Room by Room: The Laundry Room
Just like the kitchen, the Laundry Room is a workhorse in the home. It gets about as much or even less love than the kitchen. It’s easy to see this room for only its utility and never the great help it is in our home management. It’s like a person we use but don’t see. It’s not a room we include on a tour of our homes. It’s often the messiest, dustiest, least pleasing place to be in our homes. (I say all this to myself with averted eyes of shame.)
But! Hopefully, by now we’re all starting to realize that no place in the home should be excluded from a touch of beauty and some TLC.
Function: To provide a home for the washer and dryer and all other apparatuses that the maintenance of wardrobes requires.
· Machines: Two of our biggest and most hardworking handmaids are our washer and dryer. They are utilized almost every day of the week by all the people and for all the people in the home. If anything “deserves” our respect and care, it’s them. And yet, how often do we think of them as a burden instead of honoring them? Or not even thinking of them at all. We, believers, should be thankful for our handmaids! Think often of the labor and time saved by not having to wash everything by hand, or sending it out, or hiring a huge live-in team to deal with the laundry, or using the nearby creek, or just being dirty! We should be thankful people. We, ladies, stand on the shoulders of women who have gone before us and simply stuff our clothes in a washer! Be amazed. Be grateful.
· Storage: Like the other rooms of the house, this room generally includes a fair amount of storage space, hopefully well designed, for things used to clean. Generally, everything from detergent and dryer balls, stain removers to bleach, brooms, chemicals, poisons, and rags all live in and around the laundry room. Plus, laundry rooms also serve as extra pantries and the place to store odd things like lightbulbs, trash bags, and these types of tools. Are you feeling your esteem for this room growing? She may not be the prettiest, but she’s loyal and strong!
Beauty: Like the other hardworking rooms (kitchen and pantry) beauty is important in the laundry room. Why? Because we work here! If working in the small beige cell of a cubical gives you hives, so should a blah laundry room. And, just like the pantry and kitchen, order and cleanliness are the place to start beautifying. But what else?
· Trays and Shelves: Make the order appealing by using trays to corral things on top of washers and dryers and even on shelves. It makes things look purposed. It makes it look like you care. Shelves can be pretty or unique even in a laundry room. Paint them or use eye-catching shelf liners. Don’t skimp on fun just because this is a labor-intense room.
· Experiment: Because this room is often closed off, it’s a good place to experiment. Try a busy wallpaper or a bright color that you love in this place first. If you are perhaps moving from minimalist to a hint of grannycore, for example, test out the visual noise level here where you can escape it if it’s too much. Paint shelves, hang fairy lights! Make this a place you want to be.
· Practical: Don’t forget that there’s a lot of work going on in this room. Think through the beauty aspects before you go all in. We want to make sure whatever we’re doing to beautify this place won’t dam the flow of our work. Keep in mind the dust level that a dryer produces. Don’t decorate with things that have lots of nooks and crannies. Make sure you have good lighting in this room because it is a practical place. You need to be able to see what you’re doing in the laundry room. This might not be the best place to hang a chandelier, but it can have bright walls and pretty containers. Don’t negate all the whimsy for the sake of the practical.
As I write this I feel my Laundry room is sorely neglected. It needs a fresh coat of paint, a good dusting, some unification of shelving, some TLC, and a spark of delight. Last year, we created a cute entryway in our garage because everyone comes in via the garage anyway. I’m sensing that the garage entry is inviting but my laundry room isn’t. I need to follow my advice and plan to make it a more welcoming space for myself and everyone else. I believe every word I’ve put down here. There are few excuses for a lack of order, cleanliness, and beauty in each and every room of our homes. Let’s not take our laundry rooms for granted, nor disrespect our helpful machines that call that room home. It’s fine that she’s not a glamorous place like the entryway or a cozy place like the living room, but that doesn’t mean the laundry room should be ugly or mismanaged.
