I didn’t start with an ugly laundry room by any means, but when you spend SO much time in a space, I figured there wasn’t any reason not to make it more enjoyable!
Here is the laundry room as it was when we moved in. We were lucky to have a tile floor, cabinets and even a chandelier but it was just a little boring.
As I mentioned in our Home Goals post I also wanted to make it more functional, it goes without saying that with three kids I do quite a bit of laundry.
Here is the AFTER {I won’t make you scroll down!}
Its hard to see in the photos since the room has no natural light, but I painted the walls a pale blue color. I used my ironing board cover {Homegoods, purchased several years ago} for inspiration.
To give the ironing board a place to hang, I painted a wood plaque from Michael’s, drilled holes and installed cabinets knobs {similar} to hold the ironing board up. We did the same thing {except with hooks} for my Mom’s Craft Room.
The biggest need the room had– after painting it reduced the “boring” factor –was I wanted a large space to fold and sort laundry. Front loaders have disadvantages, but they make up for it by having all that great space on the top.
I measured the room wall to wall and purchased cabinet grade plywood which Home Depot cut to size. I attached simple wood molding to each wall to support the shelf.
I also used a molding strip along the back wall, as well as installing some inexpensive 12″ metal shelf brackets {I don’t have a picture} underneath so the wood would have some extra support in the middle.
I tacked a piece of molding across the front of the board so it looked a little prettier, and don’t be mistaken by the cleanliness of these pictures, the shelf is put to daily use with piles of laundry!
On the other side of the room, I hung some IKEA brackets {the come black, but I spray painted them matte silver, similar ones are HERE if you don’t live near an IKEA} with some standard small ready-made shelves from Home Depot.
Underneath, I added a some decorative hooks {also spray painted, similar HERE} to use to hang things to air dry. These shelves hold the laundry once its been folded and is waiting to be put away.
I added a few decorative touches, like this little sign which seemed appropriate for jobs that can get boring very quickly!
In between the washer and dryer I placed a small shelf like this one and filled it with some wire baskets {available HERE}. I will admit that this room is so much more functional now, but it also makes doing laundry a little nicer…and since the laundry doesn’t seem to end, I think it was worth the effort!
{Update: we’ve moved! You can see the progress in our new home HERE}
XO,
