Laundry Shelves Organization

It's been a long time coming, but now that I finally have my laundry shelving unit (catch up on part 1: the planning and building of the shelves, and part 2: the shelves and all the details) I can finally get my organization ON! Which is what this post is all about!!



You may not know this, but I LOVE organizing. My mind is constantly trying to organize everything for maximum efficiency. It's been so much on my mind lately that I've even been organizing the lab this week! Being the only girl in the lab at the moment (other 2 girls are on vacation), the guys have been laughing at me, but playing along nonetheless :)

I was having a lot of trouble organizing all my linens and putting away big boxes of seasonal decoration before I got these shelves. It's not like I have a lot of linens, I strongly believe in having only the essentials, especially living in a tiny apartment with barely any storage/closet space. But I really wanted a linen closet/space, and I kept seeing the space over my laundry as wasted space and potential for greatness.



My dad is awesome and agreed to help me build these shelves, all of which was covered in part 1, and part 2

So after I finally finished sanding the surface to remove the rough surface the sealer left behind (last step after installing the shelves), the first thing I put up there were my linens.



These are pretty much my extra linens that I don't use very often. Beach towels and extra towels for guests, as well as extra bed linen. I pretty much only have 1 change of bedding and towels for everyday use, but they are else where (keep reading...) because I needed those to be more accessible.

It might not show, but these shelves are not exactly a breeze for me to get to. Sure a normal height person would have no problem, but I'm too vertically challenged at 5' tall. So it's mostly stuff I don't use every other day that go up there.

And some of those bed linens, ok most, need to be returned to our respectively families; I do not know how they got to be in our possession and we have way too many. Though that lavender floral bed sheet did come in handy a few times to photograph some bigger projects...

Next, I had some big boxes I wanted to vacate from other closets, so up top the unit they went. Look at all these big boxes I managed to fit up there! I didn't realized just how much storage potential there would be up there.



I've got a milk crate with some gardening supplies. I think I will need a bigger box than this once the season is over though... The rest of the boxes there are seasonal decor (2 Christmas boxes on the right, there's more obviously... and the other box is Easter + Valentine's + St-Patties). I'll probably be rearranging this space as time goes by, but for now that is what I have.

Also I'm planning on making a cover for the milk crate (crates if I get more), so I can put them more at the forefront, like next to the big basket I got up there, to hide the stuff behind.




After that I didn't know quite what I wanted to do with the rest of the space. I had the baskets in place but wasn't exactly sure what to put in them.



To be honest, I was quite happy with my other closets at the moment. I didn't think I needed to rearrange much, so I just waited and looked for stuff that needed a home.

That's when I realized I needed some place more accessible for my change of bedding and towels, and they ended up in that basket. I also had my gardening bucket lying around all the time by the door to the balcony, so up on the shelf next to the basket it went! Once the season is over I will be putting it up on the top shelf and will have an empty space there. Some bike knick-knacks are also lying around there...



On the bottom shelf to the right I have my other smallest basket (remember from last post that I got these baskets for 80% off?!) which is still empty, an other even smaller basket I found lying around at my parents contains extra kitchen towels, and a for-now empty vase (that I want to put clothepins in but haven't exactly gotten around to it yet). So yeah, definitely room to grow here.



After the first time I did a load of laundry with these new shelves in place, I quickly realized how useful it would be to have my laundry detergent right there! My parents gave me their leftover liquid laundry detergent when they switched to front load machines, which is why I have 2 different ones up there. I've also got other laundry products (Shout and a homemade mix for washing armpit stains that I'm trying out) beside those.



Finally, that little white basket holds my boyfriend's slingshot stuff (marbles and 3 different slingshots). He can reach it there, but I can't, and it needed a better place than the kitchen table.

All in all, I'm really happy with them. But I thought I would be able to move more stuff from our big closet to here. I tried moving cleaning supplies, but they didn't all fit, and I wanted everything together.



This space is still under construction. I plan on making a curtain for the middle shelf to hide and protect the linen. That's also why I wanted baskets for the bottom shelf. It's still in my kitchen, and my boyfriend LOVES stir frying, but that means flying oil everywhere. So I need to make that curtain pronto! I got all the stuff (fabric and stencil-yup I've caught the stencilling bug!), except the rod to hang it. Will definitely update when that's done!

Ok, a few more things I did to this space so far. I've hung a couple of hooks to hang our helmets and keys. Since it's right next to the rear door where we lock up our bikes, these things always ended up on the laundry machine and then fell when the washing machine was spinning. Also, my boyfriend needed somewhere to hang his keys (I help him find his lost keys WAY too often if you ask me; he's gotten better with these hooks but still not always there).



Also you'll notice there's a big gap between the unit and the dryer. Well I've got an extra drying rack there (one which I still use sometimes for pants), tire pump, and charcoal- again stuff that always accumulates near that rear door that I wanted out of sight.



So that pretty much concludes the tour.



It's really amazing the potential it still gives, and I will definitely be rearranging as I see fit. Expect more Laundry Shelving Unit Saga posts in the future!



Thanks for reading, until next time!


I party at these parties.