Laundry Room Organization (and a Makeover!)

Organizing the Laundry Room – Our laundry room was boring, basic, and lifeless, so we gave it a little laundry room organization makeover. Now, things look crisp, fresh, and put together. I love how it turned out! 

This post is written in partnership with Hobby Lobby. I purchased all items pictured and all opinions are my own. 

With a new year on our hands, we’ve been making plans for the house, going room by room to decide what updates we want to make, and how we want to make our blank-slate home feel like ours. One of the first rooms on my list was the laundry room.

Michael jokes that I basically live in the laundry room, and considering the significant amount of laundry we’ve been doing over the sick season, it sometimes feels that way. Cue: Project Laundry Room Organization.

Whenever I’m working on reorganizing, decorating, or rearranging a space, I always ask myself a few questions:

1. What do I use this room for?
2. What problems do I have in this space?
3. What do I want to feel in this room?

This helps me be realistic about the functions of a room. For instance, I wouldn’t want to decorate my living room as a formal space if my kids are in there playing every day, or put a white antique rug in a high-traffic area of the house. I also get to address any sticking points, like storage, additional furniture needs, or functions that haven’t been addressed. And finally, I set the tone for the room (calm and restful, warm and inviting, etc.). Here were my answers for the laundry room, and how I resolved each one…(spoiler: it looks SO MUCH BETTER).

1. What do I use this room for? 

Beyond laundry (obviously), I also use the shelving as storage for things like keeping our cleaning supplies out of our children’s reach, storing guest linens, extra paper goods, and laundry detergent. The laundry room is right by the door to the garage, so I keep things that I need to take on the go in there–forms for teachers, boxes for the post office, our library bag, etc.

2. What problems do I have in this space? 

After clearing out things that could belong somewhere else (like paint cans and that big box fan), I’m still left with a few things that don’t really have a “spot.” That means that the library bag just gets left on the floor, which feels so cluttered and disorganized. There’s also not a lot of visual separation between items on the shelving which feels messy even though the shelf isn’t overflowing. I’d prefer to have a distinct place for the linens vs. the cleaning supplies, for instance. Lastly, the room with feels very lifeless and dull. There’s no personality, no personal touches that feel like “us.”

3. What do I want to feel in this room? 

Overall, I love a light, bright look in our house. I like things that feel crisp, but easy and comfortable. In the laundry room, I definitely wanted something that felt crisp and clean, orderly and organized. I also wanted the functions to be clear rather than it feeling like a messy catch-all space.

The Plan

Armed with my answers, I came up with a basic plan to create visual separation and give me the storage I was looking for:

• Something to hold the cleaning supplies
• Baskets or bins for the guest linens (which also helps achieve that visual separation)
• Hooks or wall storage for the library bag, a coat, etc.
• Something (or a few somethings) to bring personality and life to the room

I decided on a simple black and white color scheme, knowing that the high contrast would give me that crisp, clean look I wanted. After hanging some peel-and-stick striped wallpaper (more on that another time), I went to Hobby Lobby and everything came together in no time! It helped that they had such great home deals going on. For under $100 ($97.03, to be exact!), I was able to re-vamp the storage options, visually separate the different things stored in the room, find a solution for grab-and-go items, and add a few decorative pieces to tie things together. BAM.

First, I picked up a small basket to corral the cleaning supplies. I love that I can grab the whole basket and go now when it’s time to clean the bathrooms. Everything is all in one place (and it looks cute when it’s on the shelf!).

Next, I put up these cute buffalo check photo boards so that the room had a little bit of life to it. I love buffalo check or gingham anything (plus, bonus pattern mixing!). It’s also MUCH easier to feel happy about doing laundry when I see cute pictures of the people creating it.

For the linens, I corralled them in some pretty lined baskets. I like that they give a clean look and create that separation between linens, cleaning supplies, and laundry soap on that shelf. Both were on sale (50% off!) and I just love the look. The liners add some softness, and I love that they’re removable if I change my mind later. These could just as easily be beautiful laundry baskets for actual laundry instead of linen storage.

Last, I added function and personality through a few decorative pieces. These wall hooks are perfect for those grab-and-go items, like a coat or the library bag. I’ve seen similar ones that were MUCH more expensive, so I was thrilled to score these for under $5 each. They’re really sturdy, and I  like that they mimic the striped wallpaper. I ended up only using 2 instead of 3 since they fit better in the space.

And to add one last spark of “someone lives here,” I picked up these two little faux plants. The little happy pop of green is the first thing I notice when I walk in the room, and it makes me happy every time I need to change a load of laundry.

Budget Breakdown:

• 1 Cleaning Supplies Basket, on sale for $7.49
• 2 Cloth-lined Laundry Baskets, on sale for $20 each
• 2 Buffalo Check Photo Boards, on sale for $9.79 each
• 2 Wall hooks (I bought three, but returned one since two fit better than three), on sale for $4.99 each
• Medium-size plant, on sale for $14.99
• Small plant, on sale for $4.99

Total: $97.03

I’m tempted to go back and pick up a little wreath or a little garland to hang, but overall, I LOVE the change. It doesn’t feel like a cramped, sterile utility room anymore. Instead, it feels clean, functional, and crisp, and the happiness factor can’t be beat. If you’ve got to do laundry (so much laundry…), it’s nice to be able to do it in a room that feels this happy!

Hobby Lobby is always running great sales, so be sure to check out their current flyer on their site before you head in. Also, don’t forget to score a 40% off coupon you can use for your visit!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Hobby Lobby. The opinions and text are all mine.