Update: Laundry Room Clutter

I am slowly getting the laundry room taken care of, but it is still "under construction". I have now cleared all the clutter, and organized the materials that are left, and now made a curtain to cover it.

Here is step two in the makeover process. I used a shower rod to hang the curtain. I chose to make the curtain long to cover both the shelf, and the hangers. 

I started by measuring down from the ceiling the length I need the curtains to cover. I wanted it to open in the center so I could easily get to the items on the shelf. 

This was the "before" of the area. As you can see, things were just sort of flung up on the shelf to get them out of the way. After sorting, and discarding, I organized what I had into batches and then looked at my existing stash of bins and plastic drawers to see what I could use, and what I needed to find or purchase to get everything organized.

Here is the after of the shelf organization. I had the drawers and the extra shelf at each end. I purchased the black and white zigzag bin, and the stacking black bins, at Target. (Love me some Target!) I purchased the shower rod at Dollar General for $6.00, and the fabric at fabric.com. 

I measured the width to be 62", so I decided I would use 114" inches in width to cover the space, and to give the curtains some flow. I didn't want them so full that I couldn't easily pull them back, but I also didn't want them to be straight across. 

I cut the fabric and then hemmed it on three sides.

The reason for the three sides is that I changed my mind about the length of the curtains after I had purchased the fabric, but fortunately, I had some teal fabric from another project on hand. Because I'm trying to add teal into the kitchen, which is next to the laundry room, this worked great for me. So, I cut the additional length (8", accounting for hems and seam), and then hemmed three sides of the teal fabric, and put right sides together to sew the two pieces of fabric together along the unhemmed side.

Next, I got ready to add the grommets. I'd never used large grommets and was nervous, but these were so easy to use that I now want to use them on everything! I used Dritzhome curtain grommets. They come eight to a package, and I paid $10.69 per package for them at fabric.com.

The grommets come with this handy little stencil. I used a pencil to trace the line where each would go. (I simply folded the curtain in half to determine the center, then I placed them at the far ends, and then half way between the end and the center, for five grommets per panel.

After drawing the circle with the stencil, you go in and cut out the circle. No worry about making it perfect. The edges are covered by the grommet.

This is what one side looks like - it has these little spikes.

You put it on one side (it doesn't matter which).

This is the opposite side. The little spikes fit into this piece.

Just place the two pieces on opposite sides and press down. They pop together easily, no tools required.

And voila! You have a perfect grommet. I'm not kidding you when I say that a five year old child could do this with supervision. It's that easy!

Here is what it looks like with the panels open.

And again, closed. So many people come in via my back door . . . which I hate, but the front of the house doesn't have a path to it, yet, and no landscaping, so it is understandable. 

I still have to redo the ceiling lamp in this room, and perhaps add a curtain on the door . . . but it's progress!

Check out Randee's Organized Chaos!