Laundry Room Make Over DONE!

I want to start off showing some befores.  The room wasn't a total mess.  It had great bones to work with.

Since our washer and dryer were on their way out, we decided to spring for new.  With that came inspiration to make the area more user friendly.

Here it is!!

Our basement is unfinished and we have no future plans of finishing it...at least not anytime soon.  So, I had to work with what I had, and on a very tight budget. 

The first purchase, besides the washer and dryer, was paint.  While at Home Depot, I was able to snag a can of "Oops" paint for $5!

That is the pinkish color you see in the area.  We had quite a few cans of paint left at our home when we moved in from the old owners.  One of those cans was an unopened can of oil base white ciderblock paint!  The walls got a refresh.  I used primer for the white stripes because I already had it.

For the shelves, I tried to use what I had already, which ended up working well.  The only items purchased were the pictures on the top shelf for $5 each!  The frames came from the dollar store.

The baskets are from Ikea.  I had them sitting in the basement already and spray painted them white.  They hold dryer sheets.

 

The jars are filled with the lint traps and Oxy Clean.

I have a small stool, purchased from a garage sale years ago for $1, I use because I am too short to reach items on the top shelves.  It needed a face lift.

As for storage, the baskets, jars, and vases all came in handy.  Who doesn't have most of these items around their home??

I used the vases to hold sponges, scrub brushes, any other misc. cleaning items.

I need to work on this area, which is to the right of the dryer.

After that, this area is fully complete!

Items I already had:

- Ikea Hamper

- Ikea baskets

- Ikea laundry organizers (black and white)

- Stool

- Jars

- Vases

- Rag Towels

- Shopping bag holder

Here is the break down of what I spent:

- Hot and Cold Pictures from Joann Fabrics - $5.00 each

- Black Frames from the Dollar Store - $2.00

- Paint - $5.00

- Spray Paint (2 Cans) - $6.00

- Iron Holder from Bed Bath and Beyond- $10.00

- Mop and Broom Holder from Home Depot (under the stairs) - $5.00

Total ------$38.00!! (made a small error and forgot both pictures were $5 each, my bad)

Hope you enjoyed my mini make over that made a BIG difference!

Update: Laundry Room

I know it has been awhile since I have talked about the laundry room remodel.  December set me back a little.  But, I have been working on it when I have the time.  Let me fill you in a little...

Clint put up an ironing board organizer that holds our iron and the board.

And he also hung a mop and broom holder.

The mop and broom holder was installed under our staircase.  Out of sight, out of mind.

I also found a great organizer for unused shopping bags!

I had bought a few baskets from Ikea and decided to spray paint them white, to give them a softer look.

Before

After

Still not sure what I am going to put in them, but I will figure it out.

  As far as painting, I used an oil based white paint (left in our basement by the old owners...score!) on the cinder block walls.  The walls now look more clean and bright.  There are three shelves next to the sink that I decided to paint.  As you can see, I am still in the process of finishing them.

For accessories, I stopped in a local Joann Fabric store that is closing and found these adorable pictures to set on the shelves, 40% off!

I still need to buy frames for them.  I thought the hot and cold was cute for a laundry area.

I apologize for the dark pictures.  One other item on our list is to purchase new fluorescent light blubs.  Most of ours are burned out and I keep forgetting to pick up new ones at Home Depot.

So there you have it!!

Sneak Peak and New Projects

Last weekend, I worked hard to get most of the painting done in my laundry area.  I didn't completely finish, but here is a little look at what I did to one wall....

The wall is made of wood boards which reminded me of a project I saw on Young House Love when they painted their front porch.  Wait till you see the finished look!

With all this basement cleaning up, I decided this winter, we are going to tackle another area.  I call this room, Clint's room, because all the tools are in it.  But As you can see, most of my art supplies take up the room.

The room has some great features, like the vise....

....a few built in cabinets...

...and it is enclosed. 

Someone took a lot of pride in this room.  Here is the very ugly part.  There are these, not so attractive, home made storage shelves.  The wood used was pieced together and at times, they decided cardboard would be a good backer instead of dry wall or plywood.

I give them an A for effort, but that is where it stops. This winter, I would like to repaint the room and cabinets, along with installing new shelves.  Just make it a more organized space and not so hard on the eyes.

Any suggestions you think may help with cleaning up this space? 

Laundry Room Plans

Saturday, the new washer and dryer will become part of the family!  Now begins the fun winter project!  I would like to make an organized laundry area in a yucky, unfinished basement.  We have no plans of remodeling the basement, due to the many problems we have had with our drain backing up.  Plus it cost money...something we don't have enough of.  :-P

Here are the befores:

I know...ew.  Luckly, I have good bones to work with.  The shelves were already up when I moved into the house.  Say goodbye to the off-white washer and dryer!  Bye old friend. 

At the moment, this is our current dirty clothes storage.  The wicker hamper is for towels.  The hanging hampers, I got at Ikea for $5 for a set of two.  We have to keep most of the storage off the floor because the in fear of the drain backing up.  (Note, it doesn't back up often, maybe once a year, but when it does, ewwwwwwww...Mainly from tree roots.) 

Not to mention, I have a very sneaky kitty that likes to use buckets or laundry basekets as a litter box.

On the other side of the dryer, is more storage.

So thats the tour. 

The Plans...

I don't iron often, but when I do, it is a pain to drag out the ironing board and find a plug for the iron.  So I wanted a solution for that.  Here is what I wish I could have.

Image courtesy of Apartment Therapy

But, money will not allow this to happen, at not least right now.  Ikea use to have a cabinet with this option, but I can't find it on their website.  Anyone know if they discontinued it?  So here will be the cheap solution from Organize.com.

This way, everything will be stored in one place and easy to access.

We would need storage for the brooms and mops.  I have a broom closet in my kitchen, but I don't like to keep wet mops in it.  Not a pretty smell.  This is also at Organize.com.

Paint. 

I was lucky enough to find another, opps can of paint at Home Depot for $5! 

Here is the color.

Kind of a pinky/tan color.  I thought it was neutral enough and for $5, it works!

As for the shelves, I have a bunch of Ikea basekets I plan to use and other odds and ends.

This weekend, the paint will go up, along with the welcome of the new additions!

New Purchase

When I moved into my home almost 3 years ago, a very old Whirlpool washer and dryer came with the home.  I don't know the exact year of the appliances, but I would guess over 15 years.  Actually, the washer is making a horrible noise and is not spinning all the water out.  The dryer is not drying the loads after 70 minutes.  They have done their job and are now being retired.  RIP

Welcome the new GE Washer and new GE Dryer!

Washer:

Dryer:

Yes, I know.  They are not the super cool, modern looking front loaders.  When it came down to it, I didn't mind the top loader and old fashion design.  Clint wanted the super trendy ones and I will admit, I did like those more.  Our appliances are stored in the basement so no one, but I, look at them.  I couldn't imagine spending more on looks, when these two will do the job for us.  The tubs in both are stainless and as you can see, the washer is an energy star!  Something I learned from the sales person at Lowes, dryers do not come with the energy star.  Interesting.  But I am very excited to welcome them to my home.  They will arrive on Saturday!

Now for a project...creating a functional laundry area in my not-so-pretty basement.  That will be my winter project.  I already scored a $5 can of paint from Home Depot that was on the "oops shelf".  Look for the budget remodel in the next upcoming months!