34 Clever Laundry Room Organization Ideas

Whether your family is big or small, one thing remains true: Your laundry room is put through the wringer on a regular basis. Despite being integral to our lives, laundry rooms are all too easy to overlook when designing and organizing our homes, making them extra susceptible to chaos. The good news? We’re here to save your never-ending piles of clothes with laundry room storage and design ideas guaranteed to make folding clothes and fighting stains feel like less of a chore.

Install a clothing rod between your cabinets or walls to create a dedicated spot for hanging garments to dry. This prevents scuffs on the molding if you usually hang items over a door, or saves someone the hassle of moving a bunch of wet clothes off the shower curtain rod.

Don’t let the awkward gap between your stacked appliances and the wall go to waste. Make the HGTV Dream Home 2023 laundry room your muse and trim out the gap, add adjustable shelves and paint it to match the existing cabinetry in the room for a seamless look. Use the shelves to store all your need-to-reach laundry items like dryer balls, detergent, wrinkle-release spray, an iron and a first aid kit.

The gap between your upper cabinets and ceiling is another overlooked gold mine for extra storage space. Follow designer Kristen Holmstedt's lead and take advantage of that space with an additional row of upper cabinets flush to your ceiling. This is the ideal place to store less used household cleaners and keep potentially dangerous tools or formulas out of reach from your kiddos. Bonus: It instantly adds grandeur and enhances the height of your laundry room.

If you’re storing your laundry essentials in bulky plastic bins, consider swapping them out for something more stylish and practical like wire baskets. This shelving unit of pull-out wire baskets makes it easy to see what’s inside, so it’s perfect for sorting supplies.

Transparent storage containers work well for some (read: people committed to decluttering and color coordination). For others, clear bins offer passersby a peek into the chaos of their laundry room: vibrant cleaning supplies’ labels, misplaced lint rollers and rogue socks galore. Skip the see-through containers and opt for opaque open-top baskets to keep your chaos out of sight. This farmhouse utility room features three unique woven basket collections throughout the room to keep supplies within reach but not on display.

If flowy, floor-length dresses and knee-length overcoats are mainstays in your household, this tip is for you. Take notes from this contemporary laundry room and install a clothing rod independent of your cabinets to park your long garments. This addition makes air-drying a breeze (pun intended) and serves as a streamlined steaming station for your wrinkle-prone wardrobe essentials.

Create a set of built-in nooks to house two rolling canvas hampers for seamless sorting. Use your mobile hampers to separate whites from colors or pull out delicates before starting a load. The integrated hamper housing brings a custom look to your cabinets, frees up floor space and lends a tidy look to the room at all times.

Laundry rooms are notorious for having mounds of clothes scattered about in various stages of the laundering process. Freeing up your floors is one of the easiest and most overlooked ways to set the tone for a clean, well-organized laundry room. This wallpapered laundry room features a wall-mounted sink and a custom-cased washer and dryer. Aside from a basket and accent table, the floor is clear of clutter and provides uninterrupted views of the crisp-white baseboards while providing owners ample room to move about as they sort through clothes on laundry day.

Who says you have to break the bank to enjoy luxe laundry room storage? Forgo custom cabinetry and add clothing storage with a freestanding armoire. You can score an inexpensive vintage armoire on your favorite online marketplace or local thrift store or snag a simple unit from somewhere like IKEA and customize it with a paint color of your choice. Elevate your armoire with backlights and tailor its hardware to your aesthetic for a personalized touch.

Streamline your laundry room with this space-saving hack: an ironing board drawer. HGTV Smart Home 2024 designer Tiffany Brooks made erasing wrinkles easier than ever for owners with this custom roll-out ironing drawer. The sleek drawer pulls out in a pinch and slides back into place once the clothes are crisp.

Are you washing clothes for a crowd? Take notes from this sun-drenched laundry room featured in HGTV Magazine and install a custom drying rack cabinet. The sage-green cabinet features three pull-out racks equipped with eight clothing rods to drape and hang garments as needed. The racks slide back into place between loads for a tidy, tailored look.

Give the interior of your laundry cabinets a facelift and corral your chaos in one fell swoop with the help of pretty, pattern-clad fabric bins. This contemporary orange laundry room offers ample inspiration with crisp blue, white and charcoal fabric bins. Opaque containers keep unsightly but essential cleaning supplies within reach — and their playful prints ignite joy each time you open the cabinet door to start a load.

Don’t be afraid to mix things up. Much like nickel and brass dazzle together, built-in cabinets and floating shelves make a striking pair in any laundry room. If your cabinets are always overrun with essentials, consider this your sign to transform your underutilized wall space into extra storage with a few floating shelves a la this traditional space featured in HGTV Magazine. Line your shelves with storage baskets, and if you want to up the ante even more, install a metal clothing rod on one of the shelves for sleek hanging storage.

Want to add extra storage without pulling out your hammer or drill in the process? Repurpose a sofa table from your living room or entryway console to create a washer-side caddy in your laundry room. This raffia-wrapped console in this coastal utility room provides the ultimate shelfie inspiration. The top shelf features glass jars filled with dryer balls and clothespins, while the second shelf houses fresh, folded linens. A pair of woven baskets nestles neatly below to catch laundry overflow and trap lost socks.

If you keep your dog's bed or food bowl in the laundry room, consider adding a designated spot for Fido. This space features a cozy under-the-counter sleeping nook, plus two built-in stainless steel bowls, one with a faucet for easy access to fresh water.

Likewise, laundry rooms often double as the private lavatory for feline family members. Follow Nashville-based blogger Kelly Ladwig’s lead and install a custom cabinet to keep your kitty’s litter out of sight and off your floors. This cabinet is purrr-fection with an inky stain, handsome cognac leather pulls and playful, whiskered silhouette doors for easy cat access.

Here's an ingenious space-saving solution: Food and water bowls for the family pet are hidden neatly inside a drawer in the laundry room.

Pedestal sinks are pretty, but seriously lacking in the storage department. Give yourself some extra out-of-sight shelving in your laundry room by slipping a skirt onto your pedestal sink. Bonus points if your skirt’s pattern color-coordinates with your cabinetry as seen in this dreamy green design.

Give your laundry room a designer look by hiding your washer and dryer behind custom accordion doors that blend seamlessly with the floor-to-ceiling cabinets throughout this airy mint laundry room. A butcher block countertop crowns the duo, providing a convenient place for owners to treat stains, pair socks and fold towels.

An easy way to increase storage space when it's time to upgrade your washer and dryer: pedestal drawers. This designer laundry room features custom cabinetry with integrated pedestal drawers, but most manufacturers offer versions that perfectly fit their models. Plus, the added height makes loading and unloading a little easier.

If you have the space, equip your laundry room with a freestanding island to use as a work table for folding clothes, storing baskets and sorting items before a load. This luxurious navy laundry room offers endless inspiration with a stately marble-clad island at the center of the room.

Dropping your bags and jacket on the floor — we’ve all been there. Keep the mess off the ground by installing utility hooks on the wall or back of the door for a designated catchall space.

This laundry room has loads of cabinet space for all of your laundry essentials. To keep your laundry room more orderly with less effort, opt for closed cabinets that hide clutter better than open shelving.

No laundry room or utility closet? Fake it in the kitchen. This homeowner wanted a dedicated laundry space but didn't have the budget to remodel. So designer Giana Shorthouse of Terracotta Properties teamed up with a local cabinetmaker to create a custom wall of cabinets in the kitchen instead. The cabinet doors are made from a metal mesh, which allows hot air to circulate but blends in with the kitchen's existing style.

In a small laundry room with limited (or nonexistent) counter space, consider topping the washer and dryer with a work surface. In this space, a countertop installed over the appliances adds a much-needed spot for sorting and folding clothes.

Make the most of your wall space by adding a row of pegs for storing brushes, clothes hangers and other accessories. This trick works under cabinets or open shelves, as seen in this charming laundry room.

If you have a big household and it feels as though you're constantly buried under piles of laundry, consider swapping out one large washer and dryer for two compact stacked units. This setup really helps if you have a multi-generational household and have multiple people doing laundry for themselves on different schedules.

Nope, this isn't a kitchen. It's a laundry room. But it sure looks like a farmhouse kitchen with the large, antique sink flanked by windows. If you want to make your laundry feel less utilitarian, take design cues from the kitchen. If your laundry room has an exterior wall, explore windows or a door that lets in more natural light. Natural light makes a room feel so much happier, even a room dedicated solely to chores.

While we love organizational products from stores like The Container Store and Bed Bath & Beyond, we also love the personality that vintage or antique storage solutions can bring to a space. This Colonial home is true to character, even in the laundry room. The folding table has a turned leg, which is reminiscent of early 20th-century Colonial homes. And the antique Dutch door is as practical as it is charming because it's perfect for a little extra ventilation.

No cabinets needed for this small-space storage unit featuring an adjustable rack and folding platform. Mounted wall baskets and hooks make sure there’s an assigned place for all supplies, accessories and even a mismatched sock or two.

Most laundry rooms — especially in new construction — have that same cookie-cutter door with slats for ventilation. For something a little bit more stylish, consider a sliding barn door. Keep it open when appliances are in use for air circulation, but slide it closed when you have company over. Beyond appearance, sliding doors are much more practical for small spaces and navigating with an armful of clothes.

Sorting bins for lights, darks and towels don't have to be front and center. When Erin Rollins of the blog Sunny Side Up was redoing her laundry room, she created drawers that disguise her plastic baskets. "Laundry can be such a chore," she says, "so I wanted a room that made the process as streamlined as possible."

If your favorite dryer sheets package clashes with your color palette, transfer the contents into a container that's more in line with the decor. Stacy Risenmay of the blog Not Just a Housewife chose an old metal box that adds the perfect patina to her laundry room.