Home Rooms Laundry
Elizabeth FlahertyUpdated: Nov. 23, 2023
Make laundry day less of a drag with these simple and cheap laundry room updates. You'll thank us because of all the time you'll save!
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Family Handyman
Ideas for the Perfect Laundry Room
This laundry room has several clever ideas you can put to work in your own laundry area. In this space, we placed laundry baskets on open shelves to keep the baskets off the floor. Or make runners for the baskets to slide on by modifying the wooden tracks. Plus, make fun cabinet door pulls from clothespins attached to ó-in. lengths of wooden dowel.
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DIY Washboard Memo Station and Cupboard
Use this DIY vintage washboardmemo station project in your laundry room as your one stop shop before you leave the house and customize it to fit your specific needs.This projectwould also look great as a clever storage solution.
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Family Handyman
Create an Ironing Center
To keep your ironing gear handy but out from underfoot, make this simple ironing center in a couple of hours. All you need is a 10-ft. 1×8, a 2-ft. piece of 1×6 for the shelves and a pair of hooks to hang your ironing board.
4/25
Family Handyman
Instant Drying Rack
Does your family have a lot of clothes that cannot be put in the drier? Even those collapsible drying racks with several bars for draping wet clothes still aren’t enough for big laundry days. And if you hang wet clothes on top of wet clothes, it lengthens the dry time significantly and can even leave your clothes smelling a little musty.
To fix your air-drying space shortage:
- Grab a 1×2 board from your scrap stash in the garage
- Trim it to fit across a few joists overhead in your basem*nt laundry room.
- Tack it in place with a heavy-duty nail in each joist.
- Then you can air-dry several more pieces of clothing using hangers.
5/25
Family Handyman
A Well Lit Space
Mount battery-operated under-cabinet puck lights to brighten up your work area while washing your clothes.
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Family Handyman
Skinny Laundry Room Cart
A lot of laundry rooms have a narrow wasted space either next to or between the washing machine and dryer, and it’s usually a hideout for socks and lint. To take advantage of this potential organizing space, build a simple plywood laundry room cart on fixed casters to hold detergents and other laundry supplies.
7/25
Family Handyman
Write Notes on the Washer
Stop shrinking your sweaters.When you put a load of clothes into your washing machine, use a dry-erase marker to note on the lid which items should not go into the dryer. That way, whoever switches the load from the washing machine to the dryer will know which items to leave out for line drying.
The enamel finish on most washing machine lids is similar to a whiteboard, and dry-erase markers can be removed easily with a dry paper towel.
8/25
Family Handyman
Up and Out of the Way
Hang an ironing board on double coat hooks from the hardware store. This will keep this otherwise in the way tool up and out of the way. Simply hang the double coat hooks wherever you have space in your laundry room. Dread your laundry days? Here are a few laundry room decor ideas to make you spend more time in there.
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DIY Washer Pedestal
Pedestals for front-loading washing machines and dryers can cost hundreds. Save your money—you can build your own laundry pedestals from standard lumber in an hour.
10/25
Cardboard Box Bag Dispenser
Need a way to store all of those plastic bags you get from most stores? Here’s an idea: Straighten them out and stack them into an organized pile. Then place the pile in a small cardboard box. Cut a hole in the box so you can pull out one bag at a time as you need it. This works great at our garage sales when we need to bag items for our customers. — John Mylander
This plastic bag dispenser would also be handy in the basem*nt or wherever you keep your cat’s litter box or near your dog’s leash. Then you’ll have a stash of bags ready when it’s time to clean up after your pet.
Psst! Tired of not being able to find where the tape ends on your storage boxes? Learn the easiest way to open a cardboard box.
11/25
Family Handyman
Pretty and Practical Box Shelves
Thesesimple box shelveswork equally well in a formal setting and a utilitarian room, like the laundry or garage. They offer an unlimited number of uses and arrangements. Hang some above the washer and dryer to store detergent, dryer sheets, and other laundry room necessities without taking up any valuable floor space.
12/25
Paint Stick to Clean Lint Buildup
Even if you empty your dryer’s lint trap before each load, chances are there is still lint buildup around the area that could potentially cause a fire. So it’s important to deep clean the area once in a while, and this handy hint will get the job done.
Wrap a clean rag around one end of a paint stir stick. Remove the lint trap and clean out the area with the rag-covered stick. To help the lint stick to the rag, dampen it with water first.
13/25
Bright Ideas for Organizing Your Laundry Room
With a plan, a pegboard and a few space-saving tricks, these bright ideas will turn a laundry room into a homey organized hub for washing up.
14/25
Family Handyman
Simple Hack to Make Any Rug Extra Comfortable
Want to make any rug feel extra plush and luxurious? Add a layer of carpet padding underneath your rug—it’s thicker and cheaper than a typical rug pad. The next time you wash and fold that pile of clothes, your feet will thank you.
15/25
Organize Cleaning Supplies
It can be difficult to keep spray bottles, laundry detergent and other cleaning supplies from falling over and making a mess under your kitchen or laundry sink. Thankfully, we have plenty ofcabinet organization tips and tricks. To keep your cleaning supplies upright, hang them from a short tension rod inside your cabinet. Another clever idea is to slide a paper towel roll through the tension rod for easy access. Organize your clutter in a better way with these laundry room cabinets.
16/25
Family Handyman
Behind-the-Door Shelves
The space behind a door isa storage spot that’s often overlooked. Build a set of shallow shelves and mount it to the wall behind your door for some clever small laundry room organization space. The materials are inexpensive. Here’s how to build these behind-the-door shelves.
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A Laundry Workbench
Thissturdy workbenchis not just for carpentry – it’s also perfect as a potting bench or laundry room table. If you want a surface that’s easy to clean and protects against spills, apply two coats of polyurethane varnish to the top and the shelves. We used a water-based finish that dried quickly and was hard as nails by the next day.
18/25
Family Handyman
Say Goodbye to Wrinkles
Ditch the time-consuming iron or handheld steamer to get wrinkles out of a shirt or slacks. Throw a few ice cubes or a wet washcloth in the dryer with your wrinkled clothes. As the ice melts and the water turns to steam, it will remove the wrinkles. This trick isn’t as effective with heavier clothing but is a miracle for lighter fabrics. The best part is that you don’t have to set the dryer for longer than 10 minutes for it to work.
19/25
Above Units Clothes Storage
Folding hanger rods collapse against the wall when they’re not in use, saving valuable space in tiny rooms. They’re great for wet clothes and sporting gear.
20/25
Family Handyman
Quick Drying Laundry Hack
Waiting for clothes to dry is annoying. Especially if you’re in a hurry. My solution is to throw in a dry towel with the rest of my wet laundry to speed up the process and get on with my day.Or, you could use one of these 9 ways to dry clothes without a dryer.
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iva/Shutterstock
Homemade Laundry Detergent that Actually Works
Making homemade laundry detergent can help save you money, not to mention you can eliminate harmful ingredients that can hurt the environment and cause skin irritation. Plus, once you have the ingredients on hand, it’s easy to make.
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Photo: Courtesy of Brett Gardner
Slide Out Laundry Hamper
Keep your dirty clothes off the laundry room floor with this slide-out laundry hamper. Simply use a garbage cabinet rollout system and replace the trash bin with a laundry bag.
23/25
Family Handyman
Convert an Unfinished Laundry Area Into a Laundry Room
Create a fresh, clean workspace in your laundry room. We walk you through the toughest part—reworking the plumbing and adding the new sink. Follow these how-to photos and instructions to turn your unfinished laundry area into a finished laundry room that’ll better meet your needs.
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Family Handyman
Stop Losing Socks
Stuff a strip of foam pipe insulation into the space between your washer and dryer or along the wall. That way, socks can’t slip into the abyss.
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Drying Rack for Delicates
When its arms are open, this compact drying rack looks a little like an octopus. The top hook goes over a shower curtain rod and the clips hold light items. When everything’s dry, fold it up and you can use it as a regular hanger.
Originally Published: August 26, 2019
