Proud Homeowner Shares Smart DIY Solution To Hide Washing Machine Hookups: 'Does The Trick!'

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Sometimes, the best place to get helpful laundry room ideas is from the community at large, especially when you're looking for clever little tricks anyone can pull off to improve the look and feel of their space. It might take a pro to fix, move, or update fixtures, but if you just need to make everyday eyesores like washer plugs and water hookups disappear, there's likely a DIY that's well within your wheelhouse. In this case, TikToker @michaela.wichman taught frustrated homemakers how to hide unsightly laundry hookups with an inexpensive and easy DIY solution: curtains. The home decorator added a tension rod just below the shelf above the washer and dryer in her laundry room and hung up some black-and-white plaid curtains. The curtains were long enough to hide the hookups and add a personal and pretty touch to the area that complements the decorated shelf above.

If you'd like to repeat this DIY in your own home, you'll need to pay attention to the construction around the washer and dryer. If your laundry units are recessed inside a closeted area, a tension rod will give the curtains something to hang on. Otherwise, you may need a different curtain setup attached directly to the wall-hung shelf. As far as the curtains themselves go, choose shorter valance curtains, like the Lush Decor Linen Button Farmhouse Valance, that match your decor scheme. If the curtains don't come with rods, you'll need to buy an appropriate rod and clips that'll work in your laundry room area. Finally, this DIY requires just a few tools, including a drill and possibly screws, if they aren't included with the rods.

Assess the starting materials you have to work with in your washer-and-dryer area to help you choose the perfect curtains for your space. Put a tension rod up if the construction allows for it, placing it between the walls flanking your laundry equipment, and hang the curtains. Full-length curtains don't make a lot of sense here, though you can repurpose old materials, like sheets or full-length curtains, into shorter strips. You just need to hide the faucet handles, not the whole wall, and short curtains are less likely to get tangled up in the hookups. They're also easy to move aside when you need to access the connections.

If the units have no walls around them but the back wall, you'll have to use a different curtain rod setup. If there are shelves above the units, attach the curtains to those, screwing a rod like the TVWOO Wrap Around Curtain Rod into the shelf's underside. And if there are no shelves and no walls surrounding your washer and dryer, your first order of business will be to hang some floating shelves directly above the machines, ideally something made of sturdy wood that will hold the curtain rod screws well. Or, you could try adhesive products like Jilron Adhesive Curtains. These curtains attach to an adhesive strip (instead of hanging on a rod), which sticks directly to the wall or, in this case, the edge of the shelf. You can make a similar arrangement by using hook-and-loop strips. Sew the loop side to the curtain's top edge, and apply the hook strip along the shelf for easy attachment and removal, no curtain rod required.