Making laundry easier

So, I’ve been doing lots of laundry. Laundry of epic proportions. I’m FINALLY determined to get our master closet under control. In true Sarah form I had to think about it for about a year but I’ve finally come up with a plan I think is going to give us tons of storage and be really functional. And maybe even pretty. :)

But first I’m doing every bit of laundry in the house. I hate laundry -- have I mentioned that once or a thousand times? I’m hoping to overcome that soon. Since I spent most of my day in the laundry room yesterday I decided to tackle a little project I’ve been meaning to do for a while.

Did you know you could switch the direction your dryer door opens? It’s a little thing, but if you’ve lived with one that opens the “wrong” way you know that it gets annoying after awhile. With ours we were trying to lean over the door to get clothes from the washer to the dryer, and leaning over it again to get clothes out when they were done.

I switched the door direction on our old dryer too so I knew it was a fairly easy job and decided to try this one. It took about 15 minutes start to finish – our old dryer (the old school kind) was even easier to switch.

Of course yours may be a little different but here’s a rundown on how I did it. First up, take the actual door off the machine:

I used a drill to speed things up a bit. Be careful because DANG the door is heavy. I looked at the instructions in our manual later and it warned in big fat words, “DANG THE DOOR IS HEAVY, BE CAREFUL.” OK the dang wasn’t there, whatever.

Just set it to the side for a moment:

On the other side there will be similar holes for the screws – mine were covered with little plates I just popped off:

Go ahead and just put those where the door was hanging before:

Then it was time to switch the hardware on the door. I laid it on the carpet and then took the screws out:  

Then used a flat head screwdriver to kind of pop the top part off. That part made me sweat a little but the instructions said to do it so I listened. It came off pretty easily:

I took the top part of the door (the one on the top above) and switched the little latch (the latch that keeps the door shut when you close it):

You just flip flop the hardware from one side to the other.

Then you do the same with the actual hinges on the bottom part of the door (the one on the bottom in that picture above):

You just take the screws out and then reinstall it on the other side. After the hinges are switched just put the top back on and screw it all together again. That’s it!

If you have a screwdriver you can do this, it really is easy. We have an LG set so if you do too yours will be pretty similar I’m sure. Even if it’s a different brand, they're all made to do this. (I think anyway.) Like I said, switching the door on our old dryer took even less time – maybe five minutes.

I got the door back on and it works – score one for me!:

And now the transfer of clothing is easy breezy. It really is the little things, yes?:

Although now I keep trying to open it from the original side, which I’m sure I’ll do for a full six months before my brain comprehends it.

Now I just have to finish the piles sitting in our bedroom. Anyone want to come over? No?

Did you know you could switch the direction of your dryer door? Next I plan to do the same to the mini fridge in the basement. :)