Laundry, the never ending story

Tips to create a home laundry space:

As a child we all enjoyed The Never Ending Story, a charming movie about a child saving a fantastical world created by the imagination and collective narrative of countless bedtime stories. As grown-ups the only "Never ending story" in many of our lives is the need to do laundry.

Laundry, like death and taxes, is an inevitable part of most of our lives, unless we happen to be fortunate enough to have people who take care of such things for us, and even then, getting and keeping our clothes and other linens clean, sorting, folding and storing these items, is a part of life which everyone has to deal with. Having a space in your home dedicated to such mundane tasks might seem boring, but there are some nifty tips and tricks for your home laundry space.

Why have a laundry space?

Few things can make a home look more messy than laundry stacked on tables and in living areas, ironing boards in high traffic zones like kitchens and entrance halls. A space dedicated to laundry and all the associated work that goes in to getting it done can help you close the door on that chore and keep it out of sight and out of mind. Until the next laundry day of course.

Separate Colours

Since washing is the only thing in the world which should be separated according to colour, keeping in mind your wardrobe when thinking about laundry is a good idea too. If you have mostly light coloured clothing or a mixed bunch of clothing with many items needing to be washed separately, maybe a very big washing machine isn't be best fit for you. Similarly, your hanging space for air drying, or the capacity of your tumble dryer is also important since it doesn't help you much if your loads of washing are too large to be hung up or dried. A smaller washing machine and more frequent wash days might better suit those who live in small homes or have a need to use much smaller washing loads due to having clothing that cannot be washed in bulk.

Splash zone

A laundry is a wet zone in the house. Make sure furniture, floor coverings and counter tops can handle water and detergent spills. While no one wants to think about a washing machine springing a leak, making sure the room that houses your washing appliances can handle a bit of flooding without too much of a problem is a good idea in preventing future headaches.

Storage Space

A laundry room needs to stock more than just dirty laundry, recently washed clothes for ironing and folding, and washing machine. All sorts of appliances like irons, steamers, folding apparatus, hangers and of course detergents all need space to call home. It is important when you have children to make sure things which could be harmful like detergents, stain treatments and bleaching agents are safely out of reach of little hands. Shelves and cabinets mounted onto walls can be very useful for these purposes. Also items like irons and steamers need a place to be plugged in which is easily accessible for unplugging when the job is done and you want to pack everything away. Laundry hampers and baskets for carrying washing outside to be hung on lines also need space to be packed away when not in use. Under counter spaces can be very handy for this purpose and make good use of what might otherwise be wasted space. Shelves that are not too high up are also very useful as a place to store finished, folded laundry so the owners can pick them up and return them to their wardrobes or linen closets. If these shelves are too high up children cannot reach without risking dropping everything and wasting all the hard work.