Maximizing Your Laundry Room Storage

Let’s face it, your laundry room is one of the busiest rooms in the house. It’s hard to keep neat and tidy with all that stuff – dirty clothes, cleaning supplies ironing boards and more! I bet you’d like to know how to maximize your laundry room storage. Thought so!

Fortunately, there are lots of options for adding more storage to the laundry room. Even the smallest of rooms can be clutter free and a dream to work in.

The first thing you need to do is evaluate what works and doesn’t work in your laundry room. There’s probably not much you can do in the way of moving your washer and dryer, but everything else is in play when it comes to laundry room storage. Do you already have laundry room cabinets and shelves? And do they work the way you lacking space essential storage space. ( Here’s a hint, you are if your washer, dryer, and any other flat surface and full of laundry and supplies). Do you have room to sort and fold laundry? Does your laundry room have to serve another purpose, like pantry or craft area?

Now that you’ve taken a hard look at your room and know what you want, let’s look at your laundry room storage options.

Cabinets and shelves can be the workhorses you’re your laundry room storage, but all too often they’re crammed full of stuff that has nothing to do with keeping the clothes clean. There a plethora of storage options to keep your cabinet and shelves that can be used inside, on top of or even on the front or backs of cabinet doors. Think outside of the laundry room “box” and use attractive storage pieces that you would use in any other room.

• Plastic storage containers
• Racks
• Hooks
• Baskets
• Jars and Dishes
• Storage boxes
• Lazy Susan

If you don’t have any cabinets and shelves in your laundry room, don’t worry. You can buy ready-made cabinets at your local home improvement store or bring in furniture type pieces like small armories or utility storage cabinets. Shelving can range from utilitarian wire to well-crafted wood.

Many new washers and dryers come is additional storage units that the machinery sits atop. There’s room to store many of your laundry supplies in these handy drawer units. Another options if your have room between your washer and dryer is a laundry caddy. These little units are usually about 8-inches wide and fit snugly between the washer and dryer and can hold loads of supplies.

If counter space is what you’re looking for in laundry room storage – and not available in your current laundry room design – then you have a couple of options. First, if you have front-loading washer and dryers, add a counter above the units. You can build it in or do something like adding bookshelf units on either side of the washer and dryer to hold the counter (and get more storage space in the process).

Another option for is a folding workstation if you have an empty wall space. When you need it, it’ folds up to a sturdy table top (usually around 48” x 18”) and when it’s no longer needed, it folds away, freeing up wall space.  Fold-away accessories are perfect to maximize your laundry room storage, from hooks to hampers to fold-away ironing board to all-in-one organizing systems.

Maximizing your laundry room storage is easy once you decide exactly what you need and want. For more ideas and what’s available, make sure to check out these great products from Amazon.

Netlexis writes for a number on online and offline publications with an emphasis on the lifestyles, children's and family topics. When she's not at her keyboard, you may find her in the garden, in her craft/sewing studio or hiking the trails around her Southern California home.