Day #10 ~ Getting Organized Challenge (Laundry Room/closet)

I'm jumping back to Day 10 in the Getting Organized Challenge hosted by A Bowl Full of Lemons. I'm late joining up which you can read more about here.

Like most of the other organizing challenges, I don't really have a 'before' picture of the laundry room closet so just imagine it empty. Or imagine what the in-between looked like.... all our coats crammed in, a falling-apart shoe organizer hanging on the door with miscellaneous gloves, hats, and scarves falling out, cleaning tools, and a broken shoe cubby organizer on the floor.

When we painted the laundry room, I painted the closet too. We were running out of paint so I used my fav creamy white, Crumb Cookie by Olympic (from Lowe's.) We're using Crumb Cookie throughout the house on all ceilings and trim. It looks as yummy as it sounds! :)

Here are the 'afters' of the closet:

Off-season coats for me and hubby. Extra hangers for wet laundry.  

Steam and Sweep attachments in a box on the shelf along with my static duster. 

Vacuum, Steam and Sweep cleaner, folding step ladder, and extra folding hamper on the floor on the right side.

Mini hand-held vacuum, which doesn't charge that well, up there too.

Clean with room to spare and a home for my pretty ironing board!

The rest of the laundry room is coming along too! Here are the hideous before pics:

From the laundry looking towards the kitchen. The sink and its plumbing were so gross that they got ripped out and tossed right into the dumpster. Ick!

Next to the sink along that same wall were the previous owner's washer and dryer. Not exactly 'energy star rated', I don't think. They went out in the yard until a friend took them to the salvage yard for us.

After we moved in, our appliances got put in down at that end. We set up a folding table and little wood stand to hold bathroom stuff and painting supplies since the rest of the house was under construction.

A trip to our local Re-Store the week after Christmas netted us brand new cabinets for the laundry room and a few additional cabinets for an empty wall in the kitchen. We weren't really planning to re-do the laundry room at this point but the savings at the Re-Store made it totally worth it. To get the cabinets out of the living room, we got right to work removing the built-in green cupboards. I guess they painted around them after installation. :) (Note that the cupboards were green as was the wall, trim, ceiling, and doors.) Along with the old cupboards, we had to empty out the rest of the room too. Everything in here ended up in the kitchen, dining room, and living room.

Before the new cabinets went in, we decided to write on the walls with a Sharpie to leave a time capsule of sorts for future owners. :) New cabinets in; junk back in there because of the bathroom reno; no baseboard molding yet but a huge improvement.

I thought we'd be leaving the room green for the foreseeable future but my mom (who has some mad-phat painting skills) offered to come out for a day to help with the house. This room was the only thing left on the list (that we didn't have to buy more paint for.) Here are the almost done pics:

We still need to install a utility sink and get countertop for the sink area and the corner cabinet. After the window is replaced (sometime this spring or at least when it's a bit warmer), I'll get a window blind and figure out the window treatment. I'd also like to put a shelf above the washer/dryer to keep the detergent handy along with a few pretties. On the list too is to replace the back door and someday put in recessed lighting.

And for anyone who'd like to be nosy but doesn't want to ask, the cabinet insides look like this (from left to right):

Paper plates, lunch bags, my coupon box, and the command central binders.

Extra paper products, light bulbs, smell good stuff, and batteries.

Laundry stuff on the left; Spare towels, rags, and lost socks on the right.

Beach towels and a jug of floor cleaner that doesn't fit elsewhere.

 

Extra cleaning supplies, hand soap, and vacuum bags.

Under the 'yet-to-be' sink: grocery bags, extra paper towels, bathroom cleaning supplies, cleaning buckets, and trash basket.

 

Phew----a lot goes on in this little space! Now that it's almost completely finished, it's actually peaceful to come in here to get the cleaning stuff or work on laundry. :)


See more great organizing ideas or join the challenge yourself!