Get Your Laundry Room Organized

Chances are the laundry room in your  Maplewood home is not your favorite room of the house. It’s a room associated with chores, and it’s often the most cramped room in your home, making those chores seem even more tedious.

But what if your laundry room was clean, organized and even beautiful? Would you feel differently about washing and ironing clothes then?

If you’d like to tame the chaos and make your laundry room a space you love, follow these tips.

Corral the cleaning supplies

Has your laundry room become a gathering place for wayward cleaning products? Then find a way to contain all your supplies. An attractive basket or caddy placed on top of the washer or dryer or on a shelf keeps everything in one place so you know exactly where to find it the next time you need to knock out a grass stain before throwing those jeans in the wash.

Add shelves

If your laundry room doesn’t already have shelves, what are you waiting for? Shelves can help you organize all your supplies and is a great place to keep folded laundry while it’s waiting to be put away. Take it a step further and invest in some attractive shelves and containers – there’s no reason to skimp on design, even in functional rooms.

Add a countertop

If your laundry room is nothing more than a glorified closet, give yourself some room to work by installing a countertop over the washer and dryer. This gives you a place to fold laundry as it comes out of the dryer. And if you add curtains beneath it, you can hide what’s underneath. Then when you need a little extra counter space for a party, open the closet, close the curtains and use the countertop as a serving space!

Sort it out

Laundry rooms tend to get messy when there’s no place to sort clothes, so invest in a divided hamper that lets you easily sort lights, darks and whites. Get the whole family in on it by having them sort their own dirty clothes into the appropriate bins so washing day goes a little faster

Designate a lost and found area

Where do all those lost socks go? Until we figure out that mystery, have a designated space in your laundry room for all buttons, spare change and socks without a mate.

Think vertical

Clothes that can’t go in the dryer need a place to hang out until they’re dry. Don’t waste precious horizontal space – think up! Install a retractable clothesline, or invest in a drying rack that allows you to hang clothes for drip-drying.

Create an ironing station

Ironing clothes can be a real pain, so make it easier by designating a space for it in your laundry room. Attach an ironing board hanger on the wall so you can store the board out of the way until you need it. If you have the space, you can also add a rod nearby to hang the clothes that are freshly ironed while they are waiting to be put away.

Whether you have a tiny laundry room or one that’s fit for a king, getting organized will make completing one of life’s inescapable chores that much easier. You may even discover you like doing laundry. Don’t worry, we won’t tell the kids!

Allison Ziefert is a Maplewood, NJ based realtor and the #1 individual real estate agent at Keller Williams Mid-Town Direct in Maplewood, NJ. A local market expert, Allison specializes Maplewood, NJ real estate and homes and South Orange, NJ real estate and homes as well as Millburn/Short Hills, NJ, West Orange, NJ and surrounding towns. Allison’s success as a Maplewood/S. Orange realtor is driven by earning great testimonials from sellers and buyers of homes in her marketplace. You can read her testimonials at www.azhomesnj.com/testimonials.