8 Step Laundry Chute Transformation

There are so many things I have to think of as a parent to kids with special needs. Laundry is a big one for us. You see, one of my little loves is obsessed with dirty laundry. He likes to sniff it and that just does not work for me. So, that means we need a creative solution to hide the laundry and make it less available and enticing to him. After some thought, and a large amount of hatred toward this particular closet we decided to rid ourselves of the ugly closet and the yucky stinky laundry! So we went from here:

To here:

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And with minimal DIY experience I may add! Luckily, I do have a wide array of tools so that does make these little projects much easier to complete. What I used:

• Safety goggles- put them on, don’t be stubborn
• Wood: both plywood and 1×1 posts
• Measuring tape
• Screws – length will vary depending on your wood
• Drill with drill bits, and screwdriver heads
• Circular saw – for cutting the boards and posts
• Saw horses – to lay the wood on for cutting
• Clamps to secure the wood
• Jig saw to cut out the shoot holes
• Small staple gun
• Sander (optional)
• Hammer
• Hooks (I used ones with screws)
• Laundry bags we use ones with drawstrings to make them easy to hang and remove
• Velcro
• Fabric

Step 1: Measure and mark your space

I was working with a pre-built closet so there was a predetermined space I could use. You could also built it free standing with a few tweaks to the design.  I measured the lines indicated here:

I marked each space in pencil to indicate where I needed to place the divider, side posts, stabilization posts, the chute holes in the shelves, and, for our needs, the locks to secure the board to the floor. My plan was to cover the area with fabric so I measured the areas for where the stabilization wood will need to be but also where the fabric would lay and need to be attached in order to check my supplies.

Step 2: Prepare Your Supply List

After measuring I needed the following supplies:

• two 1×1 posts, one for each side
• a divider board to separate the two sides because I have twins and so help me if their items touch
• 4 1×1 support posts to hold the divider board in place
• A board to cover the front that would slide in and enclose the entire area
• Screws
  • 6-2 inch to secure the sides
  • 8-2 inch to secure the 4 support posts
• Two hasp locks (These should come with screws needed- if not you will need screws for these too)
• Two locks of some sort per preference

I marked out the posts and board to the specifications that fit our closet and used a circular saw to cut the posts and the boards to fit. (You could also use a hand saw but I hate hand saws because they are WAY more work)  Now I will be honest, I had to adjust some pieces once I had them cut and back inside because I am not very experienced and when making exact cuts they fit too tightly to work as I needed them to.

Step 3: Cut the wood

I needed to cut two different types of wood: plywood and posts. I measured out the sizes on both types and marked off cut lines.  Using saw horses and clamps I lined up the wood on the saw horses and set up for the cuts.

*TIP*

Use the safety goggles! Saw dust in the eyes is no joke. It hurts like hell and it is not something you want to experience if you can avoid it.

Step 4: Build the framing

I placed the divider board in first I had cut it very tight so I had to hammer it into place. Then I secured the support posts on top and bottom. Some people may have secured the divider itself but for my purpose the strength of the support posts works for us. They make it much more difficult for my little darlings to move or break it when I don’t want it moved or broken. This will also allow us to slide it out and replace it if they do indeed break it somehow.

Next I secured the side posts. Our intention is to be able to slide the front board into place so these posts are not secured directly to the shelf but yet to the walls on either side leaving clearance enough for the board to slide in behind the posts. This is a ridiculously simple diagram I created to try to show what the posts look like.

*TIP*

If I could do something different next time I would drill pilot holes before securing the screws so as to not split the wood which did happen in a couple places because I was not using very strong wood.

Step 5: Create the Chute holes

I have twins so I needed a chute for each of them, one on each side. We decided to cut these holes directly through the shelf already in the closet.  I started by drilling holes in each of the four corners of the boxes I marked earlier. This allows the jig saw to slide into place to cut the lines. Using the jig saw cut the chute boxes out of the shelf.  I sanded the holes down to minimize the rough spots but in the end I covered the holes with duct tape to ensure the clothes wouldn’t snag on the way in. I had to vacuum out the area after this because the saw dust was everywhere.

Step 6: Place Hooks

We decided to hang the bags using four mug hooks, one in each corner. Each side is a bit different because the guy we bought this house from, who built this closet, had no rhyme or reason in his design skills! I used the drill to make pilot holes for this step because I learned my lesson in the other steps and the hooks went in a lot easier with the pilot holes. After the hooks were in I hung the bags from each side.

Step 7: Insert and secure the cover

The cover board was already ready to go so all I had to do at this point was slide it into the space created behind the side posts. Of course I had cut it too exact and had to head back outside to trim a bit off the side to allow it to fit. Then I was able to slide it in with ease.  For our purpose we needed to be able to secure the cover with a lock so I had to attach hasp locks and we used small link locks on them.

Step 8: Make it pretty

We chose to cover the area with fabric to make it pretty. The boys came to the craft store with me to pick a fabric and ended up choosing this super cute fabric with planets on it:

At this point every project will be different. I measured where I wanted to fabric to be and decided to use Velcro to secure it because I need to be able to remove it to wash it because little boys are gross! And we have pets so there is a lot of pet hair everywhere but more importantly, little boys are gross.

I measured and marked where I would place the Velcro on the frame and the fabric. I secured the Velcro on the frame with a small staple gun and I plan to sew the Velcro to the fabric but for now it is stapled to the fabric but shhhh do not tell the kids! If they knew it was that easy to rip it off, they would! After the Velcro was secured the fabric was placed over the area.

I needed to cut the chute holes out so I chose to X cut the fabric over the holes and allow the triangular pieces to lie down through the holes. These can be tucked under or secured with Velcro if it becomes a need but for now this works!

So that is where we are as of now. I like the way it turned out and I am actually incredibly proud of it! The boys love it and they enjoy throwing their clothes into their chutes from various angles.  Now this is a big win for me because this means the clothes actually make it into the laundry bags! No more dirty clothes all over the floor yay for me! I consider this a Mommy Win!