Keep Dirty Laundry Tucked Away With This Pinterest-Approved Storage Idea
Heaps of laundry are a never-ending cycle, and it's a particularly vicious cycle for tiny laundry rooms that can't handle more than a few soiled items. These piles and overflowing laundry baskets are near-permanent eyesores. Once that pile of dirty clothes moves from the floor of your bathroom, it gets stacked in the laundry room. As soon as it's fresh from the dryer, it'll likely sit atop your bed, waiting to be folded and put away.
This isn't great for compact apartments and houses that look cluttered, even with a normal amount of laundry on the docket. While there's no way to make this perpetual mountain of pants, socks, and towels disappear for good (we do need clothes, after all), there are some helpful tricks to make it more manageable.
One ingenious solution discovered on Pinterest entails adding a hamper to the back of your laundry room door. While this is typically an oft-forgotten space, it provides just the right amount of surface area for storing a hamper and other essentials, like detergent and stain remover. Here's how to make the most of this Pinterest win and make a tiny laundry room more efficient.
Why a door hamper is great for organizing laundry
Doors seem to fulfill one purpose, but with the right organizers, they can also serve as storage space. A hanging hamper is perfect proof of this and is one of the best ways of organizing your laundry room. If the room or closet that holds your washer and dryer doesn't have floor space that allows for a hamper to float around, placing it on the back of a door keeps it up and out of the way. There are a few different ways you can go about this.
If you have enough room, you can hang one structured hamper from the back of a door hook to hold clothes waiting in line for the wash. You can also add a few laundry bags on various hooks, as these aren't as voluminous as a hamper with a built-in frame. This is an ideal set-up for separating colors, certain wash cycles, or specific roommates' clothes.
Other hidden laundry storage ideas
If your laundry room is too compact to even get a hamper on the door, or you're in the market for other options, there are a few other ways to keep laundry out of sight and out of mind, at least for a little while. To keep in theme with the back-of-the-door look, consider adding a hamper to the back of bedroom or bathroom doors if your laundry room (or closet) isn't large enough. Or incorporate some kind of basket or bag system in these rooms — like a divided hamper — to keep clothes off the floor and make them easy to move between spaces.
Built-in storage solutions are some of the most popular alternatives and should be considered while building or renovating a room. These could be lean-out cabinets or sliding drawers that contain built-in hampers. If your current layout doesn't already have built-in units, you can always add a rolling cart or hamper or use foldable laundry baskets. Neither are fully tucked away, but with lids or closed-in sides, it's a much cleaner look than leaving out baskets. Plus, these provide surfaces for folding laundry, helping you cut down on those dreaded untouched piles sitting around.