Paint Me Happy!

This is what I was dealing with. I know, YOWZERS!! This is as bad as it got. I would wash out of the two baskets on the left on the floor. Then as clothes came out of the dryer I would sort them to one or two baskets a room.That worked fine as long as I was the only one to go into the laundry room.  Who are we kidding? So if my kids could not find something in their room or I did not get to the folding quick enough, imagine that? This is what I would find when I opened the door. I thrive on organization, structure, and schedules. This was NOT working for a person like me. My blood would boil and I would begin sorting clean form dirty and putting all the clothes back in baskets until I could get to folding. Sometimes I would find this two and three times a day. Sometimes I just had to close the door and walk away pretending it was not so bad.My laundry room, much like my entire house was not really built with a family of ten in mind. This room being the worst. Something had to change and since a new house with a ginormous laundry room is more complicated than just finding a way to make the space work for me.  I came up with several ideas over the years, some worked for a while and some got shot down by Mr. M. My last brilliant plan was given the go ahead and finally got done yesterday. My BIL. Brad and Mr. M. built the shelves.I did the painting. I have skills, you know. This new room and my organization plan will make it so much easier for my older kids to start participating more in their own laundry. I bet the fun wears out for them before it does for me.
The cabinets had to go bye bye. Some will be used in next weeks project.
 The shelves went up.

I started the painting after the kids went to bed last night and finished it early this morning.

The plumbing capped off was actually meant to be a utility sink placed where that cabinet was if we wanted. We did not want! Each shelf will hold a basket or laundry supplies. These shelves give me more room which is especially nice since we have solar water and my laundry room houses two water heaters side by side.I kept my other cabinet and my clothes bar above it.Can't live with out those. here is the mostly finished product. Each child, well mostly each child will have their own basket. Mom and Dad will have their own, towels and sheets will have their own, blankets and extras will have their own. Layne is picking up a few more baskets at work today.

The top of the washer and Dryer fit a basket each if needed. The dirty will be the floor between the washer and dryer instead of in front of the washer.I purposely did not buy pedestals. I am sure this will not fix all my laundry craziness. Joining a nudist colony would,  and some days it is really tempting!

Imagine that, dirty clothes all ready. At night I have my kids undress in the laundry room and then go get their PJ's from their room or head to the shower and then dress. Takes care of having to haul dirty laundry around. If they are shy they get their PJ's and bring them to the laundry room to change. That is how I can keep the ratio of dirty to clean to a minimum. I have a sock basket, which I should be sorting instead of doing this. It will get done today. Mr. M. all ready started the sorting. I just have to finish it. My inventory of what was needed for school is done and I needed NADA. Excluding a new pair of shoes for C-Dog.
There were tons of ways this could have been done that would have been prettier. I thought of even painting the entire laundry room a fun sunny color and having the shelves be white. I looked around the room and decided painting and cutting in around two water heaters,  shelves,  clothes racks, and moving the washer and dryer a couple of times each was a bad idea. Who entertains in their laundry room anyways? I have never had anyone say, " Hey let's move this party to the laundry room. You take the washer and I will take the dryer and we can chill for a while!" Have you? I choose functional over pretty any day!