I've recently organized a laundry room for a client and know that I have another laundry room coming up for someone else. It made me realize that laundry rooms today probably need a new name because they do so much more for a household than laundry!

I'm looking for tips for laundry room organization. From the actual laundry to storage of items, do you have any suggestions to make a laundry room really work or even make it cute?

Our laundry room is very small. Think utility sink-washer-dryer side by side and enough room to walk in front of them. I wish it was bigger because we try to make this room do a LOT of jobs. In addition to laundry, we store all of our big cleaning items in there, the household tool box, and the cat's litter box, as well as all of the mops. There is not really room for "cute" in that room, sadly.

That said, my favorite part of the room is the 360-degree shelving that is mounted about a foot and a half (maybe a bit more) from the ceiling. I can store extra cleaning supplies, our sleeping bags, boxes/bins with light bulbs, extension cords, you name it, we store it there!

My one big wish is that we had the space for a full-sized ironing board. I could get one and fit it in there, but I'd have to move it to another room to actually do the ironing, so I have a table top ironing board and use it on top of the dryer.

I think the key to making it really work is mainly having the laundry supplies within easy reach of the washer and dryer. We keep dirty laundry in the bedrooms and I go through and collect stuff when it's time to do laundry, but if there is room, a sorting hamper is also a nice addition.

Our 'laundry' rm is actually a multi functional utility rm horridly placed adjacent to the garage, basement and main entry doors. As well as W/D it holds furnace, hot water tank, a pedestal desk for sewing machine with the lg. [bottom] drawer holding sewing supplies in 2 segmented [cutlery] trays. The top smallest drawer holds garden gloves, sm supplies and a vinyl envelop for receipts + junque from handbag and pockets, mid drawer holds light bulbs, extension cords & small electric parts/tape. There is a large storage box for winter garb which serves as a pedestal for the laundry basket in use. [I buy bright colored laundry baskets and hang them on a wall as though they were pictures]

The longest wall has salvaged shelving which were painted the same color as the walls. One is designated gift wrap 'station.' The shelf above the washer holds current use liquid detergent, spot cleaner & small [decorated] tubs for washing soda products. A higher shelf has a bin for dog supplies. Powdered detergent is dumped into a huge, brightly colored [Christmas] 'popcorn' tin kept on the floor but so much easier to access than awkward big boxes and too heavy for shelves.

The short wall adjacent to furnace has a wall mounted retractable, drying rack. A metal Dollar Store over-the-door jacket rack works for heavier items drying on hangers. A similar looking wall mounted rack holds garments hung right out of dryer. The back of the door holds ironing board & iron. If I close the door I can drop the board, plug in the iron BUT no one can access the room until I shove the board into it's clip.

The washer/dryer surface is multi functional. I can usually cut out fabric projects, wrap gifts, fold clothes and have a mat that stays in place with internal magnets to iron collars or sewing projects. In our house the laundry was in the basement and I used a fun, colorful wall paper on it's major wall. If I find something as cheerful, I'd like to use it. I put a double bulb light fixture to make the place less dingy feeling.