Any good laundry room needs to offer some amount of storage, but if you’re not sure how to best integrate shelving into your space, remember that it’s more than ok to get creative. Whether your laundry room is large or small, or you prefer open shelving or closed cabinetry, there’s an option for everyone.
Read on to check out 18 of our favorite laundry room shelving setups below.
Elevate Your Storage With Wicker Baskets
Use wicker baskets to keep the essentials within reach but out of sight. These fit perfectly into the narrow open shelving installed here. If you wish, you could also add labels to the front of each bin for even quicker access.
Pair Bold Laundry Shelving With Sleek Baskets
Wire bins are an industrial chic, see-through option that makes it easy to keep track of what exactly you’re storing at all times. If your laundry room is a bold color, like this bright green space, keep your bins a neutral hue, as shown here, for a streamlined look.
Decant Your Laundry Essentials Into Glass Jars
Canisters are great for housing all kinds of laundry essentials from detergents to fabric softener and more. Go ahead and decant these items so that you don’t have to stare at their unsightly boxes—classic glass jars are much more elegant.
Embrace Coastal Chic Laundry Shelves
Don’t be afraid to embrace a specific theme or aesthetic in your laundry room, the way you would in any other area of the home. This laundry room is perfectly coastal chic and contains soft, beachy tones like blues, whites, and grays. The woven trays on the built-in shelves contribute to the laid-back look.
Make Room for First Aid Tools
Make room on your laundry room shelves to store a small first aid bin, and you’ll never wonder where that pack of Band-Aids went ever again. A setup like this makes it easy for all members of the family to help themselves to bandages and creams as needed.
Put Pretty Fabric Boxes to Work
Decorative fabric boxes aren’t just for the living room; you can weave them into your laundry room design, too. These neutral ones complement this mod laundry space to a T.
Opt for Mesh Cabinet Fronts
Mesh cabinets are a happy medium for those who don’t necessarily desire open shelving but want their laundry space to feel somewhat airy. They also complement a farmhouse aesthetic nicely, if that’s your preferred style.
Carve Out Space for Cubbies
Placing cubbies in the laundry room makes it easy for young ones to access the items that they need—these are perfectly kid height. Many times, a laundry room doubles as a mudroom, so consider using it to store hats, gloves, and other gear your family will need to grab on the go.
Bring in a Portable Island
If your laundry room is spacious enough, like this one, bring in an island or rolling cart and use that for extra storage. Due to the many windows in this laundry room, space for wall shelving is limited, making the island extra necessary.
Install Shelving Above Your Appliances
Make the most of the vertical space available to you by installing open shelving above your washer and dryer. Even in the most compact of laundry rooms, you can still get creative.
Weave in a Few Decorative Touches
While you don’t want to go too overboard with decorative accessories in the laundry room, thin wooden shelves like these make it easy to showcase a couple of small items. The addition of a small sculptural object or two, a plant, or a couple of coffee table books may make you actually feel excited about spending time in this space!
Remove Cabinet Fronts for Openness
White shelves pop against the bold, colorful wallpaper in this laundry room. Removing the cabinet fronts in one instance helps to open up the space a bit.
Stay Streamlined
Wooden shelving above the sink in this laundry room serves as a catchall spot for towels and other day-to-day essentials. Keeping your towels to one specific colorway will automatically result in a more organized, sophisticated look should you also choose to display them out in the open.
Store Backyard Entertaining Supplies by the Door
If your laundry room connects to your back deck, it can certainly function as a storage space for outdoor entertaining essentials, as seen here. In this home, plastic cups and bowls are quickly within reach, making it easy to bring meals outside (and then toss dirty dishes into the sink).
Maximize Your Vertical Space
Here is another example of successfully maximizing the vertical space in a laundry room. Keep a small step stool handy to access these top shelf bins, which you can put to work holding lesser-used items such as extra bottles of detergent and other backstock items.
Make Use of Every Square Inch
Don’t forget to carve out a space for vacuum storage! However, once you do, you can again turn the vertical space left over into a small shelving area so that you’re not leaving any amount of wall space to waste.
Say Yes to Uppers and Lower Laundry Shelves
A mix of upper and lower shelving opens up a world of possibilities. The bottom open shelf could also be a great place to tuck away a trash can or hamper.
Make a Small Closet Work for You
- Maybe your laundry room is more of a small, closet sized space. That said, you can still create shelving in a compact space by taking a cue from the setup shown here, where a singular piece of wood is placed above the washer and dryer and serves as a storage ledge.