It’s a dirty secret: Laundry rooms are often the sad stepchild of a home. Usually stuffed in some out-of-the-way space, they might as well be poor Cinderella for all the attention they get.

The good news is that you don’t need a fairy godmother to transform your sad laundry room into something splendid. A few good tips should do the trick.

Here are some suggestions from 5280 magazine:

Add color: Why work in a room as dingy as some cellar? Choose a bright color to liven up the space. “My approach is to make it cheerful and playful,” noted one designer. Because it’s a small space, colors you might fear to use in the rest of the house can be a delight here. Consider painting cabinets, or just the frame around the cabinets and adding solid color tiles, arranged in a pattern on the floor.

Use texture and pattern: Begin with one element you love and build around it. The key to making it work, a Denver designer told 5280, is to choose elements with “similar colors or shared palettes,” but allow the size or scale of the patterns to contrast.

Increase storage: Make a list of all the things you need in your laundry room. Then plan ways to organize them. In small spaces, that might mean simply adding attractive bins; in larger spaces, it can mean creating a “sleek storage setup” that includes more shelf space, a place to fold clothes and even a hideaway ironing board.

For pictures of great laundry rooms, click here.