DIY Project on a Budget: Organizing the Laundry Room

by Lori O'Farrill

Organizing my laundry room has been on my to-do list for so long and I have always put it off for something more fun to do. My laundry room is in the basement of my house and it’s a multi-functional space. (Nice way of putting it). Furnace, Hot Water Heater, Sump Pump, Kitty Litter area, general storage of odds and ends.
I started with a horrible space...I’m almost embarrassed to put this picture out there.

diy project on a budget organizing the laundry room, laundry rooms, organizing

Here’s what I am going to do: DECLUTTER!!!! Did you notice all the paint cans that I had just sitting there? I knew that we never even looked at them and I would just put new ½ cans in front. That’s my laziness. That was going to be my starting point. I collected all the paint colors that I’m not using in my house currently and called OCRRA. I figured that I was going to have to drop off the paint at a recycling center. Good News! There is something that you can do to your old paint cans and then throw them in the garbage. Here is what https://ocrra.org says…

Easy Disposal Instructions:

1) Remove the lid.

2) Expose the liquid paint to air in a well-ventilated area. Be sure to keep away from animals and children.

3) If there is a lot of paint, add cat litter or paint drying crystals (available at most hardware stores) to the paint. Leave the lid off and wait for the paint to be absorbed.

4) When the paint is dry, put can and lid in the trash (leave lid off the can)*. This item can also be taken to either of OCRRA's Drop-Off Sites.

5) After your trash is delivered to OCRRA's Waste-to-Energy Facility, a magnet will capture metal paint cans for recycling!

To properly dispose of liquid latex paint, dry it out and place the can in the trash with the lid off.

PLEASE NOTE: For the beauty of the community, do not put paint cans in the trash that contain liquid paint. This creates a mess on the streets during the collection process and can result in fines from the NYS DEC.

Oh, and Fantastic News! I bought some kitty litter at Aldi’s for $5.99 each and sat down and started mixing. Not the most fun thing to do, but it’s done and it that is all that counts for me. I did what they said and left the paint cans open and then I placed them in old boxes next to my garbage can.

Next thing I did was get a couple of plastic baskets ($2-3) at Big Lots to store laundry items (bleach, fabric sheets, laundry detergent etc.) Hung up an old curtain in front of the kitty litter boxes, this will give both of some privacy.

I can’t wait to show you the next part of organizing my laundry room. I want to give some color to this room so I’m going to paint.

Enjoyed the project?

You can do it! Saved to your projects

Frequently asked questions

Have a question about this project?

Ask a Question

Comments

Join the conversation

2 comments

Miriam Illions on Jan 02, 2015
Can't wait to see phase #2! The shelving you have is great, btw.

2 Reply
- Lori O'Farrill on Jan 02, 2015
  @Miriam I Thank you! My neighbor has some extra peacock blue color paint that I'm going to use for the shelves... cannot wait to try it !!!!
  
  Like