Laundry room planning maximizes small space

When it comes to laundry rooms, making the area (often small in size) an organized and efficient work space can be a chore in itself.

It’s no different for professional organizers like Kim Laney of Little Rock, owner of A Call to Order, who lives in an older house with limited space in her laundry room. She combats the problem several ways.

“I find that empty hangers take up a lot of space so I have an inexpensive towel bar mounted underneath the shelving behind the washer and dryer where I gather them all together,” Laney says.

Preparing to wash clothes includes sorting through pockets and pulling out forgotten items. But where to put those items? Laney keeps a small container nearby to serve as a catch-all for wayward items.

Pop-up hampers also come in handy in her laundry room.

“I like them because when you’re done, they just fold right back down and can be put away,” she says, adding that a fold-up stool kept in the laundry room is also handy for reaching items on high shelves.

For more workspace, Laney had one long counter top built over the front-loading washer and dryer to offer a continuous stretch of surface for sorting and folding.

She has a laundry basket for clean, folded clothes for each family member. She also suggests having a separate basket for damp items like towels waiting to be washed.

A drying rack is useful for drip-dry items and, if there’s enough space, a ceiling fan will help wet items dry faster, Laney says.

In small spaces, keep the workspace as pared down as possible to combat clutter. A built-in shelf over the washer and dryer offers convenient storage.

In smaller areas, make sure the area is well lighted. Cabinets above the washer and dryer can keep a hodgepodge and otherwise messy array of detergent, stain remover, and other supplies contained and out of sight.

A hanging rod offers an organized place to hang clothes requiring air drying, while a couple of baskets provide a place to sort laundry by colors and also additional storage space.

When space is at a premium, making the best use of every available square foot is crucial, and Southern Living’s online article “Ten Ways to Organize the Laundry Room” offers several handy tips.

If the laundry room is large enough, consider making it multipurpose, setting aside an area for ironing where all related supplies can be stored together; an area for gift wrapping; or an area of miscellaneous storage, using bins or baskets of all the same style and color will keep it looking tidy.

Laney’s laundry room, which boasts tall cabinets reaching nearly to the ceiling, doubles as a pantry and also a place to keep miscellaneous household items like vacuum cleaner attachments.

“For me, a laundry room is kind of like a utility room,” she says.

For laundry rooms that are simply extensions of another area, double-louvered doors will keep them tidily tucked away when not in use, Southern Living recommends. If it’s not possible to install doors, another option is to hang a pair of curtains in front of the washer and dryer (attached to a spring rod hung from a counter placed on top of the appliances) to conceal them.

If there’s enough room in the kitchen, consider tucking the washer and dryer into a space that can be hidden behind a door posing as a kitchen pantry. For those who want to keep oversized, unattractive laundry baskets off the floor and out of site, a storage island designed to hold these baskets can be a good investment, Southern Living says, adding that the island’s surface can also double as a folding area.

Laney continues to look for creative ways to make the most of the space she has in her laundry room.

“I wish it was bigger but the only way I can make that happen is to knock out a wall and make someone’s bedroom smaller,” she says, laughing. “And that’s not going to happen.”