I can’t tell you how much happier I am doing laundry in a bright, organized room!

You might recall, I was prompted to give our laundry room a mini-makeover as part of my commitment to use good, clean, and more sustainable products from Made to Matter, Handpicked by Target^TM.

We cleared out the clutter—part purge, part redistribution (e.g. swim goggles and pool towels by the pool, dog’s travel crate in the garage); we painted those red cabinets a more soothing grey; and we added a variety of boxes and baskets to add more concealed storage and free up some wall space. It makes the room feel much bigger! There are actually two windows in there, so it gets plenty of natural light—you just wouldn’t have known it from all the stuff we’d crammed in!

Here’s the before again…

…and the after.

We might add shelves to the wall over the washer/dryer eventually, but we freed up enough space to keep everything more spare for the time being.

Some favorite changes:

We switched out the outdated hardware on the cabinet doors and painted the cabinets grey. An electrician moved the light to the wall above the door for us.

I bought a set of matching Rubbermaid Bento Boxes (and added Room Essentials chalkboard labels) for storing things like sunscreens and bug repellants, lightbulbs and batteries, and supplies for sewing repairs.

We installed shaker-style peg rails (for hanging towels, cleaning supplies, and market totes).

We replaced some of our mismatched bathroom towels, and moved the old ones into a car-wash bin.

We added a valet bar behind the door for hanging shirts to dry. (Did I mention that I don’t own an ironing board?)

I used canning jars to store clothes pins and dog treats—and kept an empty one handy for emptying pockets of things like loose bills and change… or chapstick (that I had a tendency to melt).

We added a wall clock. We were on the fence about whether we needed a clock in the room, but I like glancing at the wall to remember when I started a load of wash.

Finally, an update on restocking our shelves from the Made to Matter, Handpicked by Target^TM collection:

I feel good about replacing our bathroom tissue and paper towels with 100% recycled products. And I found that that making that switch made me more conscious about using reusable cloths where appropriate, too. The Seventh Generation laundry detergent does everything our old brand did, but with less packaging (it’s ultra concentrated)—which is nice, especially when you’re trying to maximize your storage. And while I like to use free & clear laundry soap for the kids, I found that I love the smell of Method’s pink grapefruit hand wash (smells so clean) and all-purpose surface cleaner. Finally, I love the clean look of everything in the cupboards—it’s, well… delightful!

P.S. This is the third part of a series about giving the Made to Matter, Handpicked by Target^TM  collection a try. See my interview with the founders of Method and my first post on cleaning up and making over our laundry room with “before” photos.

This post is sponsored by Target. The Made To Matter line has been handpicked by Target to bring you brands that make things better for your you, your family, and the place we all call home.

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