Remember this post 1.5 weeks ago (The one where I realized something’s gotta give)? I feel an urgent need to defend myself after that big confession, and recant with a gigantic, “It’s not that bad! I promise! ” ;} It’s hard to air out your dirty laundry in public. {no pun intended on the following post.} But organizing is my weak spot…and it’s good to know I’m not alone.
I’d planned on knocking out a lot of it that weekend. I planned to snap on my big girl super power undies {likened to a frightening cross between granny and maternity, made in shimmering red material. The cheap looking kind you get on discount at handcocks.} And take back our spaces in one fail swoop. {Cape included.} And then I got a bad case of the sniffles, so I ended up sitting around for the day and feeling sorry for myself, instead. And that’s okay. Sometimes we need to have ‘feel sorry for ourselves’ kinda days. You know. The kind where you crawl into bed because you feel miserable and watch trashy telivision when your kids aren’t around. Except my kids are always around, so I watched Dora instead, and felt even sorrier for myself. It was awesome.
I realized this will be a real process for us. Anyone can clean up. It’s keeping it that way, with our crazy lifestyle that will be a challenge. I’ve come up with a few ideas after thinking about how I seem to always fall back into the same trap once I’ve cleaned up my act. I’ve decided that I have to stop treating my closets like closets, and more like rooms of their own. I keep my main rooms ‘pretty.’ So why not keep my walk in closet, and pantry clean, too? {Keep your eyes peeled this winter for some major closet revamps coming your way…}
In the meantime, I thought I’d cover my real nemesis today.
And a prime example of this idea. Laundry, how I loathe thee. I don’t really see how parents of more than three do it. I think they just may curl up into the fetal position and die. The amount of loads alone is enough to send me into a deep depression.
But back to the making functional spaces attractive thing, I have found that the laundry is a little easier to do since we revamped our space. I’m a visual person, so it helps motivate me. It may sound silly, but it’s true. So, in the great spirit of organized spaces, and the issue that seems to beat me down every week, I thought I’d show you a few great spaces that I find organized, and attractive. And because I realized not everyone has rooms of their own to dedicate to dirty skivvies, you may be pleased as punch to see a shout out to a clever solution or two…
So if you have your own floor, a tiny closet, or a room that works triple duty with various functions, here’s a tribute to feeling inspired, and getting that laundry folded…and maybe put away…
Love the use of space here: a cabinet system and backsplash built into an otherwise insignificant closet space!
Feeling inspired yet? I certainly am! Some spaces that will actually make you want to do the laundry. What are some of your laundry tricks that you use to conquer the growing mountain each week?
Hi there! Just found your blog yesterday. I pinned your veranda weeks ago and I just love your kitchen & laundry room. Such a cute place!
I have to trick myself into folding laundry since I HATE it so much. I explain my latest strategy here under “Step 3″:
http://makingittooperfect.blogspot.com/2011/10/day-6-laundry-reduction.html
And you can see what my laundry room looks like here:
http://makingittooperfect.blogspot.com/2011/10/day-5-laundry-room.html
and here:
http://makingittooperfect.blogspot.com/2011/10/day-10-laundry-room-closet-mini-mudroom.html
oh boy-those are some beautiful laundry rooms!! it’s not the laundry that gets me-that’s usually my few minutes of quiet because the kids don’t follow me in there-it’s the folding-ugh, it just piles up. i’m off to read the suggestion in the comment above!
I know, Dawn. I’ve gotten to where I use it as an excuse to catch up on “my shows” during the day when I have a few moments to spare. When the kids aren’t here, and I can actually schedule it around work stuff, I view it as a break, and take it to my bed and turn on the teli.
It’s the only way I can motivate myself to do it!
I love the storage ideas in these images.
I tend to just try and keep on top of it all the best I can. We only have a washer and no dryer and it’s a small one. I manage with my stuff and my husband’s, but when the baby comes in March and with my plans on using washable nappies, I’m going to need to get creative and maybe use a calendar. Doing the laundry isn’t a problem…it’s the folding and our slightly inconveniently shaped closed that puts me off.
Love your blog.
my laundry is in a deep dark basement of scariness. i should make it delightful and then maybe i wouldn’t hate to go down there. or probs not. i will always hate laundry.
Storing the dirty stuff and putting away the clean stuff always unravels me. 4 kids, a hubby and 3 dogs make for ALOT of laundry and the dirty stuff is everywhere! Ive learned to fold right away or it wont get done at all and I started hanging all shirts on hangers to cut folding time in half. Its helped tons. But now there is the putting it away issue. Never enough time to put it away and not enough baskets to keep it safe. I usually come back to find my folded laundry all desheveled after a member of the household needed something from the bottom of the pile! MUST teach everyone to put their own stuff away!
Lots of Great ideas !!!!
Wash at least one load a day to keep some what caught up. It’s never to early to teach the kiddos how to fold there laundry. I’m all my son will know how to do this so he doesn’t depend on a woman to do it one day! lol
I think my problem is our house is simply too small for us! We have a stacked washer/dryer next to our back door in a built-in alcove (just big enough for them). Quite literally, the washer/dryer form one wall of the entry and there’s just enough room on the other side of the door (the other wall) to put an plain, old toy bench that houses the detergent, bleach, birdseed, etc. I put the laundry baskets on the toy bench while waiting for cycles. There’s certainly no laundry “room” and there’s only one true closet in the house (the other two are just alcoves with bars to hang clothes from). The laundry sorter is in the (only) bathroom and juuuuuust fits. All the folding is done on my bed. I fold into piles by person and keep adding to the piles as another load comes out of the dryer. Then I put away ONCE at the end of the day. I try to get all the laundry done in one day – it usually runs to about 5 loads – and I do it twice a week. Oh, there are 7 of us (and 1 on the way) so that’s why there’s so much!
Our laundry room is the garage. And it only has an outside entrance. I can’t tell you how many times someone in our family is looking for a certain item of clothing only to find it’s still in the dryer. Are you decent to go outside to check? Our neighbors probably have some interesting views.
It’s so depressing to go in to the garage only to be reminded of how unorganized just that space is! I am inspired, though, to make that spot a little more enjoyable. A lovely project for the weekend perhaps (after I coax my hubby to help me move some boxes around.)
My laundry tip is to do a little bit everyday. I get overwhelmed when I have several loads (and garage trips) to make once a week, so by doing 1-2 loads everyday, I’m tackling as much as I can AND getting some of it done!
I love the laundry spaces. I super love your laundry room. My family rents a home with a laundry closet. There is a small hallway between the kitchen and the back room. It is always filled with baskets. Mu machine is running right now!
I don’t mind washing or folding…but I despise putting it away!
Oh how my little tin laundry closet needs a facelift……just to many other rooms ahead of it !!!
Great inspiration pics 
I am so grateful to have a room for my laundry…however, I tend to fill that wonderful space with piles and piles of clothes that need to be folded and put away. By the way, I have 7 kids. Yes, fetal position…or sometimes a glass of wine… That’s how I deal with laundry! My older kids do their own and the younger ones put theirs away and I STILL can’t keep up! Someday….when my laundry room looks like one of the above spaces, I’ll have piles of clothes on the floor of a lovely room.
Thanks for the inspiration.
You’ve just given me the most amazing idea. My garage serves as laundry and storage space, hopefully a workspace soon as well…..why can’t it be pretty???
laundry rooms need to be beautiful since such a frustrating job is done in them! i recently fixed mine! stop by!
love your inspiration!
ashley over @
{hookedonhickory}
Point a. I love all of those laundry spaces, especially yours. Point b. I must spend way too much time reading blogs instead of doing my own laundry because I recognize one of your inspiration pictures from one of my other fave blogs, young house love. Putting iPad down now, doing laundry…..
Love all of these laundry rooms…they make me really want front loading machines
We finished a complete overhaul on our 100+ year old home…You can see mine here http://thefarriersdaughter.blogspot.com/2011/06/welcome-home-wednesday-2.html
I just want you to know you absolutely made my day!!! While scrolling through one of my fave blogs uh hmm… you!! I am reading about your laundry room them bam… there is my little laundry closet in your post. What a treat!!! Thanks again for the feature. And thanks for being such a wonderful inspiration to keep going with my little design business and on our own home!!
JBR
A few years ago I hired a professional organizer. I wasn’t doing too bad with the laundry but she gave me a few helpful tips I thought I’d share. First of all, stop sorting your kids clothes. If you wash everything in cold water and buy detergent designed to clean in cold you won’t have to worry about colors running. Plus, cold water is much gentler and causes less fading. Just dump the entire hamper full of laundry into the washer and when it comes out of the dryer it goes into a basket for your child, if they are old enough to fold and put away themselves. If you still choose to sort here’s my second idea: buy different colored laundry baskets or bins for each child. Keep all of them together, in my case I have 4 different colored ones. When the clothes comes out of the dryer toss it into each child’s bin. You may choose to fold it right away but if you don’t get to it you can just keep adding to it as each load comes out of the dryer. If it doesn’t get folded for awhile at least it’s all together in one basket and if your child needs anything you can just tell them to look in their basket. You can involve your kids in the sorting as well. Take the mixed basket of clean clothes into the living room. Spread out the colored baskets and have your kids quickly grab items out of the mixed basket and toss them into correct colored one. Last tip: fold standing up. I find if you dump out your laundry basket on your kitchen table and fold that way you get it done much faster. Standing up makes it feel like you are working. When you sit and fold you tend to get easily distracted and sink further and further into your chair or bed. Ok, one more tip. Put a load on before bed and switch it as soon as you get up. You’ll never get behind that way. Oh yeah, and make your hubby put his own away. He’s a big boy, he can handle it. I hope that helps
These are wonderful tips. The irony of it all is that I leaned back and slacked off while attempting to fold when I read this. HA!!!
I’m one of those weird people who actually LIKES doing laundry
I’d love to have an actual laundry room, or even part of a room. We live in South America and the only place for the washer in our current rental home is on the back patio! My handy hubby built a metal cabinet big enough to fit around it, and attached it to the house so my nice (and first brand new) washer doesn’t “wander off” (thieves take anything not nailed down — literally). We’re getting ready to build our own place next year and I’ve already got a half bath/laundry room on the plans 
Can hardly wait! Thanks for all the inspiring photos to get my creative juices running.
I would LOVE to see a post about the actual washing machines! I can remember how excited I was to get my new front loader… and now I hate it. It is such a chore to try and keep my clothes from smelling musty. And my whites have never been so dingy in all of my live-long-laundry days! And I’ve had a lot of laundry days! I am thinking about going back to a… top loader.
What’s been your experience?
Thanks!
Christi