The One Laundry Room Feature Martha Stewart Swears By For Optimal Organization
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Organizing the laundry room can sometimes be a challenge, as this space often has very limited square footage and can contain a large number of cleaning products and other household essentials. Luckily, Martha Stewart, who has extensive wisdom on how to make your home as efficient as possible, has one solution to make this room more orderly. When responding to the question, "How do I make my small laundry room more functional?" Stewart says, "You can greatly expand the usability of your space by just installing some of these great shelving units," per YouTube. Even those who have a large laundry room could benefit from hanging floating shelves above or next to their washer and dryer.
Besides assisting with organization, there's another huge benefit of shelves: they're great space savers, as you'll no longer have to store your cleaning supplies on top of your appliances or countertops. This will free up room to fold and sort clothes, while also providing the area with a less cluttered appearance.
Shelves: better than cabinets?
While some may think that cabinets are a better choice than shelves, Martha Stewart would argue that this isn't the case. While both options will help you with organizing your laundry room, shelves come with another added benefit: they also keep everything out in the open. "Shelves are a convenient way to keep supplies like detergents away from children, but still at your eye level for easy use. You can add detergents and fabric softeners to clear glass jars or vases so they are easy to see and easily accessible," says VP of Operations at ShelfGenie Scott O'Hara, according to Martha Stewart's blog.
If you often find that things get lost behind closed doors, Stewart would definitely recommend shelves over cabinets. At the same time, you don't have to choose one over the other. If you want to use both, install shelves above your appliances and keep your cabinets lower to the ground.
How to choose the right shelves
When shopping for the right shelves, it can be difficult to choose which ones will be best. To narrow down your search, only look at ones that are deep, as they need to have enough space to hold all your products. You may also want to choose ones that have multiple purposes; for example, some have hooks or pegs on the bottom where you could hang things like mesh laundry bags, a small broom, or other cleaning accessories.
Another tip is to never limit yourself to a certain room when perusing your options online. For instance, instead of searching for 'laundry room shelves,' simply look for 'floating shelves.' Another good option is an entryway model with a coat rack, like the one shown above from Amazon. It's also important to consider the amount of wall space you have and how much room you need for storage, as you could either add a single shelf or install multiple all the way to the ceiling.