Wire shelving hung above the washer and dryer gives you multiple storage options.

Whether it’s in a corner of the basement, tucked away in a small closet or has its own room, your laundry space needs to be organized for maximum efficiency. After all, most of us don’t have the time or desire to devote our lives to washing, drying, folding and ironing.

We’ve put together several organization ideas for your laundry area – from small to large.

Shared Spaces

Does your laundry room also serve as your mudroom, basement or other shared space? You’ll have to get creative with storage for essentials.

Hang a laundry shelf or a wire basket to hold bottles, linens, starch – almost anything you might need. Make the back of a door into an ironing station that can store your iron and ironing board.

If you can’t take advantage of the walls for baskets and shelving, cube organizers or wire drawer systems placed on the floor can be used as contained storage. Add a garment rack for drip-dry items or newly ironed clothing.

Cube storage is an easy solution to combat laundry room clutter.

Laundry Closets

A laundry closet can let you close the doors to dampen the sound and to hide any mid-load chaos. It also affords you devoted space to house nearly all the necessities.

Laundry room shelving, either wire or wood, can be supplemented with hang rods so that you can make the most of your small space. Use baskets or fabric drawers to stow items such as towels, detergent pods (so they’re out of the kids’ eyesight) or extra sheet sets.

Laundry Rooms

Designing a dedicated laundry room from scratch? Think about what your dream space would contain.

Do you have a lot of hand-wash items? Consider installing a sink for your delicates.

Include a long, flat counter for folding your laundry. If you don’t have a linen closet, you might want to install additional laundry wall cabinets to house spare sheets and towels.

Hang rods are great for clothes that can’t be put in the dryer or for pieces that need to be ironed.

A built-in hamper lets you empty all the laundry baskets in the house and do the sorting all at once.

An efficient laundry room has everything including a sink.