my beautiful launderette: wine box shelves

While I'm been slammed with work and other commitments lately, I'm so excited to finally be moving forward with the laundry room that i just had to get started.  While there are many ways to tackle a project, including the all at once approach, sometimes nibbling away a little at a time is the way to go.  For this makeover, I think that's the approach I'm going to take.

Anyway, in the last post I discussed some of the assets I did already possess for turning this laundry room of doom around.  One of those sets of assets is the possession of a large number of wine boxes, thanks to a partner who used to work in the wine business.  Currently, they weren't really doing me any good.  Hard to reach on the shelves, they had become random catch-alls:

 

Inspired by pinterest, I mounted a set on the wall to the left of the window.  They fit perfectly between the corner and the window.  I plan to flank the other side of the window with three more, but I have to do some clearing out first.  And, as much as I wanted to blow off some commitments in order to continue, I managed to stay strong, do my little bit, and then go to work.  

I just screwed them directly to the wall, making sure to hit a stud.  None hold a lot of weight, so there is no need for brackets, supports, etc.  I tried them stacked directly on each other, but eventually went for a floating look.  Though the spacing may appear off in pics, rest assured I did measure between shelves and check to make sure they were even and level.  In fact, you can even see the level in some of the pics:

 

Having shelves up and things neatly put away made a vast improvement.  But even though I like open storage, I had to admit they look neat, but not pretty.  I mean stacks of white dishes are one thing, but who wants to look at bug spray.  Then it hit me, the spray cans were about the same size as some gift canisters I had put away.  My partner's work had them left over after Christmas, and he brought them home for me to use.  They were a little too tall to fit in my pantry, so they had been languishing away on a shelf.  I ran to check, and YES!!!! They were the perfect size for the cans and the shelves.

 

I immediately ran for more and rounded it up the other canisters and mini-galvanized containers I had.  Immediately the shelves looked so much more polished.

 *Note* I do realize storing things away like this may not be the most convenient.  However, all these things are rarely used.  In fact, I don't even remember the last time I used the bug spray.  Furthermore, it's only a household of two, so I don't have to be concerned with multiple members looking for things.  If you wanted to do a similar thing with more frequently used items, I would suggest labeling them and/or the shelves.

Stoked by the small, but major improvement.  I hung some woven blinds that used to hang in the living room before I switched to cafe curtains.  The wall that used to look like this:

 

Now looks more like this:

Progress, it's a beautiful thing