Laundry Room Make Over

Our house has a laundry room. A fact that I am quite happy with. Our previous house had the laundry in the first floor bathroom and at the time, that worked for us. We had no kids and it was convenient to do laundry while doing anything. Plus, it wasn't on the same floor that we slept, so noise wise, it was great. Now, with 3 kids, a dog and the fact that we are all outdoorsy, muddy messes most of the time its nice to contain it all in a room - a room with a door that can be shut so we don't have to stare at the mounds of laundry that pile up.

But, my laundry room is in the basement and looked like this:

I don't know about you, but this is the most unmotivating room I can imagine. The almond cream walls, the oak trim, the metallic linoleum flooring, the stained laminate countertop, the almond cream appliances from 1987. It was a place of necessity and I knew that I could easily transform it.

Then I saw this:

and I thought, wow, this is a room that LOOKS clean, I can smell the fresh laundry scent coming from this room. I want this!!

After my hallway project, I was ready for a new painting project. I had the whole week with the kids and I needed to fulfill a need of accomplishing something. When I felt I had a few minutes, I grabbed the tape and decided it was time to tackle the laundry.

I did this the wrong way, let me tell you. I know I should have started by painting the trim and the wall all white. Instead I did the trim and I taped the walls. I think it was two fold why I did it this way, 1 - I didn't want to waste paint doing the entire wall and 2, I just wanted to see what the stripes would look like. This way I could satisfy my need to see progress. So, it started like this:

 

Once I started the blue, I had a slight moment of panic. This wasn't exactly the picture. It wasn't the bright, airy space from Pinterest. In reality, with that tiny little window and the fluorescent light - it never would be. The blue was left over from the boys room and the white was a half can I got off my Dad. This project was free, so, I could live without baby blue.

As we were wrapping it up, my husband and I decided that the white racks hanging off the doors to hand dry clothes may need a face lift too. I remembered a weird wooden thing we found in the basement closet. I could never quite figure out what it was for. There was a similar one in the kitchen when we bought the house, but it made more sense as just a shelf for plates.

I knew the minute I pulled this out of the garage that it would be perfect. The only problem was to find hangers that could rotate. I went through the closet and found just enough and lucky me they were wooden, so I painted those too. 

Ta da!! I actually have two more hangers and ended up hanging my door rack on there too to hold the ironing board. Its awesome, its functional, its pretty, it looks professional. One regret is that I poly'd the hangers and didn't do a light enough coat. The very bottom of the wood on the hangers has a bit of a yellow tint. In hind sight I would have made sure to do a really light coat - but, hey, its a laundry room.

 

The final touch was to get rid of the nasty table top. This proved to be a bit more difficult then I thought. Apparently, the wall is not a 90 degree angle and the table top was custom fit to the space. At first my plan was to paint the table, but honestly, I didn't want all that work. So we went to the Habitat for Humanity Restore and bought a tabletop for $10. We had to make it work, but I think it adds great pop. Plus, its for putting clothes on.

You will notice I also painted the nasty brown/almond light cover. This was so much easier then I thought. I slapped on some paint and sealed it with some Modge Podge and it blends right in. If only I could paint the thermostat :)

And now I have a full functioning, beautiful laundry room. The room pops with its vibrance and no longer turns me away from the task at hand - the never ending amount of laundry 3 kids and a dog create. 

I will officially call this room complete when we are able to get some tile in here and replace the 80's dryer with a new white one, but I'm happy.

A few of my favorite things

Since undergoing this renovation, there has been a lot of doubt. It's amazing the kinds of choices to make. Things that are so taken for granted in a turn key house. I can only imagine the choices building new. I love our doors but side by side to 6-10 other choices? Who knows.

What I do know is when something works. The most miraculous change in our house has come at very little expense. When articles say that for very little in $ you can improve the value of your house, they were never more right then with paint. Painting the trim has transformed our house from 80's rustic to modern, clean, and beautiful.

I have finally completed all the door frames upstairs. I am a couple coats away from every door (upstairs). I have most of the baseboard and finally hit the bay window and trim on the half wall to the stairway. The change is so dramatic.

One area I wouldn't have expected, the hallway. Taking the oak to white, adding a rug runner and some pro pics of my kids sleeping and it is one of my favorite places in the house. 

One picture of each kid as a baby sleeping. The gorgeous pic of the boys meeting their sister. An overstock.com wool rug, some white paint and it is completely transformed.

Photo credit Susan Simmons photography

Photo credit Carly Murray photography

Photo credit Carly Murray Photography

Reno in process.. or is it?

I don't think I could have foreseen the lack of funds we'd have and the lack of time.

The renovation, aka overhauling, of our entire house is slow going. Sometimes you need a little positive attitude to get you through. Christmas just ended, it's a new year and we have many of the same goals, and more new ones. 

What I have really learned through this all is that we will NOT be doing this again. If we ever sell this house, it better bank us a profit that covers a turn key, brand new house.

So, what have we recently done?

Little if anything. The end of the year left us very little time to do much of anything. We have accomplished one major thing - we have turned our living space into a plywood paradise. Take a look:

The kitchen:

This is the fancier of our plywood cause we stained it.

The hall:

The living room: 

The reason why nothing is done:

It's time to say goodbye

To our disgusting 30 year old carpet anyway.

After a bit of a potty training disaster, I realized I couldn't handle the nastiness that was maintaining a house full of old, stinky, dirty carpet.

This is a sneak peak at what was below!! Tons and tons of sand. 

So we will live with plywood halls for a while.

The stairs? Why did we not do this the minute we moved in?

Look at the difference, ooh ugh to ooh la la in a few simple steps.

The power of paint

I think back to when I posted the top 3 things to upgrade your house that show the returns.... Check out sweat equity post. I will say nothing is more true. Two of the 3 were paint and the kitchen. I love the open concept of our new kitchen, but what gives my husband and I more satisfaction- getting rid of the oak.

I'm a maniac trying to paint our trim. Shoot I would have never guessed looking at other houses what a difference trim will make. Every room that I get rid if the natural oak trim instantly transforms into a more modern, brighter space.

I'm on the kitchen. Just finished the babies room.

Trying to keep up

Summer is officially over and so starts fall. I am finally not pregnant and so its time to get back on the renovation train. We finally moved our pantry cabinet upstairs to the kitchen. It's not exactly in place because we need to move a light switch. We also have the giant cabinet placed above the fridge, we need to screw it into the ceiling.

It's an interesting design the brown next to the eggshell. I just like that the fridge is closed in.

My red door

I love a good New England home and I especially love a red door. I officially have one!!

I love it. But I will say I thought something wasn't quite that New England feel. So I think we'll paint the shutters.

What's awesome is that the awesome black hardware? That's my chipped, terrible gold hardware from 1987 with some spray paint. Whew hoo!

The inside: 

Hardware: 

It does chip a bit, but it looks awesome!! We also did a terrible light that was green with corrosion, I wish I had a before pic.

Cheap and looks like new! Ahh I love my red door!