the laundry room - week five - keeping the home fires burning

Thanks for joining me for another installment in our housekeeping series this time on Laundry.  It feels good to be tackling areas of my home that I have been ignoring or putting off for awhile.  These projects happen in real time so it seems like this may become a every other week series instead of weekly. 

"When I was a girl, every week my mother and I folded sheets together in a brisk dance, moving quickly and always turning the folds in the same direction. Periodically she would give the sheet a good sharp snap, which would jerk my end out of my hand if I didn't hang on tight."  Cheryl Mendelson

My mother in law was the queen of doing laundry. She was meticulous in how she sorted, spot treated, prewashed and washed her clothes. She had a laundry line in her garage that she used for most of her clothes and quite a few of my father in laws shirts. She said tumble drying clothes was hard on them plus she bought her clothes to fit and didn't want them to shrink. I remember stopping by on ironing day and witnessing the art she made of the chore. She loved her clothes.




My mom is the same way. She cared for my dad's shirts with such love. Due to his failing health towards the end, his skin was very sensitive to anything scratchy so he tended to wear the same soft worn out button down shirts again and again. Even as they became thin from washing over and over, my mom would iron straight seams in the sleeves (sometimes daily) so that they were ready for him in the morning. To this day if she wants to relieve stress or worry, she irons.

I wish I was brave (or secure) enough to show you my laundry room in the true before stage but I fear that if you saw the mountain of dust bunnies and slimy soap scum I encountered I would be run straight out of blogland.  This was definitely a bigger job than I originally imagined.

Our home was built in 1954 and I believe the original laundry was set up in the garage.  Somewhere along the way it was brought into a downstairs bedroom closet, a fact that I am very grateful for.  It is just wide enough for the washer and dryer so any storage is going to be on the two shelves above the machines.  I added a small shelf just above the dryer to place the laundry soap on for convenience.  We used to keep it in a basket on top of the dryer but it became a place for lost laundry to accumulate.  Hopefully, the open shelf will force us to find homes for everything right away.

I also added a hook for the ironing board (yes, I know I need a new ironing board cover) and nails to hang my dusters on.  I splurged and bought three matching cloth baskets to house toilet paper, dry cleaning supplies and disposable plates, cups and silverware respectively.  I already had the striped basket and placed all my market bags and canvas totes into it.  The top shelf is still empty and I will decide what to store up there as I organize other areas of my house.

This little laundry area makes me smile.  Now as I tend to my husbands clothes everything is right within my reach.  It is a pleasure instead of a chore.

It is not much by pinterest laundry room standards but it works for me.  The trick will be in keeping it this way.  I have added it to my regular rotation of quarterly cleaning so hopefully when I clear the shelves in another three months it won't be as big an undertaking to put it all back together.



It's amazing how each of these housekeeping posts is peppered with love of family.  This making a home business is all about caring for others as well as ourselves, isn't it?

Now it's your turn.  I would love to see your real life laundry rooms and hear your laundry tips.  If you have a laundry room post, either old or new, why don't you add the link to your comment?  That way we will all be inspired to keep the home fires burning together.

xo, Patty