Laundry room organization

This is a petrified shell I found in my yard.  The previous owners must have placed it there after a trip.

I don't have a very large laundry area but I am fortunate enough to have a space dedicated to the task.   A few years ago I used an old shutter and build a very simple shelf to stand up behind the washer and dryer for holding all the detergents and such needed to keep my laundry in tip-top shape.  Above this space was a wire rack shelf for things that needed mending, the occasional toy in time-out, and some swimsuits.    It was just not working.

For one, the shelf was so high I had to climb onto the dryer to get things down and it did nothing in the way of visual interest.   Second, the top of the storage cabinet couldn't hold anything too wide or it would interfere with the shutter door opening from the bottom out. 

A trip to the hardware store for:
 -a 1x10 pine board $7.00 (6' length but they cut it for me down to 56")
 -3 pine brackets from Lowes about $5.00 each.
-white paint (thank you Glidden free quart give away, still painting with it)
-3" drywall screws (from the spool shelf project)

With the odd storage assortment going on here I still wasn't very happy with the results.  I searched about the house, switched basket with plastic bin, with canvas until I found a few for this area.   I'm going to stop by the store to pick up one more for the end.   Yes, one is mint green, if I can find another in that color I'll be very happy.  If not, I'll replace it for white. 

Top off the area with a small painted birdhouse collection from my kids and I think this is a very cute, very functional area to work in now. 

Another petrified piece of wood this time.  Also found in my yard.  The previous owners had scads of matchbook cases from all over the place so I can only assume they traveled the country quite a bit and put all their found treasures into the flowers beds around the house.