This is my laundry room:
Well, this is half of my laundry room, and yes, I am the only blogger in the world that does not have a laundry room with built-in cabinetry and a farmhouse sink.
Someday maybe, but for now – it’s just a laundry room.
When I create content for 100Things2Do.ca, I usually choose things to make/build that I need or would like for my home.
I would like for my family to put their laundry away and not pile it on chairs, tables, desks and floors – but since there is no amount of pleading that will make that happen, I decided to build a laundry dresser.
What’s a laundry dresser?
It’s a cabinet that holds laundry baskets with a little lip on the inside so that you can slide the baskets in and out.
If they’re not going to put their laundry away, then I’m not going to give it to them – I need a laundry dresser to keep the chaos under control.
I followed plans from Practically Functional to build a 6-basket (and 3-shelf) laundry dresser.
If you decide to build your own, I should warn you – this laundry dresser is HUGE. It’s about 6″ deeper than it needs to be to fit laundry baskets and it’s tall. I’m 5’8″ and the top is just below my boobs – not suitable for shorter people, great for droopy boobs.
Another thing – cut all of your pieces in the garage and then assemble it in your laundry room.
I built mine in the garage and then had to dismantle it all to get it down the stairs to the basement, then put it back together – tedious!
I used some more grasscloth and epoxy to give the top of my laundry dresser a glossy, smooth finish as this will be where I do most of my folding.
The laundry baskets are just cheapies from Walmart – $4 Sterilites. I printed everyone’s name onf a sheet of paper, laminated it (there is steam and moisture in the laundry room) and then hung a name tag on each basket with zip ties.
As I fold each person’s clothes I can just drop them into their baskets!
If my family wants clean clothes they can either take the laundry upstairs and PUT IT AWAY or, and more likely, go to the basement and pull out whatever they want to wear from the laundry dresser.
Either way, I shouldn’t have to deal with clothing strewn everywhere anymore.
I added shelves to the centre section to hold laundry supplies, cleaning cloths and miscellaneous items.
I hung a few pictures that we had in our furnace room to hide the wall studs a little bit.
I know, I’m not kidding anyone – it’s still an unfinished basement laundry room – but now I have a ginormous surface to fold on (and rest my iPad so I can stream Netflix while folding), and the pilfered piles of laundry that were in just about every room of the house are now in one organized spot.
Click over to Practically Functional for the building plans – but remember my tips above; it’s huge and could be sized down and build it where it’s going to live.
If you want a smaller version, Ana White has plans for threebies:
Have a great one!
