Laundry Room Makeover
My most favorite room in our home, the laundry room! I have put many hours into totally redoing this room. And it is a room filled with "firsts" ie hanging a cabinet for the first time, hanging wallpaper, building shelves, and hanging a sliding door! Walking through this room makes me happy every time because I am just so dang proud of myself. I want all of my readers to know that same feeling.
When we moved into our home, the laundry room was
dark, cramped and had the standard wire shelf high above the washer and dryer. The doors opened into each other. Not only was that a problem because of potentially breaking the doors, but also because the door swing space made the room feel even more cramped. You had to dance around each other if more than 1 person was in the room. It was probably the worst room in the house. We started with paint to brighten the space. I used Sherman Williams Alabaster for the laundry room, bathrooms and bedrooms. It is a white with warm undertones, the perfect color for brightening rooms but not feeling sterile and cold.
Prior to buying our home, I had never independently used a power tool, power drills, saws or anything. I used to "help" my dad in his shop...you know how they start the nail or screw and then you get to drive it in? That and in a VERY controlled setting, dad helping me use the table saw, was the extent of my power tool usage. But this room was BAD, I knew we needed more storage ASAP. I asked him to help me build a shelf above our washer and dryer.
To build this shelf, we attached 1x6s to the walls vertically, anchoring them into studs, then placed the shelf on top of the brackets. With this project, he showed me how to use the power drill, circular saw, and sander. A fun fact about me is I realllly hate being bad at things and get frustrated easily when I do not understand how something works. Also, I really dislike being told what to do. So shout out to my dad for bearing with me while I learn. After completing other projects in our home, it took about a year for me circle back to the laundry room after adding the single shelf.
My husband was gone for 3 full days and I decided to flip the room to surprise him when he got home Sunday! Before I did anything "functional" to the space, I added beadboard wallpaper. It is very affordable at 20$. I originally overlooked that it was real wallpaper and not peel and stick however I went for it. You have to soak the paper and place it on the wall. Being honest, I did not do this perfectly. It was actually pretty hard and if you look closely you'll see air bubbles however I still love the look of it. I would seriously think about real wallpaper before jumping into it.. .and maybe watching more videos than I did.
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After wallpaper, The goal was add as much storage as possible, but within a reasonable budget. I wanted at least one cabinet and shelves. After looking at all the cabinet options, I decided on the cabinet below. It fit the price range and size range. It isn't real wood but the price was right and the directions stated only 1 person is needed to hang. The hanging system was easy to use by myself. The instructions were straight forward. I have no complaints! I painted the cabinets a slow light blue. They match our bathroom cabinets! Check out our master bathroom and guest bathroom on Instagram to see how everything in our home flows.
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After painting and hanging the cabinet, I hung 2 shelves using brackets and toggler dry wall anchors. Let me tell you, these anchors are the BEST. They are soooo easy to use. These are anchored into a stud on one side and the other side using these anchors! Based on the size they can hold 50-80 LBs. No more only hanging things where studs are, center it like you want to! :) I can't sing their praises enough.
Not only did I add cabinet and shelving above the dryer but on the opposite wall, I created a LARGE shelf above our water heater. I tried to convince my husband to build a shelf there for 2 years. But he thought it was a bad idea. So added it to my to do list! There is nothing fancy about this shelf. To create such a large board, I used my kreg jig for pocket hole screws and attached 5 1x4 boards together. To satisfy my husband, the shelf is easily removeable to access the water heater. Also, I feel it is important to add that there is no heat radiating off of our heater, therefore I felt was safe to add a shelf above it. But inspect yours first before doing the same thing.
To finish off the laundry room space, I created a sliding door. See my blog post and tik tok for more info! And hung my cast iron skillets using hooks and the same dry wall anchors! Here is a rough estimate of the total cost, not including items I had on hand including paint, stain, screws a wood glue.
Wallpaper- $20
Cabinet- $134
Brackets- $26
Wood for shelves: $30
Sliding door: $85
Hooks for cast iron: $6
= ~ $300
This project was 100% worth the money. It added so much storage space, especially above the water heater for those large awkward items like our mop bucket and cake stand. I love the cabinet storage for all of my cleaning products and random house hold items. This room makeover is completely doable for a beginner and will make a big impact on your home!
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