Wednesday, January 05, 2011

{laundry woes}

We all have that one space in our house that we are glad has a door, right?

One we can close when company comes over and pretend like the craziness behind it doesn't exist?

If you don't, please nod your head and agree with me...it will make me feel better.

That space in our home is our laundry room. Now don't get me wrong...I'm super happy to be able to say that we have a laundry room. In our old house, our laundry was in the basement. And it was an old house, so it was more of a dungeon. Needless to say laundry was not a fun task.

In this house, our laundry room is right off of the kitchen/family room so it is a HUGE blessing and makes doing laundry so much easier.

But this doesn't.



I can't believe I just showed you that.

I also can't believe that I thought about editing it in Photoshop first. Maybe if I brighten it up a bit and increase the saturation it will look better...riiiiight.

So that's the current state of our laundry room. I'm not proud. Not one bit. It needs A LOT of work, starting with taking down the cutesy laundry themed wallpaper border and painting over the baby blue walls.

Here is a photo of the room on inspection day to give you an idea of just how big it is, and how much potential it has...

photo

Pretty great, right?

And here is the view of the washer/dryer...

photo

This will definitely be a budget makeover so I'm using my creativity to think of solutions that will either be free or very low cost. A few things that I know we will need to buy include and ironing board and iron holder similar to this...




And I would like to replace the cabinet over the washer and drying with an open shelf or shelves similar to this courtesy of Jen from iheartorganizing...


While we're at it, can I have the fancy front loaders too? Target thinks I need them, so I must agree.

Said shelf would also require a trip to IKEA which I'm all about. We didn't make it on New Year's Eve, so I'm itching to get there.

We'll also need another laundry sorter, because the three compartment one we have now isn't cutting it. And a drying rack would be a good idea...our shower rod is currently doing double duty.

Sooo those are the basics of my makeover plans, but how about some fun additions while I'm at it?

Just yesterday morning when I was starting this post, I received an email from BHG with great budget laundry room ideas. I know God doesn't care about my laundry room but it really felt like divine intervention.

Here is one of the projects that caught my eye...




An entertainment center, painted and re-purposed for laundry storage. Love. And definitely something that we could score for next to nothing on Craigslist or at a yard sale.

I also perused Etsy for some art that would make whitening our whites a little more enjoyable.

These prints would be so fun hanging over the w/d...

http://ny-image1.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.194175333.jpg

And I love the sentiment and humor of this one...

http://ny-image0.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.161119676.jpg

Looking at the finishing details makes the work that has to come beforehand seem much more rewarding, doesn't it?

So that's my plan for now. First step is admitting you have a problem and I think I have achieved that feat, so next is the big clean-up. It has to get worse before it gets better, right?

7 comments:

~ B. said...

Oh the never ending laundry!!! I like the ideas you're coming up with. I need to spruce up my laundry room too. Have fun with it!

Amanda @ Serenity Now said...

I think you have a very doable list for yourself! You do have a great space, and I can totally relate b/c my laundry room is a mess, and it's much smaller. :) Love the prints you featured! I'm visiting from The Nester's Home Goals party. I hope you'll stop by my blog to say hi. :)

destiny said...

What wonderful ideas you have for the laundry room!! I love your inspiration photos!!

Caroline @ The Feminist Housewife said...

Cannot wait to see what you do with the space! It looks like you have some fabulous ideas and inspiration!

Kerri said...

I saw you on the Nester, and was intrigued by your laundry room plans; even though I do have new front loaders (in fire engine red...swoon), my room always feels like a disaster and its a place that I don't want to be. I think most of us have laundry rooms like yours, but aren't brave enough to admit :-). Looking forward to seeing where you go with yours, so I am going to follow you. PS. I also have twins boys. Perhaps that's where all the laundry comes from! Cheers, Kerri from MyDecoratingAddiction

Watkins35 said...

i love this post. I adore laundry/utility rooms, but yes, they're a nightmare to keep tidy if not careful. We're lucky enough to have one too, but we haven't updated it since we moved here 4 yrs ago & I have such plans for it. then it WOULD look good too - I love your ideas, it's def all about the storage & organisation. Good luck with it & thanks for the inspiration. x

Kim said...

I love this laundry room! When we moved we lost our laundry room and now have a laundry "walk way". It's a walkway from the garage into the house. No room for storage. This is when I would give anything for a basement too (no basements in Florida).

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