Show Me Your Laundry Area

Two weeks ago I showed photos of my basement before and after I straightened it up. However I didn't stop there. I don't like having a space that doesn't make me feel welcome, even if it is an unfinished basement.

I owe that feeling to my grandma and grandpa. Their basement was unfinished, but it was a place of a lot of activity. Since I don't have a photo let me take you on a tour. The steps came down from the side of the kitchen to about the middle of the basement. As you came to the bottom of the steps the furnace and water heater were in the middle of the room a little to the left. To the left of the steps was the laundry area, including a wringer washer and two sinks. The area to the right of the stairs and underneath the stairs was storage. Just beyond the furnace on the left was my grandpa's oak desk and tool area. In the area to the right in front of the stairs was grandma's cutting table. Her cutting table was a large 1950's style dining room table. She and I spent money hours cutting patterns and tying quilts around that table. I even remember having Thanksgiving dinner at that table in the basement one year.

That's what I want my basement to be like, well maybe not the Thanksgiving dinner part. Unfinished, but usable. I told Hotel Man I can accomplish that for $200 or less. I started the task last week with a trip to Target. I purchased five storage bins, clothes hangers and big red hooks from Target. Last Friday afternoon I started going through the moving boxes I had neatly stacked the week before. Items were either put into a storage container, a give away pile or a trash pile. I have three more boxes to sort through, but I have run out bins. Two of the red hooks have been attached to studs and I'm using them to hang up some winter clothing.

The photo shows my laundry area as it is right now, or at least when I'm in the middle of doing the laundry. The shelving between the washer and dryer came out of the pantry when we remodeled it. I use it for laundry supplies. The bag on the floor is the trash bag (Note to self: need better trash container). I have a drying rack for drying clothes and behind that is the hot water heater with the boiler next to it. It's not pretty, but it's functional.

So what else am I doing in the basement? I'm getting a folding banquet table from Freecycle that I will use for folding clothes (and maybe some other activities). I still want to get rid of any boxes that have stuff in them. I'm thinking of painting the floors and walls. Anything is better than the greyness of concrete. Someday we will be able to finish the basement, but for now I want to make is a happy place.

I'd love to see photos of your laundry space. Won't you share them?

Sweet P