project: laundry room

In the past, given the choice between attractive and practical, I would choose the first every time... like I did in this little situation. Well these days, I’m beginning to see the benefits of practicality far more clearly than usual and I have our laundry room to thank. Here is the good ol’ before to refresh your memory...

{not much of a view, but the whole concept of having a room just for laundry was new and I. was. pumped.} 

So at first I thought, “We’ll just work with what we have...” Translation: I’ll paint the cabinets white like the ones in the kitchen and call it a day. Then I painted the kitchen cabinets. It was worth it, but the idea of going to all that work again for just 4 measly cabinet doors that no one but us would really even see just seemed overkill. That’s when I started scheming up plan B: We’ll just take the doors to the cabinets off, paint frame, then hang a cute curtain across the cabinets to replace the doors. Similar to this idea:

Then we moved in. This resulted in kitchen cabinets that had no room to spare while small, stray appliances were left without a home. So it was on to plan C (aka where practicality started winning). First, we decided to get rid of the cabinet all together because... 

1. It created wasted space because of its shallow shelving and and its shortness. Sorry shorty. 

2. It had all icky, slimy, gunk all over the shelving.

3. I had bigger and better plans. 

{so we began taking it off the wall, and that’s when we discovered reason #4 to remove this waste of space: spiders. Oh yes. I think we may have interrupted some kind of annual convention. It was a big deal...}

 {So we placed it on the curb and were left with nothing more than 1 large yellow rectangle in the center of the wall, the heebe-geebes, and a lot of room. Woohoo!} 

{so we painted, then I was off to Best Buy for a stacking kit for our washer and dryer. I totally scored one by the way, and because it was an opened item (aka no instructions included but all parts present) I was able to snag it up at 50% off. It did happen to be red, and our machines are white, but who’s really looking that closely? Practicality is growing stronger.} 

{Ta-da!!! This was so so easy. Our washer and dryer are LG models and stacked so easily. The only purpose of the kit is to hold the legs of the top machine stable so it doesn’t vibrate off of the first one. From opening the kit to snapping this victory photo, it took about 15 minutes - and gave us the extra space...}

{... to add a floor-to-ceiling baker’s rack. Yea, this is where I pretty much accepted that practical was winning, but was so thrilled to find all those outcast appliances a home that I didn’t even mind. This one came from Lowe’s and comes in other colors and sizes - under 80 bucks and 5 enormous shelves of open storage (insert hallelujah chorus here)}

{My rarely used appliances (ice cream maker and such) reside on the tip top shelf, while the bottom 2 house these bins from Target. I found them on sale for $4 and they were a perfect fit. They’re also super flexible which is awesome for maneuvering. The top 3 are for sorting laundry, the bottom 3 are for our recycling. Allow me to explain my laundry plan more fully...}

{This tend to happen to our laundry hamper a lot... Just keepin’ it real. Unfortunately, once it’s full enough to make 3 separate loads, those piles have to hang out the floor until it’s their turn to take a spin. Not attractive. So the new plan is that every few days, we empty the hamper and sort the clothes into our laundry-room bins, that way it’s easy to see when a load of clothes is ready, while conveniently hiding the other loads as they wait for the wash - I know, it’s genius!}

{If there’s one thing I’ve learned sense we’ve been married, it’s that if I want a plan to last, my guy had better be on board! So in effort to make things even more user friendly, I decided to label all my bins. This was super easy. First I just downloaded an agreeable font from my favorite free font place -  dafont - and printed my labels. Next, I laminated them for extra durability.}

{Even though I have access to a laminator at work, I use this one all. the. time. This little guy came from Aldi and only cost about $20. It’s mega simple to use and small enough for easy storage - my kinda machine.}

{my tools - just scissors and sticky-backed velcro. I decided to attach my labels with velcro because it hold up to water (it is laundry room after all) and if I ever decide to use the bins for something else, all I have to do is replace the label and the bin and keep its side of the velcro - no sticky residue to deal with}

{The backing on this stuff is no fun to try and peal off, so I recommend peeling it back before cutting}

{Once I had hooked side cut into squares and stuck onto my storage bins, I cut the furry side (using the same technique) and attached the two pieces, so one sticky side was facing out.}

{Then I attached my labels. I’ve found it’s far more simple to get everything placed exactly where I want it if I attach both sides of the velcro to one object (with 1 sticky side facing out), then place my other object on top of the sticky. Not sure if that makes any sense, but it makes things far easier to line up this way as opposed to attaching each side separately.}

{And there you have it... this sight just fills my heart with joy. Are there cute striped curtains? No. Is there any whimsical decor? Negative for now, but I can guarantee that you won’t find anyone more jazzed about doing their laundry for miles =) }

{...and lest we forget the other side of the laundry room! This is the wall opposite the washer and dryer, to the left of the window.}

{meet one of my favorite, cheap storage solutions: the thumb-tack, you know - the fancy ones that are made for cork board. I use them to hang all my brooms, mops, etc.} 

{and they even work for cleaning tools that don’t have that handy little hook at the end..}

{see...}

Funny how the practical is becoming increasingly more attractive these days. And now its time to sort that full overflowing hamper I just showed you into my new, shiny bins... happy laundry day folks!