I have partnered with At Home as a member of the At Home Inspiration Team for this sponsored post and am happy to share their products with you! All opinions are mine alone.
It's hard to believe, but it's been 5 years since I completed my laundry room makeover. In fact, it was probably my first big reveal after I started blogging! While it's still mostly ok on the design side, things have really gone downhill organization wise and I needed to get in there and do a little re-vamp!
I can't believe I'm actually going to show you these, but this was the current state of the room last week:
Ugh! If it isn't obvious, I had reached the point where everything was just kind of shoved in the cabinets without any kind of rhyme or reason. And, I know for sure there were things in those cabinets that I hadn't touched in 5 years.
Here's the other side, complete with one of my BIGGEST design headaches... the litter box!!
I mean, yuck. It's a necessary evil, but disguising them isn't always easy or practical. What I wouldn't give for a basement to tuck it away in, but really the laundry room is the only logical spot to put it in our house. This side of the room definitely was cat territory, complete with an underutilized hook rack holding a million plastic bags waiting to be used to scoop the poop.
I knew some things in the room needed to be addressed, and when browsing At Home for this month's Inspiration Team post, some ideas began forming in my head. As I walked the aisles I realized they had everything I needed for a laundry room organization makeover, AND, I even came up with a plan to battle my decorating nemesis... the litter box!
First off, I needed to address the cabinets. I evaluated my situation and realized that I was shoving the things that I used most often into the fronts of the cabinets that I could reach, and whatever was in the back was no man's land. I knew that organizing with some storage containers would not only make things tidier, but things would be easier to access if I could slide a basket out and get what I needed from inside.
I started by emptying all of cabinets out, sorting things into like piles, and throwing away a few bags full of outdated items and things I no longer used. I had a general idea of where everything would go back, so I knew what type and how many containers I would need to organize the shelves.
There are literally aisles and aisles of storage and organization products at At Home. I had specific measurements for my cabinet shelves, and there were plenty of options between plastic bins, wicker baskets, metal storage, canvas cubes, and woven baskets that I was able to find an option just right for my needs.
As an aside, I don't like storage baskets that slope in on the side too much, I think that's just wasted space and you can't fit as many things inside. So, I was excited that these straight-sided baskets were just the right size to fit side by side on my shelves. I made some tags with card stock and labels that I had on hand, and added them to each basket so everyone will know at a glance which one to reach for when they need something.
I grabbed a few glass storage canisters from At Home for detergent pods and dryer sheets, I loved that they come with the chalkboard labels already attached! How cute would those be for a candy jar or kitchen canisters, too? The wood top canister that I used on my beverage cart for treats comes in really handy for holding clothes pins, too!
And, when it all came together... Ahhhh! Organized bliss, with room to spare!
Now, for the kitty corner! I'd been thinking about how to try to hide the litter box some way, but hadn't come up with the right idea yet. Someday I might like some built-in cubbies on the wall with the hooks, and thought about trying to build in a hidden section for the litter box, but I needed a solution in the mean time. I stumbled across this moroccan side table among the huge selection of accent furniture at At Home, and inspiration struck!
It was tall enough and wide enough for the litter box to fit underneath it, yet still narrow enough to fit well in the limited space. I have seen this design at At Home for a while, and it catches my eye every time, so I was overjoyed that it was the perfect piece for this project! The apron sides and cut out legs made the design just right to add a little "curtain" under the table to disguise the litter box.
I'll show you next week how I put it together (update- see the tutorial here!), but it was super easy and I'm so excited to have the big ugly box hidden away! The table is light weight enough to lift and move without effort when we need to clean around it, and the box pulls in and out easily for the kids to clean it out.
We're getting Chief and Scout used to the idea of crawling through the curtain to their kitty cave, but they go under the dust ruffle on the beds all the time so I didn't think this would be too different.
Another bonus of adding the table is that I have a dedicated drop spot in this room now. We really come in and out of the garage, so whatever is in our hands gets dumped in the kitchen. However, I'd like to get into the habit of using this room as more of a mudroom, too, and hanging our bags and purses there as well as dropping keys or mail on the table.
I cleaned out the cabinet under the sink as well, and used the old laundry pods container to stuff plenty of plastic bags in (why yes I did spray paint it white!!), grabbed a container to hold the scooper out of sight, and added this cute scalloped trash can from At Home since I never even had one in the room before! Not the prettiest photo to ever grace this blog, but it's progress!
Other than some major organization improvements, I made a few design tweaks to the room as well. I had tired of the zebra accents that were there previously, so I removed the zebra printed mats from the gallery wall and replaced them with plain white (this mat cutter has more than paid for itself over the years I've had it!). I also switched out the zebra knobs from the cabinet doors to a colorful pattern.
This sink is where all the grubby shoes get scrubbed, paint brushes get washed, and whatever else dirty work that needs to be done, so it needed a good scrub down. Some new slim velvet covered hangers from At Home make the hanging bar a little more presentable and are ready for some clean laundry!
(I wish that pink flower artwork showed up better in the photo, my amazing niece drew it for me!)
So really, with just a few hours and a few supplies, our laundry room is ready to roll again for the next 5 years! Think it will make it that long before I redecorate in there? :)
I hope you got a few ideas today if you have a space that needs some organization too. What is YOUR biggest design headache?
Hope to see you back here tomorrow, we'll have a little blog birthday celebration!!