A few days ago I walked into the laundry room and it hit me that it was looking a little tired. The cabinets needed dusted and maybe a little paint touch up. The laundry basket was overflowing with who knows what and the tile grout was well – I’m not even gonna go there! It was time for a laundry room mini makeover!
A few years ago we remodeled our laundry room. I didn’t take pictures of it back then. It was just a small rectangular room that had a shelf and clothes hanging bar that ran the length of the room over the washer and dryer. The hook ups for the washer and dryer were not even side by side, they were at opposite ends of the room. All I can say about it was that you could wash, dry and hang up your clothing. Oh, and have a small amount of storage. But that was it! The hubs built shelving, relocated the hookups and installed a countertop on top of the washer and dryer. I repainted the walls and shelving, bought baskets for the shelves , hung a curtain to give Firehydrant, the cat, some privacy for her personal matters, hung a three hook rack and decorated the room. This was no mini makeover this was an almost total face lift! But I loved it. Until now.
You can see from the picture above it was looking a little tired. A lot little cluttered. Time for that mini makeover!
I started by removing everything and cleaning. Then I removed the shelving and got some black and white wrapping paper that I had and cut it to fit the back wall. I installed it with glue dots. This way if I decide that I want a new pattern or no pattern tomorrow I can easily change it out. Plus, it was way cheaper and easier than wall paper!
I originally had large brown wicker baskets to keep stuff organized and contained. They were great for towels etc but, when I put in laundry soap and cleaners they were way too heavy. I had these smaller baskets from my craft room that I wasn’t using any more and decided to go through and reorganized, decrapify ( new laundry term!), and split up the heavier items into the smaller baskets.
I hate to admit it but, I scrubbed the tile grout for over an hour on my hands and knees before it came clean. Apparently we came in and out of the garage way more than I thought. I had always avoided a rug in here because (a.) it was such a small skinny room and (b.) I have a psycho cat that loves to tear stuff up! At night she is put in her bed and the door is closed to keep her from going on a wrecking spree. I decided that I will just put on my big girl panties and pick it up at night and replace it in the morning. Way easier to wash a rug than scrub the grout! I also bought Firehydrant a new bed that I put into an extra basket that I had. She hates loves it! No, really, She does.
I am a creature of habit. Since I moved everything around I decided that I had better put these tags on the baskets so that I could find everything. Plus, it didn’t hurt that they were super cute!
I also bought a new laundry “basket”. I like that when I am not using it it will collapse and I can store it. SNORT! Like that is gonna happen! But it might…. in an alternate universe. I also recovered my little bitty “trash can” with the same paper that I used on the back wall. Yup, makes me happy when it all is co-ordinated!
So here is my finished laundry room mini makeover. Clean, reorganized and updated – just a little! I love that it feels so fresh and my hubs loves that it didn’t cost him very much since I had almost all of the stuff to give it a little face lift. I bought the new pet bed – $12.00, new laundry basket – $10.00 and the rug $15.00. All were on sale, cuz that is just how I roll. The only thing that I didn’t do that I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want to do is find a mini chandelier to hang in here. Still on the hunt for that!
New room – or it feels like one – for under $40.00. Score!
Until next time….