Wash. Dry. Fold. Put Away. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

This photo shows you what my clean, freshly folded laundry looks like. Can you tell that I worked retail in high school and college? 

But the real genius of this photo isn't in my ability to fold shirts as if they were wrapped around a clipboard (without actually having to use a clipboard). It's the location of these shelves. 

I'll give you a hint: it's not my closet.

This is my new, brilliant idea for reducing the number of steps in the laundry process.

Maybe you're better at laundry than I am. But more often than not, I get all the clothes washed and dried, most get folded (eventually), some get put away in dressers and closets (occasionally). And nearly every time, there's one straggler load that languishes in the dryer, where the rumpled clothes lie completely forgotten until the next round of laundry cycles through.

But these shelves? They could change everything.

No, they're not magic. They're in my family room.

These shelves are part of the beautifully remodeled wall in my family room, which is conveniently located beside my laundry room. I'm thinking that if I just designate certain shelves to each family member, then I can fold and store all our clothes in here.

That way nothing has to get carried upstairs, nothing has to get put into drawers -- and when I'm rushing the kids to eat breakfast and get dressed before school, everything will be right there where they can see it!

Plus, it will provide seasonally accurate decorations for the room -- as our wardrobe moves from winter to spring, the colors in the bookcases will adjust accordingly (note the Christmas jammies in the photos).

The only real flaw with this plan? Where am I going to put all my books?