Laundry Room Makeover

Happy Wednesday friends, we have had a busy week over here. We had a sick kiddo over the weekend and have spent the past few days working on a fireplace project and installing a new (actually very old) back door. Can’t wait to share with you guys after we finish up.

Today, I wanted to share our laundry room with y’all. Like most other families, we go through way too much laundry each week. Like seriously, are there people living here I don’t know about? Laundry can so easily end up piled high on furniture, left in stacks somewhere or hanging out in the washer only to be washed 5 times before you remember to dry it. When we bought our house, I was a little sad that our laundry room was half the size as our previous house and determined to figure out how to make it functional for our family. We do so many loads of laundry each week and keeping laundry clean and preventing it from piling up helps save my sanity in life’s daily chaos. One of my biggest complaints about our space was not having a designated area to fold clothes and not having a spot to hang wet clothes that don’t go in the dryer. Here’s what our laundry room looked like shortly after moving into our house…

Not horrible, just pretty basic!

And this is what it currently looks like:

While I appreciated having cabinets above for storage, I couldn’t reach them without a step stool and the hanging rod was not functional due to its location and height. I was finding myself fishing out small pieces of clothing and items dropped between or behind the washer and dryer. In such a tight space, utilizing every bit of vertical space is essential. Since we have front loaders, it made sense to create a counter top above to provide the folding space we were after. In order to make the counter height functional, it also meant that our washer and dryer pedestals had to go. I knew I wanted open shelving where I could easily access supplies and organize items in bins, so losing the pedestals wasn’t a big deal.

Sean created a simple support structure and folding counter constructed of MDF around our washer and dryer, giving it a built in appearance. While I would have loved a marble or quartz counter, this was the most budget friendly way to go and gave us exactly what we really needed. After removing the cabinets from the wall,  it was shiplap time!

Next, more substantial baseboards were added along with farmhouse trim around the window to add additional character to this builder basic room.

The counter, surround, shiplap and trim got a few coats of our favorite white paint, Benjamin Moore Simply White. We added this black rod with hooks to the the back wall to create an area to hang wet clothing to dry. The shelves and corbels were added in place of the original cabinets and provide a larger storage area that works great with or without bins. Having open storage encourages me to stay organized.  Now that we have two busy little boys, most of our projects seem to go in phases as life allows us time to work on them. While we had finished most of the room, the ceiling never got painted and the horrible light fixture stayed way too long. A few weeks back, I decided I’d had enough of the unpainted ceiling and brought out my cutting brush and roller. I painted the ceiling and accent wall Benjamin Moore Wrought Iron. This cute light fixture I wanted from School House Electric is $299.00 and much more than we wanted to spend. I stumbled upon this light during a recent trip to Ikea and thought it would be perfect with a little transformation.

I gave the chrome hardware a few light coats of my favorite gold spray paint and it now has a similar look for only $29.99. 

Also, if you’re obsessed with botanical prints like I am, this 4 pack from Amazon is such a great deal! I ordered a set and they were perfect for the frame in the photo above. Our updated laundry space is so much more functional now. It is also the home to our most frequently used cleaning supplies. I keep this glass bottle filled with a mixture of my favorite all purpose cleaner on the counter top for quick access.

Dish towels and my favorite microfiber cloths are on the bottom shelf. I use these microfiber cloths with my all purpose cleaner to wipe down tables, counters, and just about all other surfaces frequently. Then, the towels are tossed in a bucket where they stay until ready to be washed in their own load.