Laundry Room Refresh

For the past, ummmm, few WEEKS, I’ve been hinting I have a little remodel project to share with you.  But. 

Week after week.

Nothing. 

Probably like many of you, we’ve been suffering from the shortages and shipping problems plaguing the world.  So what started out as a quick little refresh turned into our laundry room being basically torn up for over a month.

I know many are running into these supply problems, so I won’t beleaguer the point.  But living with a mess in that room made me crazy.  As if I need help in the crazy department.

The solution is not to purchase anything from a physical store either, because store shelves do not contain what you need.

Why a Refresh?

This room doubles as our cats’ room as well.  Food and water dishes and litter boxes are in this room.  Our freezer is in this room.  It’s nicely sized and probably the most used room in our home.  It should be cute, right?

Now it is.

Here is what we, by which I mean mostly hub (of course) did:

Replace Old Cupboards

This is basically what started all the dominoes falling in this room.  When we had the cupboards redone in our kitchen remodel years ago, we had a lower cabinet installed in the laundry room.  It is lovely and has a marble top that matches the kitchen. 

But we never replaced the upper ugly cabinets.  Because after all.  It’s just a laundry room.  And who cares?  Bad decision.  One that came back to me.  Who ever knew I would care what the laundry room looks like?

Not only were the old cupboards unattractive, they were inefficient.  We stored many of our supplies under the washer and what was too tall had to be slanted.  It was a mess.

The new cabinets are taller with an extra shelf and we added a third one to fit over the freezer.  Much more storage.

Don’t ask me how this is related, but somehow the mess overflowed into our guest room closet.  It wasn’t all laundry room stuff, but once I started sticking that in the closet, everything else seemed to follow.

Motivation hit and purging took place as well as laundry supplies in the actual laundry room.

The bins under the washer dryer are now clean and tidy too.

New Paint

The light fixture we have in here looks very cool, but it is not very bright and the rooms tends to be dark.  Though the walls were a cheery yellow, we went with a lighter color.  We chose Sherwin Williams Drift of Mist.

The bad lighting means the pics I take with either my old camera or my iPhone just don’t capture the room well, so sorry about that.

Floating Shelves

I made an error on the first shelves ordered for the empty space over our lower cupboard they were too narrow to be useful.  But they are super cute and now have a nice home in our guest room.

The floating shelves we ended up using house this cute, yet utilitarian basket which holds sunglasses.  When they get plopped in right from the garage it saves lots of time hunting for “where did I leave my glasses?”

Is that tiny succulent adorbs?  Found it in what I call the dollar store section of Target.  Three bucks.  Score.

Art

We’ve had the same art in the laundry room for 20 years +.  I liked it all those years, but time for a change.

And then.  I found the perfect piece of art I love but I didn’t read the online description very well.  Because when it came it was A) unframed and B) huge and wouldn’t fit in a standard frame.  Ugh. Another error on my part.

After searching several stores for a workable frame, we found something not perfect but serviceable.  And part of the top of the print had to be trimmed.

I still love the art though.  “Laundry Day Bluebirds” from Art.com are perched on a clothes line.  Nostalgic and such pretty colors.

“French Laundry” from Walmart.com far exceeded my expectations and is perfect next to the shelves.

Two giant safety pins were an Amazon bargain and add to the fun in this room.

John spray painted the ancient key holder hooks we have.  No need to improve on that system because it works and now the color works too.

Metal Laundry Caddy and Detergent Containers

Also from Walmart.com, we have a very stylish and convenient way to store everyday cleaning products, Oxyclean and Downey beads (referred to in this house as “stinkem”) in vintage containers. 

Many thanks to the wonderful hub who did most of the work in here.  The results make me happy.  I’m now motivated to start working on cleaning and organizing other areas.  Why is it so hard to part with old junk?

As always, thank you for sharing my journey.  Blessings on your week.