In all of my house, my laundry room has had the most work done on it. The room was once surrounded by wire shelving that became a chaotic mess. I took the wire shelves down and went through a sorting process. I was left with a brown room and wire shelves only above the washer and drier. Those were still messy and a big eye sore so I hung curtains to hide them. Then the dust settled on the curtains. I came to hate this room! Finally I made up my mind to search Pinterest and when I found a lovely laundry room I copied my favorite elements. It needs to be repainted again but it’s come a long way from the storage room of doom that it once was. It’s a major traffic space thanks to an exterior door so it gives me anxiety when it’s ugly. Still, form must meet function so I’ve tried various ways to improve its ease of use over the years. Once again, I went into my laundry room with my drill in my hand and a plan in my brain.

While wandering around in Lowes I found some brackets for making a shelf that had a great hook on it for holding a rod. Lowes has precut boards, I grabbed this 1x10x36 inch piece and went off to find the dowel I needed.

I never cut a thing with this project. The hardest part was finding the studs in the wall without a stud finder. You should be able to measure and locate the studs every 16 inches on center. From the corner of the wall, I found my first stud at 17.5 inches. The others were 16 inches apart from there. Once you choose your height it’s a simple process of screwing it all together.

The board is 36 inches long and the studs are every sixteen inches. I used a measuring tape to move in two inches on each side and attached the bracket to the board using wood screws. Now I have a shelf! You will need wood screws that are not longer than the thickness of your board to avoid having them stick out on the top. A small level was my guide to keep it straight as I attached it to the wall with long screws. With one hand I held the shelf and with the other I used the electric drill to run the screws into the wall. Tip: don’t tighten it down all the way to the wall if you are working by yourself until you have it perfectly straight. You may need to wiggle it a little to get it perfectly level before you finish tightening it up.

The brackets I bought came with small U shaped pieces on the ends for holding a smaller dowel. I removed them and used a thicker one instead so it could hold up more weight. I just placed the dowel in the curve of the bracket and Voila! Now I can hand clothes as they come out of the drier and avoid the wrinkles of being piled on the couch!

Smaller foldable items can go to the top of the drier and then be put away after each load. Once I have all the dirty clothes sorted I can gather all empty hangers and have them waiting on the rack for me. Having all the hangers there when I get started saves time and also helps motivate me to actually hang them up. So far the system is working great. All I have left to do is choose a stain and make it pretty!

The laundry room is ready for action! I’ve pulled the sheets off the beds, gathered all the dirty clothes to be sorted, and organized my supplies. Time to get busy!

Y’all be sweet,

Bena ❤️🐝