Laundry Room Redo - Get it all off the floor!

Ok, I know ANOTHER laundry make over.  Well here it is.  It has taken me many hours of painting, cleaning, clearing, selling, and donating and my unfinished basement laundry room went from storage nightmare (below) to a dedicated laundry/cleaning area.

Of course these pictures don't do the doom and gloom justice but you get the idea. Stuff, Stuff, and more Stuff!  I had to work around pipes, bare rafters and a gross utility sink.  At least I was able to start off with an AWESOME new washer and dryer (funny that you can barely see them in this mess).  

So I got to clearing out.  Big time!  And I found that there is absolute truth to the observation that things in the basement are just delayed decisions.  I probably brought 3 car loads to the dump. Freecycled a ton of items and put, in a neighborhood tag sale, all of the small items I thought were worth something (basically all of the baby items).  All that, a coat of paint and a weekend project laundry sorter brought to life by my handy hubby and VOILA!

The first thing I did was paint.  Using an old can of yellow paint that I no longer have in any rooms upstairs I was able to eliminate the nasty cement/drippy, basement feel to the walls and use up a gallon of paint I no longer needed to store..  Yes the walls are still cement and they are gross but at least it isn't the first thing you notice.The final part of the laundry room, the part that pulled it all together is the build my husband did for my 'sorter'.  

I was using 2 of the 3 sectioned laundry sorters (one of them similar to pictured below and one of them had a hanging rod and upper shelf.  They were visually imposing and I found I never used the upper shelf or hanging rod.  I have a drying rack I use for air drying already.

I drew out a design for my husband to engineer and for less than $90 ($60 for the baskets and less than $30 for the lumber) this is what he built.  I added a metal shelf to the right for extra storage and small sorting bins.  One for my microfiber clothes (a load that needs to be done seperate from all others) and my rags/ old towels.

The labels I designed.  I love the shape and color!

I was also thinking ahead to when the kids (and maybe husband) would be doing the laundry.  

SO... 

... I wrote instructions for what clothing items fit into the category and what setting to dry the load on.  Now anyone who can read can do the laundry!

By the way.  I still have space for my folded up air dryer and my extra sorting bins if needed.  When not needed they take up VERY little space.

What laundry room isn't complete without a folding table?  I just used a small folding table and put shelving above it for dryer items (dryer sheets, tennisballs, and clothespins), overflow cleaning supplies and an iron. Everything fit perfectly.  I was even able to fit all of our luggage under the table for easy grab and go access.

For a final touch I hung a framed poster I had, but didn't fit anywhere else, up from the rafters.  It's the perfect final touch to cover up a large eyesore of cables and ducts.  And, almost like I planned it, it matches the yellow walls.

Again ...

Before

After

If you have any tips or tricks as to how you keep your laundry room in order please comment below or tag me in your blog.  Thanks from The Little Yellow Ranch!