laundry room

i am sure you have been waiting on pins and needles for the laundry room portion of the redo (o: i won't keep you waiting any longer! i love the cabinet space in our laundry room but like the kitchen it poses problems for my height. the 2 middle cabinets only have 2 shelves so i cannot reach the 2nd shelf without a stepladder especially since the washer/dryer stick out alot farther than the cabinets. so again i tried to put the most frequently used items on the first shelf. as you will see there are still a couple of projects left to do in there one day.

the top pics are the before and the bottom pics are the after. the top right cabinet before is not completely accurate...i forgot to take a pic but that middle shelf was overflowing with kitchen towels and the top shelf had all kinds of junk. so the first cabinet holds the laundry items; i utilized a basket for the random dog items like the flea meds, ear drops, etc.and put the rarely used cleaning/household items up there....yes rarely used items does include that iron. i do not like ironing and avoid it at all costs! the middle cabinet was overrun with cleaning supplies. some never used but mostly the height of the shelf is so tall it didn't work well. i used a metal shelf like this to organize better and also sorted through cleaning supplies, tossing ones i don't use. i am trying to transition to more "organic" (and cheap) cleaning supplies so hopefully once i do that i will have fewer items in that section. (post to come soon!) and i know you are thinking-- we have alot of towels!! yes we do! the white towels next to the beach towels are mostly used for the dogs when it's raining/wet outside--don't want them getting the whole house wet! the other towels on the first shelf are for dusting/cleaning; there are some old handtowels too that are useful for small kitchen spills or to wipe the dogs feet. the last cabinet has 3 shelves which is so helpful! the top shelf holds koozies and a box of fancy placemats and napkins--this was one of the items that used to live in the hall closet. the middle shelf has furniture cleaning kits that came with the couch we bought, extra mason jars/baby food jars, and light bulbs. VERY obviously the first shelf needs work. this is the medicine shelf. i previously tried to organize it with some plastic boxes but it has slowly become unruly again )o: i have to think of a better way to organize this stuff!! at least the medicine is grouped together by type of medicine.

this shelf is above the clothing rod. extremely helpful but i kind of wish it was enclosed like the other cabinets. i think that would have made for better use of space instead of having to stack so many things and also having to see all of it. the pic on the left is the before pic. not too much changed but i did move the bottle warmer and box of sippy cups elsewhere because neither are being used right now but might be in the future. the 2 bottom pics are also on the to do list. the cabinet on the left holds the dog food box and extra paper bags. who knows why i feel the need for so many extra bags but they are so handy to have....when you need one...might need to read my organization "rules" again and discard some of those. anyway, i CANNOT wait to get started on the rack in the right pic!! this is right behind the laundry room door which is nice because it hides all the clutter but it also doesn't hold things well. the previous owners had installed these hooks, which are really just a glorified piece of wood with wooden dowels stuck in it. when my parents moved, i was able to get their old fabulous metal double hooks! i can't wait to spray paint them (rustoleum oil rubbed bronze (o:), install them and make this function better and look better!!

organizating never ends...so i need to work on the few places that didn't get sorted out during this kitchen/laundry redo but my next BIG project after all that is to tackle ella's closet....it needs help! i hate opening the closet doors because it is just one big pile of stuff...gives me palpitations...and not in a good way.
***side note..the first pic with the odd painting...that is a picasso-ish painting i did at easely amused of my 2 first babies (o: adds some great color and sense of family to the otherwise drab laundry room