Don’t get the wrong impression…just because this project has taken two years to complete does NOT mean you will be overwhelmed with the results. But, it’s a definite improvement over what we had, and I actually enjoy opening the laundry room door now!

To begin, we started with this laundry room. Standard wire shelving, organized enough, functional.

Next, the game plan hit some bumps. First, the rug I ordered (and was basing my whole idea to stylize this space) didn’t fit quite right and had to be sent back. This translated into an entirely different wall color pick for the room. I think this worked out for the best, though, as “Soft Mint” by Glidden made this room feel SO much lighter/brighter (and dare I say, bigger).

Next, we built and painted a pedestal to go under the washer/dryer and house three laundry baskets. Cue the forehead slap…we literally couldn’t angle the room-width creation enough to get them INTO PLACE! So we took them apart and kept one section as a sort of riser to line up with our baseboards. I do feel the difference in bending over a few less inches to get clothes in and out, so the project wasn’t a total waste.

Since that debacle, we focused time and energy on the basement, and the laundry room was “good enough” – meaning there were a couple improvements checked off, but all of the laundry/cleaning supplies collected in here, and without a storage system for keeping it all organized, making it not too easy on the eyes.

Finally, I feel like this is a space we can mark off as done. I’m glad to see the cheapo 12″ wire shelving gone. In its place, we added a 16-inch deep piece of pine, primed and painted to match our trim, for a bit more custom/built-in look. We had a plethora of leftover trim in the same finish from our basement, so we re-purposed a piece of that along the edge to take it up one more notch. The two white bins keep supplies sorted into one of two categories…

WASH: detergent, softener, bleach, OxyClean, stain stick, Color Catchers, etc

DRY: starch, lint roller, dryer balls, defuzzing comb, etc

…and a roll of paper towels is close on hand, in the corner where we stash a small waste basket for lint, and our mop. I like that this corner is out of sight, when looking in from the hallway.

We finally have a place to store our laundry baskets that is NOT on the floor, blocking the machines, or on top of the machines to vibrate noisily while they’re running.

This was a big check off the list of house projects, and gets us one step closer to being ready to list the house! Stay tuned for details on THAT story in the coming weeks!