Laundry Room Makeover

Earlier this year, I decided to take a little time away from blogging so that I could focus on finishing some to-do projects that have been on my list for years. The laundry room was at the top of that list. Now that the makeover is complete, I’m excited to show you how our laundry room went from scary to serene.

Okay, no makeover story is complete without a few good before pics…

When we first bought the house, I was thrilled to have an actual laundry “room” and not just a closet or a washer and dryer in a humid garage. But it was in pretty awful shape. There had been a leak in the washer valves, which went into the floor. So when we tore up the nasty brown linoleum, we discovered that the subfloor was totally rotted.

Nice, huh?

The old brown cabinets were falling apart and smelled so musty that I didn’t even want to put cleaning supplies inside them.

The previous owners left behind some interesting stuff in the laundry room…like an anatomy poster

And a load of laundry in the dryer.

Okay, moving on.

My goal for the laundry room makeover was to make the space practical and pretty, and to spend as little as possible. Sure, if I had an unlimited budget, I would have switched out the fluorescent lights for a pretty chandelier and replaced the utility sink with a farmhouse sink. But that just wasn’t in the cards. And while the lights and sink aren’t pretty, they are very functional, which is what you need in a laundry room.

The first order of business was replacing the rotted brown linoleum with gray tile. I liked the almost concrete look of the tile we chose, and it was a great deal from Home Depot. We also got a new washer and dryer set. I’ve heard mixed reviews about front loading washers, so we opted for a high efficiency top loader instead. It’s great and holds a ton.

(See that cute accordion wall hook? I picked that up for $1 at a thrift shop and painted it white. Score!)

Next, we tore out the old brown cabinets. We replaced the upper cabinets with open shelving. I bought some black brackets and spray painted them gold. Then I lightly stained a couple pine boards from Home Depot and we mounted them to the wall. It was a pretty quick and easy project.

(I should note that I didn’t really “pretty up” the laundry room before taking these photos. I wanted you to see how we actually use the space. So, yes, that’s a litter box in the lower corner of the photo and drippy paint cans on the shelves. Also, this space is really hard to photograph because it’s pretty small, but I tried my best.)

We replaced the old lower cabinets with a freestanding cabinet that I found at a thrift store. I painted it white and changed out the hardware. It’s on casters so I can move it around, if necessary. I also added a small shelf above the utility sink. My dad actually made that shelf for me when I was a little girl, and I think it’s been used in every house I’ve lived in since college.

I thought about installing a wall mounted drying rack, but instead I just put up a light gold tension mounted shower curtain rod that cost about $10 from Target.

(Fun tip: I found these bendable foam hangers from Amazon, which are great because they don’t leave indentations in the shoulders of shirts when they’re air drying.)

And, obviously, the biggest change in the space is the wall color. I painted the walls with Sherwin Williams Needlepoint Navy. I love how it turned out. It’s like navy with a touch of gray. I also painted the wall boxes for the security system and circuit breaker, to help them blend in. I hung a large Ikea print that I got at a thrift store in front of the circuit breaker to lighten up the space a bit. The rug was previously in our kitchen (I got a new kitchen runner) and the pretty basket where I put the ironing is a hand-me-down from my mom.

So that’s it! I hope you enjoyed seeing our laundry room makeover and maybe picked up a couple tips that you can use in your space. I have to admit – I still hate doing the laundry but this has made it bit less painful.