Laundry Room Makeover

For a few years now, I had been wanting to have a pretty laundry room. Nothing super fancy just a place that I didn't dread to go to. Laundry is never ending in this house so I wanted a room that made me feel a little happy to go into. Maybe even make me smile a little.

In other houses, we have started projects and never finished them. In the last house we owned my husband built a pedestal for our front loading washer and dryer. It was nice to be able to store laundry baskets underneath them but I quickly learned it wasn't ideal for short people like me. I couldn't even reach the detergent dispenser and had to use a stool. It became a real pain in the butt! That's about as far as that laundry room makeover went. Epic fail!

This time, I wanted things to be different. I knew a pedestal was out of the question but I still wanted to liven up the place and add storage. We can never have too much storage. There's always junk that needs a home and the more storage I have the more organized I can be. It makes everyone's life better. What makes mommy happy makes everybody happy!

So on the agenda for the new laundry room was storage, storage, and some prettiness. I never got a true before photo but these will give you an idea of the mess I was dealing with.

As you can see everything is out in the open in a jumbled visible mess.

Junk and more junk just everywhere.

We needed a sort of mudroom type area to collect all the kid's shoes and school stuff. When we were building the house I found two benches on clearance at Target for only $35 a piece. Score! I measured and they luckily fit perfectly side by side in the little indention in our laundry room. I was thrilled and it was one less thing I had to wait for my husband to build. Like this built in cubby coat rack he made. It took a while but it was worth it!

I labeled the wicker baskets with some of our most used random items that we need easy access to. Like baseball gear, other sports, hats & gloves, and outdoor protection.

The hooks are there to throw backpacks, jackets, and hats on. We don't have a coat closet so this in invaluable in winter.

The large bins at the very top contain random stuff like light bulbs and paper towels.

Then there is, of course, a place to put shoes and maybe a cat.

To make the washer and dryer look better we decided to add a butcher block counter on top of it. No more things falling behind them or being shook off by the spin cycle! Let me tell you it's no fun when your washer shakes off an entire container of detergent. It's an absolute disaster that's a pain to clean up! We bought the counter top from Lumber Liquidators for around $180. It's just a builder's grade oak counter that my husband stained dark walnut. I think it turned out great!

I put the liquid detergent in a drink dispenser and everything else in some glass jars to class it up a bit.

There's even a spot for clothespins and money I find in the laundry. You can also tell in this picture that we put beadboard between the countertop and shelf as well as between the benches and coat rack. It helps give me that slight farmhouse feel I love.

You guessed it! More baskets were placed on the shelf to hide the rest of our junk. I bought them at Target. Actually, all of the laundry room decor in this room came from Target except the framed art. It came from, well, Framed Art.

Framed Art offers tons of prints that  you can customize any way you want. From the size, style, and even color. I chose a 3/4″ wide slim aqua frame with a satin finish and a 2.5-inch tablet white mat to finish it off. There are a variety of mat sizes and colors, even different types of glass you can choose from. Heck, if you don't want glass put it on canvas. It's possible at Framed Art!

My picture arrived in perfect condition and made it here quickly. It was securely packaged, not a hair out of place. It's great quality and super sturdy. My art is just leaning against the wall but if I had chosen I could have easily hung it with the hanger on the back of the frame. If you don't like what you receive all orders placed are backed by a 100% satisfaction return policy. I, however, absolutely love my framed art. It's one of those things that make me smile in this room.

See the shelf the framed art is sitting on? That piece is removable and there to hide ugly but necessary cords and such.

Otherwise, we'd be seeing this stuff and no one wants that.

Since we had space on both sides of the washer and dryer we put a laundry basket and a small trash can. They come in handy as you can imagine! For lent and random clothes the kids leave throughout the house.

Overall, I am really happy with my new laundry room and so is Pepper (she's not hangry right now)! This rooms now makes me smile despite the loads and loads of laundry I do weekly. It's almost a happy place I dare say.

How do you feel about your laundry room?

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