How To Create the Perfect Laundry Room
Does the word “laundry”cause y’all to wince with visions of never-ending piles? Me, too. Certainly, the stuff multiplies itself overnight only to act innocent in the morning. You know what they say: If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. Take revenge with a laundry room so cute and useful that you’ll actually look forward to tossing in load after load. Here are my thoughts on how to create the perfect laundry room.
Add a Sink
You could just keep running to the kitchen when you need to rinse off Junior’s muddy jeans. But it makes more sense to have a convenient laundry room sink for quick rinses and washing off all kinds of things you’d rather not have in your kitchen sink: dirt, grass, and whatever else your angels bring home.
See a Wall, Hang a Shelf
Big, small, tall, or wide, any shelf is helpful in the laundry room. I suggest adding shelves to conveniently hold detergent and other laundry items. Believe me, I’ve had the laundry room with big detergent bottles on the floor because I couldn’t fit them anywhere. Some custom shelving takes care of that and makes the laundry room a more pleasant experience.
Let the Air Flow
Y’all, one thing we don’t often think about when designing our laundry rooms is airflow. Laundry machines create moisture and heat, which is a great combo for mildew. Personally, my machines are always running. I seldom skip a day without doing a dirty load of something or other. Close off your laundry room to tune out the noise, but do it with a louvered door to allow airflow. Louvered doors come in all kinds of styles and sizes, but all will keep the room shut off when necessary while keeping it from getting stuffy.
Hide It in a Cabinet
Cabinets are basically shelves with doors to cover up our unorganized mess. Or, if you’re the everything-in-its-place kind of gal, they serve as another area to showcase your domestic goddess skills. Cabinets located conveniently in the laundry room store backup detergent, cleaning supplies, and possibly a bottle of wine for Saturday night—whatever floats your boat. No judging here. Seriously, though, cabinets are great storage solutions, and they’ll quickly turn a laundry room from cluttered to debris free.
Install Waterproof Flooring
Stuff happens, especially in the laundry room. Put a floor in there that handles spills from detergent, wet clothes, and, once in a while, a leaking washing machine. The last thing you need to worry about is ruining your laundry room floor. You’ve got bigger fish to fry (for starters, all that laundry).
So, there you have it: a few fun and easy ideas to create the perfect laundry room and make life’s never-ending chore a bit more tolerable. Now if only the laundry would put itself away.
