When Your Laundry Has Got You Down

Anytime I see a laundry room makeover featured on a blog, I turn click away. It may sound strange, but while I usually love being motivated by makeovers, any inspiration in this case means I’d have to redo my own laundry room. It feels too overwhelming to even think about it.

My laundry room, er, storage closet, uh, laundry balcony, is functional but not pretty. Plus it is always dirty! If your washing machine is outside or in the garage I am sure you can relate; it seems to be constantly and hopelessly dusty.

Sure, sometimes I take quick peeks of the beautifully organized laundry rooms out there in blog land (like this one here or this one, ooooh!), but I know my current laundry situation will never look like that. Besides the fact we can’t paint outdoor walls and surfaces (HOA guidelines), there just isn’t much space to work with as you can see in the pic below. Can I mention here that I was nervous just now to show you a picture of my laundry area? Yeah, it’s that messy.

(Note random sock in search of it’s mate for full effect.) My laundry area might never look like the picture-perfect laundry rooms I see in blogs and magazines, but that’s not going to stop me from making some changes where I can. It can definitely look better then this! To keep the clean up manageable, I am only going to work on one small project at a time!

My first project, bring some organization to the drawers on the right of the laundry machines. Laundry supplies and other “stuff” had begun to pile up to the point where the drawers were barely functional. I knew this clean up wasn’t going to be about just reducing the clutter. Before making the drawers functional again, I would have to address the rust.

I bought the drawer system, the Elfa brand, from The Container Store about 9 years ago. These drawer systems usually hold up really well (I have these all over the house, in the bathroom, kids’ closet, and our tool cabinet). Unfortunately, the elements in our outdoor laundry space have not been so kind.

Splatters of liquid soap, along with moisture from the dryer have wrecked havoc on the paint and metal underneath.

Oh my poor Elfa! But with my new found love of spray paint, I knew it would be possible to bring it back to life.

The first step was the hardest. After two hours of scrubbing rust, I remembered why I put this project off for so long.  My spirit perked up once the can of glossy spray paint was in my hands and after a few coats (and a whole lot of elbow grease before that), my drawer system was rust-free.

I will admit that it is not as smooth to the touch as the original system, but a can of spray paint has a much cheaper price tag then a new Elfa system.

I did buy one more large drawer at The Container Store because I needed more space for taller cleaning supplies. While I was picking up the larger drawer, I grabbed some new labels to help supplies find their home. They are super easy to use and clip right on to the drawers.

I snapped the labels into place right after I had rid the drawers of items we no longer need or use in the laundry area. Here it is in all of its labeled glory.

One project down towards a more laundry friendly closet.

I do have a few more projects up my sleeves to whip this laundry closet into shape, but for now I am tickled pink with the difference even this small change made. It’s the first thing I showed my husband when he got home from work.

Check out the other post in this series as I make small changes to get my laundry closet in tip-top shape:

Paper or Plastic?

Squeezing in Function

Finishing Touches

Do you have a laundry room that is a joy to walk-in to and makes laundry something you actually look forward to? Does anyone else feel intimidated when thinking about tackling big projects?