Shelf over the Washer & Dryer - Life on the Bay Bush

On the last episode of Laundry Room Makeover, I went Dot-crazy and painted polka dots on one wall. On this episode I added a DIY shelf over washer & dryer!

Here’s a picture of the laundry room where we left off…

How to add a shelf over washer and dryer

Ok. Let’s address the elephant in the room, shall we? My dryer does not match my washing machine. *GASP* I wish it did but as long as it works fine and there are starving children in the world I can’t justify buying one to match just to make it look prettier.

And the washer hookup is kind of an eyesore. I don’t know why they put it so high on the wall.

To make it less noticeable and to try to level out the height difference on the washer/dryer, I decided a shelf was in order. I cut a piece of plain old shelving board and a piece of trim molding (left over from my pantry and the bathroom shelf I built) the length of the washer and dryer.

I attached the trim to the bottom of the shelving board using a couple of L brackets.

And this is where things got complicated.

Sometimes there are projects that just work themselves out and you’re all impressed with yourself afterwards. This was NOT one of those projects. I got pretty frustrated by the end. I really needed another set of hands to help me attach it to the wall. Instead I used a bottle of Shout, spray foam and my little vacuum. I ended up having to pull out the washer and dryer to get it everything level and screwed in properly because the drill wouldn’t fit in the gap for me to get everything attached.

I’m just glad its done.

I used three of these L brackets from Lowes to attach it to the wall. They each have a weight limit of 85lbs. Getting them lined up with a stud and level was the hard part. (I did go back and screw that screw all the way in by the way.)

After the hard part was over it was time to make it pretty! I added a picture of McKenna from her second Halloween on the front steps of our old house. I love this picture! I’m looking for a similar frame to put one of Avery’s Halloween pictures in as well. Or maybe the princess pictures from our trip to Disney…I’m still working on that one. And of course, I have our Tarheel Fund which gets all the loose change I find in the laundry.

This DIY shelf over washer hides the washer hookup and adds additional storage space to the laundry room! #laundryroom

What do you think? You can still see the washer hookup but I don’t think it’s as noticeable with the shelf.

Want to hide that ugly washer hookup? Try this DIY Shelf to add a shelf over washer dryer! #diyshelf #shelfoverwasher #laundryroom

You can read about the rest of my laundry room makeover projects below:

Adding a Mudroom Wall & Cabinets

Painting Polka Dots

9 comments on “Shelf over the Washer & Dryer”

I really need to do this too. Great job. Don't forget to link up to The DIY'ers. http://homecomingmn.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-diyers-30.html

I cant wait to redo my bathroom I have zero storage in there. The shelf is a great addition, and I like the coin jar for the money always left in pockets when doing washing 🙂