Laundry Room Makeover
This is the story of my life. We are a family of four and yet, I wash three loads of laundry two times a week. That is six loads per week! Or broken down, it is 1.5 loads per person per week. Is this a lot for a family of four? Maybe I’m too clean? Regardless, with all the time I spend in the laundry room, I wanted it to be attractive.
Our My laundry room looked like this right before we bought the house:
So, I set to work and painted dark blue on the bottom 2/3 of the room and the same color with some white mixed in to the top 1/3 of the room. I also painted the windows and trim a glossy white. It is amazing how much easier it is to dust a newly painted surface (a definite must in a lint-filled laundry room.)
Next, I bought several sections of peg racks and painted them the same color as the trim. I screwed them into studs, or
if there wasn’t a stud to screw into I used Toggler anchors:
Then I set forth to cloak the biggest eye-sore in the room, the utility sink. All I did was cut a curtain down to size and used double-stick velcro. Then I hot glued some roped cording to the top. Abra-ca-dabra, it was sufficiently hidden.
Next I cut a piece of 1″ x 6″ pine to the length of my two windows. I rounded the corners with my jig saw and then used a router to give the edge a decorative finish.
After painting the shelf to match the windows, I mounted it to the wall with metal shelf brackets.
This gave me a sunny spot to rest my plants…
…and laundry supplies (Oxy clean powder, liquid laundry detergent and water spritzer for ironing wrinkles).
I also hung some drop cloth curtains that I painted stripes on (tutorial to come);
added a few letters above the windows;
and now I have a laundry room that I want to spend time in!
This makeover was very low budget. I had the paint leftover from our master bathroom. And the sink cover was one panel on clearance at Target for $3. The letters were $1.50 each and the drop cloths were $5 each. The curtain rod was stolen from another room in our house. And the shelf was from my wood pile. So, all-in-all, I spent about $25.
Some day I’d love to install cabinets with doors on them to hide all the supplies. But, until that day, I’m happy with the transformation.
So, am I the only one doing loads and loads and loads of laundry?
I love the double windows lets in a lots of natural light. I use one fabric shower curtain to make a sink skirt and window curtains .keep up the good décor.
Your washroom looks great! Mine is in desperate need of (another) make over…maybe over the Winter I can tackle that. We did most of the upstairs this last Summer (2 large bedrooms and a full bath), so I’m a bit burned out right now.
Btw, we are a family of 10, which mean I have to do 3 loads *a day* just to keep up! So yeah, I need a calming, nicer looking washroom!
Where did you get the containers on the window sill?? My laundry room has a long open shelf above the appliances and while some day I plan to revamp the whole space – I have other areas of the house that need more attention. All my supplies are stuffed in mismatched totes/baskets across the shelf. Those containers would make it look so much nicer – please share!! 🙂
Jenny, The candy jar is from a thrift store. The mister and wine shaped bottle were from HomeGoods or a similar store.
Love your laundry room! I have been debating on how to improve mine. It’s small and has no window, so it gets gloomy quick. Some of your ideas would work well in my space. Thanks for the inspirations!
Great laundry room. I am currently in the middle of painting my laundry room and would love to have a window to look out of. I am repainting the cabinets and the woodwork trying the lighten the area. Thanks for the great suggestions, maybe I can put them to work in another room.
I do ONE load of MY laundry a week. My daughter, age 16, does about a load a week of her own laundry and My Guy does his own laundry, about a load a week as well.
As IF I am going to get stuck doing all the laundry in the house. I already do everything else!!!
It looks great!!!
What a great transformation! I was planning on hanging up a shelve in my laundry room today along with picture frames on the wall. Why not make your laundry room pretty, it’s always neglected.
Amazing! I’m inspired to “finish” my laundry room. With 8 kids…I do alot of laundry! Might as well enjoy the chore! I love reading your posts and it gives me the confidence to try something myself, when DH is bogged down with everthing else.
Thanks, Carolyn
What a transformation! I love how sunny and bright the whole room feels with the big windows and plants and pretty curtains. Nicely done!
This is amazing and so resourceful. Awesome job.
I love the wall color. My favorite things are the containers for the cleaning detergents. I'm hosting We're Organized Wednesday through Saturday and would love for you to join the party if you get the chance.
Brittany,
I love it!!!
The blues make it looks so fresh!
As soon as I saw that first picture, I thought I spotted me a drop cloth. 🙂 You know I love me some drop cloths!
I have to make a skirt for my sink this weekend. Thinking of using burlap of course. We'll see.
I love the way you have your detergent and plants in the window. Beautimous!
Thanks for linking to my party!
xoxo
traci
great idea for the spray bottles…i will use that somewhere:)
I love the stripes and the cover around your sink. Very calming colors used. And I love your containers used for the soap!
It looks great! I love the colors! I also love the drop cloth curtains with the painted stripes…ADORABLE!!
Your laundry room looks great! Love the containers you used for supplies, your curtians, the paint….all of it! How awesome to have a window in your laundry room!
Your laundry room looks awesome!! I love the blue color and you are so lucky to have a window!!! Love it.
It was so fun to meet you and hang out at Blissdom. You are so sweet!
xoox
Jen
Love it, love it, love it! My laundry room is in a closet in our hallway so I don't have as much room to work with, but you've inspired me to try painting it and adding some accessories at least to make it a little more cheery!
I love the sink cover idea and can think of a few places in our home where that work work nicely!
Love your transformation, the fact that it was done with such a small budget makes it that much better. -Carrie
I am in the process of fixing mine up and really like some of the small things in yours. The nice bottles, the paper towel on the rod and the plants. Such a homey place. Great work.
What a beautiful laundry room! If mine looked like this, I might actually WANT to do laundry. Teehee!
Way to go, girl!
Wow! That is a great budget redo – $25? Looks great!
Love it!! so, so pretty! We are a family of 3, and I do 6-7 loads per week…
It's beautiful! I love gorgeous laundry rooms!
I love the change in there. I still have to finish painting mine. Trim and all. I need to do that this weekend! And yes, Laundry is never ending. I have a load that need to get in the dryer right now!
Your laundry room turned out amazing and I'm shocked that it cost so little! I would say anyone doing that much laundry in a week deserves to have a pretty laundry room!
Sweetie, what a transformation!!
Your laundry room turned out just amazing! All that natural light coming in awesome!! Love the blue color, too!
I am having a giveaway that ends today if you would like to enter!!
It looks great! And they are all inexpensive fixes, so I like it even more.
We're a family of two and we each do two loads a week. Our W/D are tiny, though, so maybe it would be the same 1.5 loads if we had normal machines. 🙂
Back in Sept I was seeing all these laundry room makeovers and I was in LOVE… however, I have yet to do it. I even made myself an ideation board and had a plan in place. Lots of hope to get it done in the new year! Yours will be my kick in the pants & reminder to get mine done! It looks great, we're a family of four and I do a TON of laundry as well!!
Beautiful makeover! I look forward to your curtain tutorial. How in the world did you get your floorcloths to look so white? Love it.
Monique
What a difference! Looks so much fresher and inviting now! And yep, hear you on the washing…it's never ending!
I am with you on the loads.. I too feel as if I am working a never ending washing basket, but the upside is that now that it's Summer we will mostly lounge around in bikinis and tunics, so the washing will reduce immensely!
I love what you have done to your laundry. The colours and style is great. Well done you clever girl!
x Charlotta
It all looks fantastic!! I especially love the letters above the window. Nothing like a window to look out when you're doing laundry. I have 4 kids, so there are 6 of us, and I do about 12 loads a week, so I don't think you do too many 🙂
Looks cozy 🙂
I would SOOOO love a laundry room with an outside window. I've never had a window in my laundry room….nope, never had one. I would genuinely love one! But eventually I'm going to have a lovely laundry room.
Just fantasic, love the shelf for the plants and the skirt and curtains!
You've inspired me. Love the sink skirt and the shelf. My laundry/mud room is boring beige and doesn't get much natural light. I've been thinking of painting it to make doing laundry more enjoyable. Like you I do approximately 1 load/person/week. That's a lot of time in the laundry room. It's nice to pretty it up a bit!
What a difference! It looks great. 🙂
It's so lovely! What I envy most of all is the window and the view of all the trees… I'd love to see that from my laundry room! I don't even have windows because my washer and drier are in my basement. 🙁
Beautiful job! Love the color and the shelf that you added! Also, I am having utility sink envy right now, I would love one of those!!
This is lovely! A really effect redecoration, especially on that budget. I wish I had a laundry room this appealing (well, actually, I wish I had a laundry room at all — hauling my hampers to the laundromat is my least favorite feature of my otherwise lovely apartment)
WOWZA! it turned out beautiful. This belongs in a home interiors magazine =) if you'd saw my laundry room, you wouldn't totally understand why I'm gaga about your laundry room.
I'd love to have you take a peek at my spaces and tell me what you think.
http://bargaincornerdesigns.blogspot.com
i just love it!
ok i love this room!! this gives me some inspiration to get started on my laundry room…if only i can convince the hubby to let me!!
I have a family of 7, I do 2 loads of laundry a day 6 days a week. Just thought I would mention that so you know you are not alone. Although I wish my room was that nice. It is in the corner of a room that measures 40'x20' in the basement that is not finished. I'm stumped on what to do with it.
$25 for such a transformation? Wow! You really know how to stretch that budget. It looks bright and cheery. My laundry "room" is a lost cause for now. It's in a very dingy corner of the unfinished basement. I kind of try to avoid going down there, and let my laundry pile up for two weeks before I'll cry uncle. Then I'll do it all in one day. The plus side is that it's just the two of us, so it's not THAT much.
How bright and cheery now. Love the blue and all your little touches. Great job.
What great inspiration! Thank you! I have been brainstorming how to make my own laundry area more user-friendly and pretty. You have given me some wonderful ideas.
Just lovely!! Feels much better to do laundry in a pretty room : ) LOVE the "sink curtain"
(maybe you could just hang a tension rod & hang a curtain over the closet area… to hide things?? ….. I used that trick before 🙂