DIY laundry room storage

Hey hey! Thanks for playing along with our fun birthday quiz this week. ;) We’ll announce the winner (and the answers!) tomorrow.

Today I wanted to update you on the (basement) laundry room progress. I’m so excited about this space – it is a dream come true for me to have a dedicated laundry room!

It’s not a big room, but it’s mighty. :) My original plan was to make it much bigger, but with the bathroom placement that wasn’t possible. I’ve found it’s six by nine size is more than enough though. I LOVE it.

Last time I shared this room with you I had just painted:

As soon as the floors, trim and paint were done, we knew we could move the washer and dryer down. (I worked like lightning to get those done!!) We were about to install them when a little (awesome) randomness happened. You know those state unclaimed money sites? (Indiana’s is here.) Well, long story short -- we realized we had been missing checks for years that were going to our old address…it was a nice little surprise. :)

So hubby wanted to use that extra cash to get a new washer and dryer set. And I didn’t argue, duh. (He’s a keeper!!) We shopped around, found a set we loved, then went to Sears (just because we love their service), and they price matched the lowest price we had found ($200 cheaper than their price, each!), plus gave us 10 percent off…BOOM.

So anywho, we were lucky enough to get a new washer and dryer set and we got them for a great price. I’ll show you more of those in a minute, but first I had to come up with a solution for a problem I realized after they were installed.

You see, I had forgotten that the washer and dryer don’t go right up to the wall when installed. There’s all those…uck…CORDS. And hoses.  If there’s anything worse than cords, it’s hoses. They make me tremble just thinking about them.

So we lost a good six inches of floors space in the room, which in the end has been fine. But man, I did not love the mess of stuff you could see behind them:

Yes, I know we are probably the only people that would see it. Yes, from the front you can’t really tell. But it drove me crazy. YES, I am weird! Welcome to Sarah’s mind.

So I came up with a solution and I’m tickled at how it came out. I’m sure I’m not the first to do this, it’s nothing earth shattering. I decided to make a shelf behind the washer and dryer – it would hide all that junk and be useful.

I used about half scrap wood, half some I picked up at the hardware store. I put a one by two into the wall as a “cleat” or support at the height I wanted the shelf:

I just used long screws and secured it into the studs along the wall.

Then I just cut down and stained a piece of wood  (about six inches wide) that would lay on the top. I used my nail gun to nail it down into the supports:

And I had a shelf!

For a little extra stability, and because I had plenty of wood left, I put another wide board down the front on the left:

And to hide even more, a smaller board (1 by 2) on the other side:

Now you can’t see anything back there! YESSSS!

I still had a little wood left, so I created a shelf off to the side as well:

It does exactly what I wanted it to do – hides the ugly stuff, but keeps all of the laundry necessities within reach:

I still need to add a coat of satin poly to the top, just to protect the wood (it makes it easier to wipe down as well). And this is by no means cute or styled, just functional – but I love it!

The washer and dryer are LG and we went with the top loader washer. I just didn’t want to deal with the mildew/sealer issues that I’ve heard about the front loaders:

I’m also a throw-things-in-last-minute kind of girl, so I NEED to be able to add clothing in after the load starts. The top loader allows me to do that, from my understanding you can’t with the front loaders. We love these machines – the dryer especially. I love how it senses when things are dry – I used to check our old dryer at least three times each time we dried a load and now when it’s done I know the clothes are actually dry.

It’s the little things. :)

I love seeing the progression of how rooms come together – here’s the room with just drywall:

And with the tile floors, paint and the W/D set installed:

Next I’ll share how I’m organizing this space, and what I hope will be a bit of pretty. :)

So are you a top or front loader person? :) Do you hate that empty space behind them as much as I do? Have you checked out your unclaimed site? Go for it – you may find you’re owed meeeeellions!! Or $50, whatever. It’s money. :)