Laundry Room: Before and After

So in the midst of all of these home renovation projects (new floors throughout, new kitchen,
paint...) I decided it would be a wonderful idea to add a pocket door into our laundry area. Previously we had a regular door, and it just took up a lot of space in an already crowded area. Little did I know just how much time and effort was involved in this pocket door. We are talking moving electrical and water lines, new drywall...the works! So I was going to have to repaint the laundry room anyway, and I had one of those "while I am at it..." moments. So since I was going to have to get new paint for the room anyway, I thought why not have some fun with it and add a stripe or something. Then I thought that the shelves were not really doing anything for me, so I decided to get some baskets for them. Then I thought, "you know, those pantry cabinets sure are nice...one would fit there I bet...", and it just all spiraled out of control from there. But I am so happy that it did. I love the results, and now laundry isn't such a choir anymore! Don't get me wrong, it's still a pain....but at least I can be in a room I love while doing my least favorite housework!

This was the room before the makeover....

As you can see, the space was (sort of) functional, but not pretty or happy at all!

And now....

This is as you enter the room. Now that we have the pocket door, we had room to add a tall pantry cabinet, which adds SO much storage! I could put crown molding on top of the pantry cabinet, but I really like my basket up there, so I am thinking of leaving it open. Thoughts???

This is the folding counter. I just took the shelf from before and moved it down to about bar height. It is very functional. The washboard cabinet was made by my dad for my Nana. When we moved into our home, she gave it to me. I love it!

This grouping was so easy and cheap! The flowers are fake (I wish I could grow something that beautiful!), the vase I had, as well as the candle and frame. The fabric came in a little craft pack at WalMart, for like 9$. There were 5 fabric squares, about 2 yards x 2 yards each.

This is what I did with the rest of the fabric. Just covered 1x1 squares. So easy and cheap. One of the fabric swatches was polka dots. Really cute, but didn't really go with the room. So I just used the same fabric that I used in the frame again.

This is the grouping on the dryer. The lamp I had, and the tray I had bought on sale at Target a while back for like $5. The "B" has been floating around our house looking for a home since I bought it at Garden Ridge about 6 months ago, and I think it finally found it's resting place! The birdcage I also got at garden ridge (last week) for $5. It was marked off from $20. If you look closely, you will see that it houses our dryer sheets!

If you know me well at all, you know I LOVE baskets! I got these on sale at Michaels and I just love the color and texture of them. I wanted taller ones, but these get the job done, and look great!

Things in our house must have labels (and even then they don't always find there way home!) so I knew I had to label the baskets somehow. I found these tags in the scrapbooking section at the craft store, and just wrote the contents and tied them to the baskets with twine I had at the house! Presto! So easy!!

This is a peanut style jar that reminds me so much of the one my grandparents had when I was a kid! They actually kept peanuts in theirs...I will settle for loose change! Right now, we just have a few loose pennies! Sad!!!!

Hope you all enjoy my beachy new laundry room!!!!


-R