THE CLUTTER CLEANUP (PART SIX)

The Laundry Room and Mud Room

Laundry and mud rooms are probably the most rewarding places to organize because whatever we do to make life easier for ourselves there will flow into the rest of the house and save time.  In these rooms, we need to find a place for dirty, wet and bulky items that will still be seen and easy to reach.  

Most new homes are built with cabinets in both rooms.  Cubby hole storage makes sorting clean laundry and supplies easy.  It is also nice to have cubbyholes for each member of the family so they can put their laundry away.  Front-loading appliances allows the top of the machines to be used for folding laundry.  The room should have practical and functional storage as well as look good.  Furniture can be substituted for shelves, cubes or cabinets if need be.  Anything with a surface and storage is good, bookshelves, etageres, sideboards are all good.  Use your imagination, and you can even move an unused piece of furniture from another room in the house, and it can become the new utility piece of the laundry or mud room.  Tables are nice in these rooms because we can always use a work surface for folding laundry, sewing, wrapping or sorting.

A place to hang clothes while they dry is helpful as well as a place to store rags and dirty clothes, sheets, and towels waiting to be washed.  Pegs, racks, and stands are useful items to have in the laundry room and mud room to store wet things, shoes, jackets, and bags.

If you have lots of room, a bulletin board or chalkboard for family information and notes and mail slots are nice too.  A dream mudroom would have a sink, a towel bar and hook, a basket for pet sundries, a can for pet food, a bench and a table for laying things as we come in the door.  This is also a good place to store firewood.