Laundry Room Ideas for Small Spaces

Mike Beard • Oct 18, 2021

Anyone who has ever lived in a tiny apartment or home without a laundry room knows how harrowing laundry day can be. You end up schlepping your dirty clothes to a friend's house or to the dreaded laundromat and hope for the best.

When you finally get your own laundry room, the inconvenience is over, right? Well, yes... until you realize just how small the space is. Where are you supposed to fold your sweaters? Store your detergent? Scrub out set-in stains?

If you’ve found yourself bouncing around like a ping pong ball on laundry day, then it's a clue that your laundry room isn’t the place where you do laundry—it’s just the place where your washer and dryer live. Here are four ways to make your small laundry room more functional:

Hang a tension bar to dry your clothes.
Use door space for storage.
Convert your drawers into functional pieces.
Use magnets for more hanging space.

Your small laundry room can still be the space that you’ve longed for during all those laundromat hauls. A few easy adjustments are all that's necessary!

Hang a Tension Bar to Dry Clothes

To air-dry or not to air-dry is a question all tiny laundry room owners face. Instead of draping your nice suit jackets and flimsy tops over the backs of chairs and your shower bar, why not just hang a drying bar yourself?

Tension bars are generally used to hang window curtains, but they have some features that make them perfect for hang-drying clothes: They can hold a lot of weight, you can take them down whenever you want, and they cost less than $10.

Of course, there are more chic options if a tension bar isn’t your style. MyMove recommends a folding drying rack you can pin against the wall to add a little bit of country style.

Use Door Space for Storage

Take a hard look around your laundry room. Instead of focusing on what you don’t have, pay attention to what you do. If your laundry room has a door, then you have a ton of built-in storage space.

According to HGTV, any over-the-door storage solution "designed for closets" can work to your advantage. Take a look at shoe organizers and metal caddies and see if you can find one big enough for your detergent and stain cleaners. Or you can DIY your own space-saving unit with a hanging coat rack and a few wicker baskets. Either way, you’ll always know where your detergent and fabric softener is—in the laundry room where it belongs!

Take Advantage of Your Wall Space

A small laundry room might not have a lot of horizontal surface area, but you can still iron and fold clothing in that space. Look into options like fold-down ironing boards and tables. These store up against a wall until you fold them down for use, then they snap back into place once you're done.

If you don't have the space for shelves on one wall of your laundry room, consider a series of hooks. Here, you can hang laundry bags to separate your clothing while keeping it up off of the floor.

Use Magnets for More Hanging Space

Here’s some good news: Your washer and dryer are already metal, which means that you have a ready-made canvas for magnets. A few heavy-duty ones and you’re on your way to hanging bins, baskets, hooks, and whatever else you need for laundry day.

Choose magnets with adhesive backings so you can affix your favorite scrubbing brush or microfiber stain remover right to the side of your unit. This is also an excellent opportunity to think about different magnet designs and decorations if you’d like a little style to go along with your organizational efforts.

Conclusion

Having a laundry room is such a convenience, even if it's a small one. The only thing left to do now is decide how to make it work best for you. Here’s a quick tip: Make a list of things that vex you about laundry day. What is it that annoys you most or that you least look forward to? Whatever you decide will tell you where to start.