Laundry Room Makeover

We'll have to blame this room re-do on the Container Store - we this photo in their catalog & it gave us just the inspiration we needed for a little revamp of our own.  We had been trying to reconfigure our storage/organization system in our laundry room, but just couldn't commit to a plan until we saw that photo.

Unfortunately, we do not have an 'original' before shot of our laundry room due to the fact that we were so excited to get started & forgot to snap a before photo for reference purposes.  However, we think you'll get the idea from the picture below.

Imagine this room with the addition of a fixed wire shelving unit across the back wall, a bronze flush mount light fixture (AKA: boob light), & ugly linoleum flooring (Mel's dad helped us install some peel & stick floor tiles last year):

So you get the idea.  Not cute or functional.  Our water heater is also conveniently located in our laundry room.  Also not so cute:

|paint & shelves|

First thing we did was paint the entire room using some leftover paint from our stairway & upstairs hallway - Smooth Stone by Glidden.  After the paint completely dried, we installed an adjustable rail system from Home Depot.

FYI- there is a top 'hang track' piece that helps with keeping it level as you install - we opted not to buy it, but we would recommend that you DO purchase it to make things easier:

We decided to go with solid white shelves (as opposed to the wire ventilated shelves- like in our inspiration photo) because we felt that storage containers would slide on & off more easily.  To maximize our storage space, we wrapped the shelving around the room in an 'L' shape:

We also needed an area that we could hang dry certain clothing items, so we added this bar which works awesome:

|new lighting|

There are no windows in our laundry room - which means we do not have ample natural light & the existing light just wasn't cutting it.  So, we swapped it out for a new square fixture that we got on clearance @ Lowe's (see the 'before' photo above). 

Unfortunately, it simply wasn't giving off enough light - so we moved it to our foyer & replaced it with the Alang ceiling fixture from IKEA.  For more details on that, you can check out our photo tutorial: how to install Ikea Alang Ceiling Lamp:

|buh-bye water heater|

Next, we had to figure out a way to hide that ugly water heater.  While we were @ IKEA, we saw the KVARTAL ceiling mounted curtain track system which we thought would be the perfect solution.

Luckily, it did work out perfectly!

Side Note: We've received a couple of comments in regards to this solution being a potential fire hazard or fire code violation.  We did not initially take this into consideration as the curtains never actually touch the water heater.  However, as one reader mentioned, there may be minimum clearance requirements within your insurance policies & fire codes.  We recommend that you research your local fire codes before implementing this system just in case.

It's nice that we can hide it away, but can still access it if needed.

(Click here to see how we installed the IKEA KVARTAL track)

|the details|

We picked up a bunch of storage bins, baskets, & jars from Garden Ridge.  All of our extra paper products (towels, TP, tissue) are stored in the white metal bins.  We also keep other miscellaneous items (heating pad, beach stuff, etc) tucked away in the baskets:

Mel also found this metal laundry hanger @ Hobby Lobby & thought it would work perfectly to store our mini ironing board:

The color wasn't quite we we were going for - but nothing a few coats of white spray paint couldn't fix:

Next, we used some over-the-door shoe organizers to store all of our cleaners on the back of the door.  These things are awesome - they allow you to utilize a frequently underused area of your home AND they free up space underneath the sink:

And finally, a couple of glass jars work great to hold our DIY laundry detergent, clothes pins, & loose change:

|future plans|

Eventually, we would like to upgrade to a front load washer/dryer set.  Our plan is to build a washer/dryer stand so that we can store the laundry baskets underneath, as our floor space is limited.

A little Before & After action:

What an improvement, right?  Now it's functional, organized, & pretty!  

Happy washing, drying, & folding!

Mel & Nader