Our laundry room got an update! Well, it all started when our dryer died. So we had to get a new one. Which led us to getting a new washer as well. The installers came to take out the old washer and dryer and put in the new ones we purchased. But they let us in on something that wasn’t totally great for our dryer. See the hook up we had was pushed against the wall. They told us that causes excess strain on the dryer, which could have caused it go stop working sooner than it might have if it was extended. So they had to put the new dryer in a different place in our laundry room. Which meant I had to reorganize the entire room.
Our old laundry room set up had a baker’s rack in the corner to hold supplies. We had room to move around because the dryer was up against the back wall, near the washer. But the new dryer couldn’t be put there because the hook up wasn’t long enough.
So I needed a plan to transform our laundry room by adding shelves to make the space more functional. We needed storage but what we had wasn’t working.
Make A Plan
To make things more functional, I needed to make a plan for what I actually needed to store in the space. After a rather quick scan, I knew we needed shelving. Since the baker’s rack is going, I needed space to store our laundry items along with paints and extra organizing bins.
I decided to go with Elfa standard shelving because they are durable and easy to install.
When you are looking to add laundry room shelving, make a plan before you do anything. That plan should include you figuring out what needs to be stored in your laundry room, what can be stored elsewhere, and how much space do you want to take up for storage in your laundry room.
Measure
Once you have the plan, you can measure for shelving.
I made sure to measure the entire length of the wall the shelving was going be hung. But we have some bump outs that needed to be taken into account. So I measured from the far right wall to the bump out on the left wall. This way I knew I could hang shelves all the way along the wall.
You also have to measure from ceiling to floor (or baseboard). This measurement is to help you decide how long you need the shelving to hang.
Finally you need to measure out from the wall to determine what depth of shelving you can have in your laundry room. I was able to have shelves that stuck out over my dryer so I was able to use more space!
Add Shelving
We used standard Elfa shelving. So first we put on the Easy Hang top track. This is what all the shelves will hang from. So make sure you add in wall mounting anchors so the shelving stays in place and doesn’t take down your wall!
Once the top track is in place, you can add the Easy Hang Standards. These are the pieces with the holes in them that will hold the brackets and shelves. There is a notch in the top of the top track where you put the standards in and slide them to wherever you want them to hang. It is recommended that they are roughly two feet apart from one another.
Then you can start adding shelving. First you place the brackets at the height you want the shelve to go. Put the bracket at an angle facing upwards to get them into the standard track. Then you can push the bracket down into the holes to secure them.
Take the shelf and clip it into the brackets. Now there are a few tricks when doing this.
First, get the front and middle of the shelf into place on the notch on the bracket. Then slide the back of the shelf onto the back of the bracket by lifting it up a little bit. It is super awkward and you may feel like you are going to break something, but you aren’t.
If that doesn’t work or sounds too complicated, you can try to line up all the notches and the shelving. Then move the shelving a little bit forward. Using your forearm, push down on the shelving as you slide it back into place.
Your goal is to get the notches on the brackets to hold the shelving in place.
To remove the shelves, pull the shelving from the back towards you with one hand. And the other hand should be pushing up on the shelving at the same time. Again, super awkward but it works!
Organize
Once the shelves are at their desired locations, it is time to organize all the things! I started by putting some of my organizing materials that I am not using at the moment into bins. This was a big burden in our old laundry room because they were just everywhere. These items are things I use for in-home clients and my own home.
I added a shelf to hold all of our laundry items, so I wanted them within arms reach. On that shelf I have a jar for our powders, cleaning solutions, and sewing materials.
I used another shelf to store our paints for around our house.
And I hung a few cans on the standard hangers using hooks to hold the iron sheets for the pearler beads.
Laundry Room Decor
Once everything was organized, I was able to add some signs and other decor pieces to our laundry room. You can see all the items I used below:
Laundry Room Shelves
Now our laundry room is totally organized! I love how easy it is to find exactly what I need in the space. I am able to walk into our laundry room without tripping over something. And everything has a specific spot to be stored. So I never have to worry about where to place the items.
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