London’s Laundromat – 24 Hours, Not Quite Self Service

When a busy mom of four hired me to organize her townhouse, the laundry room was one of her top priorities. Although it wasn’t the sexiest room in the house, it was a space used multiple times a day.

The laundry room was small but well designed with a sense of humor. A counter ran the length of one wall with IKEA shelves above and the washer and dryer below the counter. The opposite wall boasted a sink and linen closet tucked behind the door. A clothesline that retracted into the wall was used to hang hand washed clothing. The sign painted on the wall read, “London’s Laundromat, 24 Hours, Self-Service.

When I arrived, the counter was completely covered with clothing. Boxes of cleaning supplies and random items such as swim goggles and game pieces littered the space as well. The linen closet was stuffed with sheets, towels, backpacks, and tote bags.

I started by tackling the linen closet because I correctly assumed there would be lots of easy to purge items. For example, crib sheets were comingled with other sheets even though the youngest child hadn’t slept in a crib in at least two years. New sheets had been purchased for all of the beds, yet the old sheets still remained. These were all eliminated as well as those that were mismatched, torn, or stained. Tip: when you buy something new remember to eliminate what you bought it to replace. In order to increase the linear feet of space in the linen closet, I added two extra shelves. Moving forward, bed linens would be stored in the bedroom in which they were used. The linen closet would only accommodate guest sheets, towels, and extra laundry supplies.

Clearing off the counter was simple. Laundry was folded and put away in each child’s bedroom. A cumbersome drying rack was discarded. Random items were put where they belonged or discarded. Glass anchor canisters were used to decant laundry detergent and fabric softener.

Since the cabinets which were from IKEA, I used 10 IKEA white curved bins which perfectly fit the space. Like items were grouped together such as sewing supplies, glass cleaners, floor cleaners, sunblock and insect repellent, batteries, and rags. These were labeled using the @Ptouchessentials label maker.  The top shelves which were largely inaccessible were used to store overstock and items rarely used.

Once the space was purged, the counters cleared, and items were sorted, contained, and labeled, the space was so appealing that this client said she almost didn’t mind doing laundry. Almost.