Triple Duty Laundry Room
Many homes are arranged so that
the laundry room is off the garage.
Sometimes the laundry room also
works as a mud room enabling the
family to store shoes, coats and
backpacks here. As functional as
a laundry room needs to be, it
doesn’t have to be unattractive.
Plus, with a little thought, you
can make your laundry room
handle much more than just
dirty clothes.
Enter laundry
Laundry rooms are designed to be functional. Most of them aren’t very pretty, though. But laundry rooms needn’t be the ugly, disorganized step-sister to the rest of the house. Simple redesigns can create laundry rooms that fill several important needs and keep order at the same time. That’s because laundry rooms are often in one critical area -- where the family enters the house. That makes its function that much more important.
Add organization
No matter what size your laundry room is, there’s always room for more organization. If yours is small, add wall organizers to store mail, newspapers and magazines. Add some hooks to the bottom of a wall organizer and you have a great spot to hang keys. A simple rail on the wall, painted and outfitted with small coat hooks can give you a spot to stash jackets and sweaters.
When space is limited, even a small board with hooks can be installed behind a door to hold jackets or dog leashes. If you have a larger laundry room, then you have more room to play with. Consider adding a bench with storage underneath to put boots, balls, books or any number of items that usually find their way into the house and that need a regular place to “live.”
Technology needs
Another consideration for the laundry room is technology. Because the laundry room is an out of the way space, a home nerve center would be perfect here. Locating a desk, bulletin board and computer is a nice way to get technology out of sight – and the associated mess too. If there isn’t enough room for a desk, adding a simple shelf with a place for wallets, cell phones, and chargers would be all it required to keep these needs satisfied without detracting from the rest of the house. Because, let’s face it, a cell phone and charger aren’t the most aesthetic items in a home. One of the most relaxing boutique hotels I’ve ever visited had all visible signs of technology cleverly
disguised and hidden to give it a
period feel. Light switches were
under old hats or “painted out”
of view. It’s amazing how
distracting the electronics in
our homes can be and all the
more reason to put them in a
room such as the laundry room.
Rethinking laundry
If you have a laundry that you
enter the house through, rethink
everything about it. First, make it
an attractive area and decorate it. Then, consider ways to add more organization and keep as
many of the items you need stored
there, like purses, jackets, keys,
cell phones, and shoes. This will
limit the amount of clutter and
mess you have in your home.
Thinking of building or renovating?
Give some extra thought to the
uses of the laundry room and how
you can arrange it to be more
functional and organized. Even an
old-fashioned idea like a laundry
chute is a great way to add more
functionality if a bedroom or
bathroom is above the laundry
room. By looking more closely at
your laundry room you can probably
get it to do more than just give
you clean clothes.
© 2007 Kathryn Weber, all rights reserved
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Kathryn Weber is the publisher of the Everydayclean.com Cleaning Calender, that calender that puts you in control of your home by ending the power struggle. For more information log on to http://tinyurl.com/d9rh5.
You have permission to publish this article as long as the tagline above is included and as long as the article remains complete and unaltered. A courtesy copy of your publication or link would be appreciated.
©2001-2007 Kathryn Weber
All rights reserved.
