I really do though...
Anyway...
Speaking of laundry rooms!! Ours needs help. Intervention-level help. It's my project room right now, and I'm trying to make it more.. happy. Because since we moved in, this is what I see every time I go out to the garage.
Isn't it lovely?
I'm guessing the lady we bought the place from was in the process of fixing the casing that a dog mangled, and just never got around to it. I know how that goes.. I'm a master at not getting around to it.
I have this crazy idea in my head to replace all the door and window trim in the house with farmhouse style/craftsman style trim. Is that insane? It feels insane. But I love the look..
Also, notice the blue trim? The lady who lived here before painted most every room in the house, but instead of leaving the trim the way it was, she painted it whatever color she happened to be putting on the walls. We've painted pink trim, blue trim, green trim... We've painted a rainbow of trim. Tyler bears it all like a champ. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have ever noticed it if I hadn't pointed it out...
I keep getting distracted. Sorry. This is a rambly post.
Door trim is not what this post is about. But I wanted to show you what I'm up against in this room.
Honestly, the view from this angle isn't that bad, now that I've got it de-junked and cleared up. It was becoming a catch all, and I put a stop to that before it got out of hand. We have to walk through this room to get to the garage in the mornings, and I hated having to step around stuff and only being able to open the door halfway because there was a box in the way. Clear walkways do a lot for your mental health.
The first thing I did was find another home for the ironing board. I wanted to hang it over the door leading to the garage, but it's one of those thicker, exterior doors, and the little plastic hooks I picked up wouldn't fit.
They do however, fit over the linen closet door.
They were cheap. $2 each or something like that. So I figured if they didn't work out, I wasn't out much there. But they work fine to hide the necessary, but less than aesthetic parts of life.
Back to the laundry room...
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| Btw, don't you dig the pencil sharpener? Yeah, that thing didn't survive this project... |
Ahhhh... that made a big difference already. I also hunted down a wall plate for that plug that the washer plugs into. Walmart didn't carry it, which blew my mind (walmart normally has everything along those lines..) but I finally sniffed one out at Lowes to cover the exposed wiring. That also made the room feel better.
I'd seen (on Pinterest.... See?! See what it does to me!) some laundry rooms where people put a little shelf over the washer and dryer. It looked super useful and hides the pipes and plugs. It's a two-fer.
When I put in my closet's new shelf system, I took out the wood shelf that was in there (and is in all the other closets). It's been hanging out in various corners of the house for months. Turns out it was just about the right size to go here (after sanding off a bit. It was a hair too long). A few shelf brackets later, and I have a shelf to put stuff on!
But I wasn't about to stop there.
You see that cabinet? The one with the upside down door? It has bugged me since the very first time I saw it. With its upside-downness, and lack of styling options. It didn't even have a knob! It's MDF and thermofoil so I didn't want to put too much effort into it, but I didn't feel bad pulling it off the wall either.
Yep. I'll be painting over that...
After scouring the internet for layout ideas for small laundry rooms-
Wait. Have you tried that particular search? Seriously. Go try it. I'll wait..
....
What did you find? Big laundry rooms. Are laundry rooms this size really that rare? I feel like every example (real bloggers, or the "that isn't used for real laundry" rooms) are at least 3 times this size. Maybe I'm not searching right. But I get the same results for entryway and foyer ideas. Small foyers seem to not exist on the internet.
Anyway, rant over.
I decided I didn't want a wall of cabinets in here. I thought it might feel too confined and squeezed in. So I opted for a smaller cabinet in each corner with open shelving in the middle. And the space between the washer and dryer is the perfect size for a 12" base cabinet.
I was considering Ikea cabinets, but the closest one is 4 hours away, and shipping was going to be about twice what the cabinets themselves cost. No thank you.
So back to Lowes. I found some unfinished cabinets there. Two 18" wall cabinets and one 12" base cabinet. Nothing too fancy, but they'll do for a laundry room. The base cabinet was even marked down $13 because part of the bottom (that you don't see) was chipped and it was dirty. I jumped on that like a big chunk of dark chocolate.
My sweet, long suffering husband (he's a saint, ya'll) waited in the car while I dragged a cart from one end of the store to the other and back again getting everything I needed. Once I had them back in my lair craft room, I took the doors off, spread it all out and got to sanding and painting.
The paint I used is a white high gloss acrylic enamel paint. It's a Sherwin Williams/HGTV brand that Lowes carries called Ovation. I've been very pleased with it. It gives a great, even finish and smoothes out very well. And it's readily available.
I love that you can see the wood texture through the paint. Although I think I'm in the minority on that.. I've seen many people talk about how that is less than desirable. But I love the natural texture it gives. It makes it look... not plastic.
Like I said, great finish.
I'm not going to give a tutorial on how to hang cabinets. There are plenty of great ones out there (I read them, believe me), and their tips are way better than any comprehensive review I could do.
I will say though, it's nerve wracking when you can only hit one stud per cabinet. I didn't think the 18" all the way through.
I put 4 screws into that one stud. I won't be putting much that's heavy in these (the laundry soap stays on the shelf), but still.. The other one did manage to hit 2, but it wasn't easy. Kinda had to drill sideways.
One thing I will say: Get Cabinet Screws.
Not drywall screws.
Not the screws you have left over from that last project.
I used GRK brand, and I was very impressed with them. They didn't strip at all, slid into the studs like a hot butter knife. The only issue I had was the one where I drilled sideways, and that's no fault of the screw.
I love the hardware. I wanted pulls, not knobs. And I wanted something kinda... cottagey? Is that a word?
I'm making it a word.
Getting these things straight nearly drove me insane. The drawer still isn't, and I'm gonna have to fix it, but I just called well enough done for the time being.
It's not quite a "tadaaa!" yet. I still have a lot of work to do. I'm going to make the door in the base cabinet a pull out recycling bin, and DIY a wood countertop. I'm also going to stain the shelf the same shade as the counter once I make it. And of course, painting the wall, shelves on the open section, and pretty laundry room themed decor. =D
But hey, it's progress. And progress is good.
Lots of work, but sure does look GREAT ! 2 cabinets make the room look much BIGGER. !!
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