Ideas to Renovate Laundry Rooms

Color

• Paint laundry room walls a bright color, such as yellow, sky blue or an apple green. Add pictures that make you smile, from framed family photos to reproduction advertisements for laundry soap or early washing machines. Designate an area to display children's artwork or a colorful calendar.

Shelving

• Laundry rooms need storage not only for detergent and stain removers, but for other clothing-related supplies, such as an iron and ironing board, pants stretchers, shoe polish and fabric markers. You can choose open shelving or closed cabinets. Add baskets to store clothes that need mending or treatment for stains. Designate a jar or tin for all the extra buttons that come with clothing. Keep a basket or box on a shelf as a catch-all for all the items you remove from pockets as you sort laundry. You might even buy a whimsical piggy bank and use it to deposit any loose change.

Work Surface

• Install a counter or set up a card table in your laundry room. This work surface is handy for folding and sorting clothes and pre-treating stains.

Sink

• A laundry sink is ideal for handwashing delicate items or pre-soaking heavily soiled ones. Choose an extra-deep sink. A deep laundry sink can also be the perfect place to wash the family dog.

Clothesline

• A reel-type clothesline of the type often found in hotel bathrooms is a handy addition to a laundry room. Install the line on one wall and a hook on the opposite wall. When you need a place to hang a few handwashed delicate items, extend the line to the hook. The line stores out of the way in its reel when it is not in use. A folding drying rack is another practical addition for drying sweaters.

Ironing Board

• Instead of a full-sized board that takes up a great deal of room, install an ironing cupboard. The cupboard opens to reveal an ironing board that folds out. Above the ironing board is a shelf to hold an iron and a bottle of spray starch.