5 Laundry Room Decorating Ideas

Laundry rooms are a place where we spend more time than we realize. Whether you’re swapping loads, sorting lights and dark, or folding freshly laundered linens, you probably spend a good amount of time in this space, so it deserves a little attention, just like the rest of your home. Inspired by this laundry room from our Spring 2014 catalog, we thought we’d share our favorite laundry room decorating ideas for giving this hardworking space a little extra pizzazz.

Whether you have a full laundry room, a hallway closet, or a laundry nook in another room like a kitchen, there are things you can do to give it a little style (and function!) without spending a fortune! Here are our favorite suggestions:

1. Storage

Custom shelving isn’t the only way to bring valuable storage into your laundry room. We tucked two narrow bookshelves on either side of our appliances to create a built-in look but for a much more friendly budget. Outfitted with some baskets and must-have cleaning items, these shelves give this laundry space a more intentional feel, like it’s in its own room, rather than just the corner of another space.

2. Personality

It’s not as easy to bring personality into the laundry room as it is, say, the living room. Without upholstery or soft goods, laundry rooms often feel bare and boring. To combat this, we used two large cork boards, hung right over the washer and dryer. This provides some pattern and an easy spot for hanging, anything from memos to kids’ art. But if you aren’t a cork board fan, you could hang to large paintings here as well to help anchor the space and provide color and pattern.

3. Function

A laundry room can’t be pretty unless it serves all its functions first. Without functional pieces, your space will quickly get chaotic and feel messy, which is why we love hanging a drying rack on the wall. Above, we used a shelf that multi-tasks with hooks and a built-in rack. It keeps clothes out of the way while they’re drying, but still provides storage even when the rack is folded up.

4. Baskets

While its great to have storage like shelving and racks in your laundry room, you also need a few storage pieces that can travel with you, like upstairs to the closet for putting away clean items! A couple of great baskets with handles will serve you well as you’re returning freshly laundered clothes to their proper home, and it doesn’t hurt that they look so pretty either, does it?

5. Lighting

Pretty lighting is a must for any stylish space. We used two pendant lights which convert from cans to give this laundry room more stylish lighting, but you could also do a flush mount fixture or even scones on the wall!

Find more inspiration on our Laundry Rooms Pinterest board, or browse our photo gallery for more laundry room decorating ideas!