Six tips to liven up your laundry room

(BPT) - With the average American family doing more than 400 loads of laundry each year, it's no wonder that the laundry room has become one of the most popular remodeling projects in the house. Often out of sight and out of mind, most laundry rooms are designed like closets rather than efficient utility rooms. But according to Decorator Jenny Komenda, who blogs at The Little Green Notebook, with just a few inexpensive changes, you can brighten your clothes and your mood by transforming your dark and dingy laundry room into a bright, functional (and even enjoyable) place.



Check out these tips from Jenny, The Home Depot, Tide and Maytag for the Brilliant HE Clean campaign on how to create more efficient and enjoyable laundry rooms:

1. Dealing with a dark, cave-like laundry room is a chore in and of itself. By taking off the doors on a few of your upper cabinets, you'll open up the space and create a place to store baskets. Assign baskets for every member of the house, which makes sorting a breeze.
2. Why not decoupage or paint the insides of your cabinets for a fun pop of color? It's a guaranteed smile each and every time you reach for your detergent. Also don't ignore the door. Adhere some cork panels on the inside of the cabinet doors and create a space to pin all those stain removal tips.
3. Don't like the cabinets, floors and countertops in your laundry room? Every surface can be painted or resurfaced. Update your laundry room with paint and a concrete overlay for less than $30 in materials. Say goodbye to the outdated linoleum, brick pavers and old, dark cabinets.
4. A rolling laundry butler can be your best friend, doing triple duty with a hanging bar, a rolling basket and a drying rack. It's the perfect choice for smaller laundry rooms that haven't been updated in a few decades.
5. Don't neglect your laundry room walls. Hanging interesting art and mirrors will elevate your room and make it feel less utilitarian and a little homier. Suddenly those 400 loads of laundry most of us will do this year might actually be enjoyable.
6. A folding station makes all the difference. Use a slab of stone or a simple piece of painted medium-density fiberboard (MDF) on top of washer/dryer units to create a folding station that also prevent socks from slipping in between the appliances.