Laundry Room Makeover

I decided that if I makeover my laundry room, the new surroundings will make me want to do laundry. That makes sense right? Someone please tell me this is true. Please??

This is what my boring laundry room looked like when I started this project. Drab, builder grade off-white paint and super small.

Before I get into the makeover, let's talk about my sheer distain for both my washing machine and dryer. 

First the washer. There is no soak feature! What if I want to dye something, which let's face it, there is a good chance I will. Too bad! I'm screwed. The absolute worst feature about this machine is that you have to load the clothes, shut the lid and let it lock before the water starts. I mean really???? I HATE it!! I want to start the cycle and load the clothes while the water fills. Is that too much to ask? So right off the bat, frustration sets in every time I start doing laundry.

On to the dryer. The lint trap is located on the top of the machine, so every time I clean the trap, lint is all over the place. I tried my boss's trick of running the dryer while I clean the trap, but it doesn't work for me. Is it better? Yes, but it doesn't solve the problem. I want the lint trap in the bottom of the dryer door opening. Maybe the lint just goes right back into the dryer when I clean it, I don't know, I'm really not sure I care. I can't see it therefore it does not exist. (Again, my ability to reason is second to none).

So why, why do I put up with such crap? Mr. Mike Richardson said this was the best washer and dryer at the time we bought them, so that was that, end of discussion. I personally think I should have been consulted on the type of washer and dryer we bought as I am the one who does ALL of the laundry, but I guess my preference while doing ALL of the laundry doesn't matter. In my opinion, we overpaid for junk.

So... off my soapbox and onto the makover...

First things first, I painted the room Palladium Blue which is a pale greenish-blue. The color is by Benjamin Moore, but you know I did a color match at Sherwin Williams and used a coupon to save a buck. Even though I broke up with Sherwin Williams over the garage door project snafu, I forgive them and we are back together again. They didn't know we broke up, but I did. Actually, I'm not sure they knew we were together in the first place. Their paint is excellent, the coverage is great and the price with a coupon is right.  

The paint looked great, but now I had to have hubby put some crown molding up for me. Hmmm...how was I going to convince him I NEEDED crown molding in the laundry room? Honestly, I don't know how I did it, I'm not sure what I said, but he did it!!!!!! YAY! I can't believe it! He probably just wanted me to shut up about it and he finally gave in. Whatever it was, it worked!!!

I knew that the horrible light fixture had to go. There was no polishing this baby up.

Originally, I wanted a simple chandelier, but I've noticed that iron-like pendant lights are all over the place. Ballard Designs, Pottery Barn, and Restoration Hardware all have a version of what I think once was popular as a foyer fixture. I picked up this groovy piece at a local Habitat for Humanity Store for $11.50. Check out the etched starburst on the glass panel! I bet this was quite the light fixture back in the day. I felt bad when I saw it lying on the shelf looking sad and junk-like. I knew I had to buy it and give it a good home.

I took the fixture apart, spray painted all of the brass pieces a black satin and I removed the glass starburst panels. It looked great. I thought about leaving it without glass panels, but that thought lasted about a hot minute. My new mission? I needed clear glass. Where was I going to get it on the cheap? I could've gone to a glass shop, but I knew that wouldn't be the kind of cheap I like. During my lunch hour I headed over to Home Depot and found replacement glass for picture frames. I needed 4 panels and I needed them cut to size, but they didn't come in the sizes I needed. What was I going to do? Buy a glass cutter of course! I've never cut glass before, but why not give it a shot. I bought one large piece of glass for an 11 x 14 picture frame and the glass cutter. That night I was cutting glass! It's not hard at all, it's actually kind of easy. So now the $6 glass cutter is an investment in my future (or so I told Mr. Mike Richardson).

Check out the light fixture! I'm really happy with it!!

My laundry room is tiny-tine! It looks like there is lots of storage, which there is, but there are partially filled cabinets that are really not practical in that room. The biggest problem? There is no where to hang anything. UGH! That is so frustrating! Mr. Mike Richardson likes to have his shirts hung to dry. He doesn't want them to go in the dryer. The room is so narrow I can't even put up a rack. I thought about removing the center set of cabinets, and putting a pole in between, but there is no way on God's green earth Mike would remove cabinets for me... not a chance. I can only push my luck so far. I had to be creative, so I found the Instahanger online. This little gem creates instant drying/hanging space and collapses neatly against the wall when not in use (said in an As Seen on TV voice).  It's ugly... but I have plan! The plan includes a little homemade artwork.

I took a crappy piece of thin wood and Mod Podged the Sunday comics to the whole board. Then I put down letters I printed in Algerian font and cut out and spray painted everything black.  

I lifted the letters and it looked kinda cool as some of the paint bled underneath. It still needed a little something so I painted a creamy white line around each letter. A few layers of spray gloss and good enough.

I took my little masterpiece and velcroed it to the Instahanger to cover it up. It looks great! I love saying Instahanger! Every time I say it, I say it like I'm Billy Mays (God rest his soul).

Here is a pic of the finished artwork. Ugh! I'm the worst at taking pics! I should really take a class!

Here is a pic of the Instahanger in action:

I also added a wall decal to the large blank wall. After all.... everybody's doing it! Why not me?

The finished room:

I'm pleased with the finished room, but very sad to report that this does not make me to want to do laundry. Not at all. Not in any way shape or form. Not even sorta. Not even kinda. Not even a little bit.

~Sheila

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