Well today is the Reveal Day for OrgJunkie’s 29-Day Organizational Challengeand I am super excited about this! I chose my laundry/office area in my house to organize. It is either a large laundry closet or small laundry room that flows into a former storage closet that we use for more laundry work space and a desk/office space. Here are the weekly updates along the way:
This was by far the biggest improvement to this space. It was constantly annoying to me that I couldn’t open the dryer with closing the laundry room door. Now, I can leave the door open and still hear the kids while I’m folding laundry. 
I really loved this trash bin when I saw it at Ikea. I have always just hung a plastic grocery bag on the hinges of the door. And it just looked so messy. This is perfect!
This was another great Ikea find. Laundry hampers on the wall? Love it! This really helps prevent the piles of clothes on the floor. My girls will actually put their clothes in this hamper because it’s right beside the door.
Here we replaced the 2 storage shelves with 1 high hanging shelf to hang clothes. I replaced the boxes with matching boxes to store old pictures and keepsakes that are now labeled. I got rid of all those hangers and decided to just hang any stained clothes I needed to work on instead of just piling them up. This has worked great and is much cleaner. Also, keep reading for what I did with all the other stuff on those shelves.
We took down the hanging shelf in this area since I really needed the hanging space close to the dryer. Here I put a wire basket system that I had in another closet for sorting clothes as I fold. Each child has a drawer and the bottom drawer is for clothes that they have outgrown that need to be put in their storage boxes in their closets. Oh yeah, and I got rid of the 3 bulky laundry baskets I had and only kept the 2 collapsible ones that neatly store behind these wire drawers when I’m not using them.
I love love love this! Before I had a basket where I threw in stray socks that didn’t yet have their match. It just ended up a bigger and bigger pile where I couldn’t find any matches. This keeps the strays right in front of me all the time. I went through that big pile of socks I had hope of finding a match for so long and gave them to a crafty friend who could use them for a project.
These great little Ikea shelves were perfect for all my cleaning products. And they fit great on this tiny little unused corner beside the washer. Love it!
I took the ironing center with hampers out of this space and put it in the master bath. I love how it has opened up this space. It has worked really well to have laundry sorted before it even comes to the laundry room. That way, I’m not continually piling up dirty clothes here. The goal would be just to bring in what dirty clothes are to be washed that day and have only clean clothes in this area. Now, that’s the plan anyway.
I love this thing!! It just goes all the way down the wall and you can actually walk by it when clothes are on it.
We moved the desk to a different wall and I really like it. It creates more of a division between the laundry area and the office area.
Can you believe that is actually the same space? I took out those bookshelves and one entire filing cabinet. That felt good! A lot of the contents from the filing cabinet and the notebooks on the shelves needed to be thrown away and the part that we want to keep, we have ready to take to a scanner so we can just store them as PDFs.
I love these shelves and brackets! They’re simple but decorative and added just the right touch. They hold a lot more than we expected too. We could even use the bottom shelf for our paper supply instead of having shelves under the desk. Again, vertical storage saves the day!
OrgJunkie’s Reveal Day Questions:
1. What space did you decide to organize and why?
I chose the laundry/office area in my home. It is an odd space that connects to a former storage closet that I use for more laundry work space and a small cubby for an office/desk space. After almost two straight years of nesting from back to back pregnancies, I have cleaned out, rearranged, purged, and organized almost every nook and cranny of my home. In spite of all this, this is one area that stays cluttered and chaotic. I have to spend a lot of time in the laundry area and I want to spend more time in the office area.
2. What steps did you take to ensure you completed the space within the 29 day timeline?
The weekly update link-ups were so motivating for me. Having to write about the progress each week was key in helping me see where I was in the process and where I needed to go. We tried to use our weekends to do the bulk of shopping/researching different products and solutions we needed and used the early part of the week to implement those solutions.
3. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and how did you overcome it?
I went in knowing I wanted a “better” space, but did not have a clear plan for what I was trying to accomplish. I spent the first week asking different friends and family to look at the space with me. They asked great questions that I didn’t have an answer for. I also browsed catalogs, websites, and the aisles of Ikea for inspiration.
4. What did you do with the “stuff” you were able to purge out of your newly organized space?
I found a few bags of just plain trash in there. I used Facebook and word of mouth to advertise what I was getting rid of and gave unneeded items (bulky laundry baskets and all those extra hangers) to friends that could use them. I repurposed a couple different sets of shelves to different closets in my house to help organize those spaces better. I stored our unused artwork and keepsake notebooks/material in our storage shed. I sorted through an entire filing cabinet and about a dozen big 3-ring binders to get rid of. I now have the paper that we want to be able to access stacked and ready to go to a scanner so we can store them as PDFs.
5. Tell me one of your proudest moments during this challenge?
After thinking through a few different options for the standard door that took up too much space when open and talking to several friends about what to do, finding and installing the right solution was great! The bi-fold door has added 2 feet of usable space to that area. It has felt so good to just be able to walk into the laundry room and have room to work!
6. Explain any organizing “tools” you used to help you create additional space and to establish some limits and boundaries?
Vertical storage has been the biggest help to me in this challenge. Because this is such an odd-shaped, cramped space, I just don’t have a lot of floor space to work with. Anything I put in the floor seems to block the walking space. So the two sets of shelves, hanging laundry hamper, sock organizer, retractable clothesline and trash bin all went on the wall. Getting all of those things off the floor is definitely what opened up so much space.
Thank you to everyone that helped me with this, listened to me talk about it, gave me ideas, and went shopping with me. And thanks to my husband and brother Chris for installing everything while I gave directions.
Leave a comment if you have been part of the Organizational Challenge. I would love to see your spaces!!
Wow Stacey! This looks great!! I feel inspired now to work on our house
I might steal your lost sock idea 
Thanks Kristen!! Do it! I felt really great about using the memo board to do the sock board. I saw others online I could buy and just didn't want to spend money on that. Do it!!
What a lot of work you did in a tiny space! Congratulations.
Thank you Alana! It IS a tiny space, but now I feel like I can actually work in there!
great job on accomplishing two rooms. They both look great.
Yay for you! This is really inspiring…especially since we have a lot of the same space limiting issues.
Thanks, Motivated Mommy! It's actually just one space I use for 2 purposes – which has been the challenge!
Yes, Dana! We do understand each other in this for sure! Especially as we keep adding little people to our little spaces.
where did u get the retractable clothesline? how much was it?
wantobebetter, I ordered it from Amazon for less than $12! I love it.
Here it is:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AP3YK8/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag;=getthrtheday-20&link;_code=as3&camp;=211189&creative;=373489&creativeASIN;=B000AP3YK8
wow! what an amazing transformation!!!! great job! and i love all of the little tips you shared, like the stray sock holder – genius!!!
Love the missing sock board. Great idea. The room looks amazing and so much more functional.
Stacey – everything looks amazing! I love all of your red accents
~kari size
Thanks Samantha and Sandi! The sock board is my favorite too!
Thank you Kari and thanks for helping me with it all! I love all the red too! It really brings it all together.
It's such a small change but the trash bin on the wall is my favorite part of the redo! Great idea; thanks!
Wow! I'm jealous that you even have a laundry room. I don't. My washer and dryer are right inside the back door. This looks amazing! Good job.
SAHMmy Says, I know! I love that little trash can too! Thanks.
Shonda, you're right. I am thankful for the space I have even though it can feel cramped. I would just encourage you to use any wall space you have around your washer and dryer. That has been huge for me!
wonderful! making use of your wall spaces has made the room work so nicely for you.
I can't believe how much extra space you created! It looks so good in there!
You really did a lot, Stacey! It looks great. Congratulations!!!
Thanks, Andi. I can't believe it either!! My husband and I keep saying we're surprised everytime we open the door.
Thanks, Erin! You have to come see it!
I love the sock idea and the indoor clothes line! You did a lot of work and it looks wonderful!
Thank you Elizabeth. Those are 2 of my favorites too!