Laundry rooms may not win any popularity contests, but there’s no denying the invaluable role they play in the home. Here’s how to do yours justice and make it work for you…
• A combination of cabinets and shelves provides the best of both worlds when it comes to laundry-room storage. Use cabinets for storing bulk cleaning supplies, detergents and such – preferably overhead if you have little people running around or make sure low-level cupboards are tamperproof.
• Arrange everyday products on shelves, within easy reach and in the order in which you use them. If the shelves are exposed, decant your detergents and fabric softeners from their original packaging into smaller containers to be refilled as needed. And make the containers pretty to look at – if anything they’ll ‘lift’ the space and make it look more groomed and organised. Nobody said that a laundry room had to be dull and boring! Give it a pop of colour with containers, a splash of paint or fun print on a wall, quirky hanging hooks, etc.
• Baskets, boxes and bins offer practical storage for groups of similar products that can be picked up and carried around as needed. For instance, put together a ‘stain-removal kit’ in one box to use when stains crop up.
• Make sorting dirty clothes simpler by using a few laundry baskets or bins for ‘pre-sorting’ – one each for whites, colours, really dirty items (sports kit) and/or bulky items (blankets). This will help prevent untidy piles on the floor still waiting to be washed. Keep ‘hand wash’ in a separate bag altogether, rather than in any of the baskets, to avoid these items accidentally landing up in the machine.
• Keep a small sewing or mending kit handy for quick hem fixes, patch jobs and reattaching loose buttons. Speaking of buttons, keep a small box or jar handy for ‘lost and found’ (things that fall off or come loose in the wash or are found in pockets before washing).
• Mesh bags with zips are ideal for washing more delicate items such as lingerie and other smaller, more fragile items. They also come in handy for keeping ‘pairs’ together in the wash (no more hunting for that one misplaced sock!).
• Install a rod, equipped with spare hangers, to hang clothes as they’re ironed. And while you’re at it, attach an ironing-board hanger to the wall so the board and iron are out of the way but still easy to access. Space permitting, set up a permanent or foldaway drying rack too.
• If you have a front-loading washer and dryer sitting side by side, run a counter over the top of them for folding and sorting. You can even use the space for other things, like wrapping gifts, potting kitchen herbs or arranging fresh-cut blooms in a vase.
• If you don’t already have one, think about installing a floor drain in your laundry room. It’ll make everyday cleaning a lot easier, plus it will save you a lot of hassle should your washing machine ever spring a leak.
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