Budget Laundry Closet with DIY Floating Shelves

Today I am sharing our $325 budget laundry closet with DIY floating shelves and how to make the most out of a small laundry closet with side by side washer and dryer. We did buy a new washer and dryer as our other ones both stopped working within a week of each. I factored out the cost of the appliances when I say this is a “budget” makeover.

Minus the cost of the new appliances, this makeover is completely doable by anyone and the idea of adding your own DIY floating shelves and folding table is fairly inexpensive. For the cost of wood and a little DIY know how, you can “get this look” in a weekend.

Ok, maybe two weekends depending on how motivated you are.

Updated April 2019. I have included affiliate links to products at the bottom of this post so you can get this laundry room look!

Budget Laundry closet with DIY floating shelves

Here is the laundry room before,

Laundry Room Closet Doors

We removed the laundry closet doors in an effort to create a more open laundry room look. A sliding barn door in a bathroom is also a great way to save space and create a designer trendy look. Check out our sliding barn door installation without removing door trim tutorial or our double sliding barn door tutorial for more ideas.

Here is another shot of the laundry room before.

Here is the room during the floating laundry shelves and folding table installation. I wanted a budget friendly laundry closet and the DIY floating shelves accomplished that. The closet looked so much better with new paint and the bifold closet doors removed.

Budget Laundry Closet DIY Shelving Ideas

I think the after is much better don’t you? My step daughters visit on the weekends and this past weekend they saw the room completed for the first time. One of them said, “did you add on space, why does it look so much bigger?”

Mission accomplished! It’s amazing what adding diy laundry shelving (don’t miss this floating shelves tutorial) and utilizing the “upward” wall space will accomplish.

Laundry Closet Ideas 

By placing the washer and dryer side by side, this allowed us to create a folding station as well as two large floating shelves above for storage. I removed all the old wire shelving and hardware, filled the holes with putty, sanded and repainted the space.

The walls are very old, rough and some spots were marked and scratched from the previous washer and dryer so I did add a coat of white primer first.

The green color on the wall is called “Dewy” and the white trim is “Extra White” by Sherwin Williams .

Sherwin Williams is providing the paint for our study makeover so they were kind enough to let me add an extra 2 gallons to my order for our laundry room.

Budget Laundry Room Decorating Ideas

I did purchase a few hyacinth and wire baskets from the Container Store for storage. I cannot even begin to tell you how much better it is doing laundry because everything is clean and organized.

I decided to remove the bifold doors permanently permanently and open up the laundry room (closet) to the existing bathroom.

This gave us more room inside for the new washer and dryer. The doors, when opened, “took up 5 inches inside the closet which we needed in order to put the washer and dryer side-by-side. So guess what, we just got rid of the doors.

The top plastic decorative bins hold batteries and lightbulbs as well as a few other random items that we don’t use often.

The plastic bins are also from the Container Store.

The white lazy susan (affiliate link) is one of my favorite finds. It holds the detergent and dryer sheets along with a few other spot cleaners. I love that it spins!

If you are looking for storage for paper towels, these hyacinth baskets hold six roles perfectly. I couldn’t believe it when I found these, it’s like they were made for paper towel storage.

My dad saw me removing the paper towels from the plastic bag and he said, “don’t show your mother those baskets, because she will want some.” -ha.

Small Laundry Room Ideas

I found the cute laundry signs for the wall in Home Goods.

Not a bad looking laundry closet right? You too can create a budget laundry closet with DIY floating shelves and create a functional and pretty laundry room.

Our laundry closet would have more room if we decided to go with a stackable washer and dryer but I wanted a folding table so we opted for the side by side washer and dryer. The laundry shelves were very inexpensive to make and with a little sanding and paint, boring old wood can shape up quite nicely!

The wire basket is hung with picture hook nails. Just tap the tiny nail into the wall and leave a little bit of the nail protruding from the wall. The sign below sums up my view on laundry 100%.

Pink duct tape from a previous project was the solution to cover the existing electrical box.

This is probably the greatest invention on the planet. A grocery bag holder. I have always wanted one of these but never got around to buying one. This is from the Container Store as well.

This little framed dog saying is near and dear to my heart. My grandmother (my mom’s mom) had this in her bathroom when I was a kid and before she died, she gave it to me. Now it lives in our bathroom/laundry room.

This vintage inspired laundry sign was only $5 at Home Goods on clearance.

Having a laundry folding station directly in the laundry closet has helped me tremendously. I despise laundry and I will admit it, I am awful at keeping up with it. However, the clothes are now getting folded and not dumped in a pile on the couch.

By removing the bifold doors, the entire bathroom/laundry room looks much bigger. I repainted the bathroom in the Dewy color and will share the entire space soon. I still have a little trim work to paint near the door.

We were sad when our old washer and dryer stopped working. There is never a good time to invest in a new washer and dryer but it was the perfect opportunity to renovate the space and create a functional and stylish laundry room.

It’s not the biggest laundry room that’s for sure but every square inch is now utilized and organized. The total budget for this makeover, minus the new washer and dryer, was under $325. That includes all the wood, baskets, storage boxes and other laundry accessories. We are so happy with our Budget Laundry closet with DIY floating shelves!