'm curious to see if you try the collapsible baskets. Good luck! Can't wait to see it.
Thanks so much, Amy! Can’t wait to share! <3
~Abby =)
We added cabinets to our laundry room above our washer and dryer. I'm adding shelving between the cabinets to make the space look intentional instead of like it's just what we were stuck with because of the stud spacing. I'm not short (5'7"), but it's still hard to get to. May I suggest finding a stool that you can store in the room to access the cabinets? I'm still looking for one that will fold up because my laundry room is tiny (yours looks like a huge room comparatively). We are also adding a shelf over the washer and dryer and changing out the dryer line to be able to push it back closer to the wall. I"m trying to decide between a couple of bars for hanging or a retractable clothesline between our cabinets and the wall over the laundry sink. We have lots of plans, but it will take a few years to get it all buttoned up since we are doing it in-between other projects.
What a crazy coincidence! I just posted our laundry room makeover today, then I visit your blog and see this! Love your plans (especially that floor tile!). Best of luck and can't wait to see the end result.
Thanks so much, Linda! Looking forward to sharing. Hope you’re having a great week! <3
~Abby =)
I've been waiting to see your laundry room refresh. How exciting!
Thanks so much, Ashley! Excited to share! <3
~Abby =)
Sounds awesome! I’m sure you’ve answered this somewhere, but what is the paint color on the mud room doors?
Thank you!
Hi, Holly! It’s Sherwin Williams Rainwashed... my favorite! 🙂
~Abby =)
I can't wait to see the finished project! Everything looks SUPER cute!
Thanks so much, Brigitte! Hope you’re having a great week! <3
~Abby =)
We built our house in 2011 - moved into it in Jan. 2012. The contractor put 1 wire shelf on 2 walls and that's it. We have plenty of room but not arranged in any functional way so it stays a mess. It was my plan to tackle my laundry room this Spring but that didn't happen. Hopefully this Fall I can begin the process. Hoping to make it much more functional and pretty...although, we actually live on a farm, so it is used as an actual mudroom. But we can definitely upgrade the uses of it.
Builder grade laundry rooms can be a challenge for sure! 🙂 I'm definitely looking forward to having more functional storage!
~Abby =)
My laundry rooms is also small, love your room. What is the tray underneath the washer and where can I get one?
Hi, Marina! We have that tray because our laundry room is on the second floor of our house. So in case the washer would ever leak, it would catch the water and prevent it from spilling over into our kitchen below! Our builders put the tray in our house when we bought it, so I never had to purchase one myself, but I would assume that Lowe's or Home Depot would carry something like that.