Laundry-room Makeover

 My washing machine broke and the hubs couldn't fix it.

It was a sad day because I really liked that washing machine.

But it was a happy day because in over 13 years I have never had a new washer and dryer.

We have always bought used.

So we decided it was time to get new.

So since the old washer and dryer were out of the way I decided it was the perfect time to paint.

And then I thought some new shelving would be nice since the

cabinets and shelving in this room were not very user friendly.

And I kept thinking, and analyzing, and THAT is nothing but trouble.

It turned into kind of a big project. But it is beautiful and wonderful, and it makes me happy to be in there doing laundry so that counts for something right?

Here is before, complete with a dusty, dirty floor.

That was my teeny sewing table there on the left. Sad, I know.

Here are the afters. 

My sis-in-law had a pink laundry room, in her cute 1950's home.

It always made me happy to be in there so I decided to paint my laundry room pink.

And guess what, it makes me happy.

I always loved the idea of having all the kids clothes together in the laundry room. A sort of "Kids closet" so to speak, so I made a mini one in order to help with getting things put away a little easier.

I also have a little more room for my sewing stuff.

When my craft room in the basement gets done I will move my sewing things down there and then maybe I will have enough room for more of a kids closet in here.

I got these vintage sheer curtains at a thrift store probably a year ago, in hopes that someday

I would have a pink laundry room to use them in.

 As you can see we decided to change the location of our washer and dryer.

We got a front-loading-stackable-high-efficiency washer and dryer.

We moved them to the left where my sewing table used to be.

I decided to have them stacked because square footage is more important to me then

the convenience of having them side-by-side.

My-laundry-room-of-dreams would have a few hundred more square feet then this one so I could have the washer and dryer side-by-side, but stacking them wasn't really a problem...

Except for getting electricity to the dryer. The plug was kind of far away.

The dryer plug would not reach.

But fortunately the hubs knows a thing or two about electricity.

At this point the room was looking a little TOO pink.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the color, but you can have too much of a good thing.

So I decided to tone it down with a white plank wall.

I've done a plank wall before in my living room, and it is still one of my favorites.

This one was a little different, the planks weren't as thick or as wide.

I found the planks at Lowe's.

They were tongue and groove, light weight, only a little more then 1/4 inch thick, and inexpensive.

Win, win, win.

Here is how I cut and laid the planks on the wall.

Oops, I forgot to add the "7" and "10" on the wall planks.

Hope it still makes sense. Ask me questions if you have any please.

Sometimes I can't tell if I'm making sense with my instructions.

Once I cut a length I hammered in a few finishing nails part way.

This made it easier to hammer the plank into the wall because I didn't have to hold

a nail and hammer at awkward angles trying to pound it in.

Then I ran a line of caulk along the back to help glue it on.

I wiggled it in place and pounded the nail in the rest of the way.

When I did the plank wall in the living room I had a nail gun. That was much easier, but alas!

Our air compressor broke, and I had to do it the old fashioned way with hammer and nail

I ran into a little bit of a problem around the plugs and light switches,

but I figured out a solution that worked fine.

Caulk all of the edges and fill in any warpage or knot holes and then go to bed.

It's 11:30 at night already! At least, that's what time it was when I finished.

To paint I did two coats of valspar semi-gloss, paint and primer in one in white.

I had them tone down the brightness of the plain white paint a little, so it wasn't "ultra bright".

Just a nice pleasant white.

I love the knot holes, dents and imperfections in the pine planks. You can go with manufactured planks that are perfect without knots and such, those look great too, but when I went plank shopping, they only had one package of those... so I went with the pine. (Haha) A little impulsive?

While I was planking I had some extra and so I decided to plank the short wall at the

entrance of the laundry room.

You can see the laundry room from our front door and the pink was just wanting too much attention.

It shouted at you "Hey look up here, at me! I am a pink room in a house of boys!"

While I love the pink, I didn't want it shouting at everyone who came in our house.

So it got planked and painted white too.

Then it was time to think shelves. I measured and thought, and thought and measured.

Regular 24 inch deep counters would take up too much room, so I had to have them custom built.

I called up my carpenter (the hubs), but he was too busy working overtime in order to pay for all of this,

 so I had to go with my second choice... myself.

Then I headed off to Lowes... again.

While the shelves were drying in the garage I dug out the stud finder and marked studs where my shelves and counters were going to go.

Then I measured, cut and screwed in the shelf and counter supports.

Screw the supports into studs, screwing them into the drywall will not give enough support.

There is no way I can explain how I did this, I kind of made it up as I went.

But here are some pictures.

They aren't perfect, any professional shelf-builder would probably raise an eyebrow

at some of the things I did, but they are sturdy.

I painted them once more just to make everything uniform.

And then I took a shower.

I really needed one.

Here I am covered in 3 days of paint and sawdust.

Safety glasses and pencils in your ponytail, are must have accessories for any diy-er.

Paint splotches are important too, so when your neighbors walk by and stop to talk to you,

they know you are working and you don't walk around looking that shabby and gross normally.

You have one last question for me don't you?

"Rachael, where did you get the cute illustration you hung on the plank wall?"

That illustration was on a card that a friend gave me years ago, I loved it and saved it.

I just scanned it into my computer and ordered an 8x10 print at the photo shop.

Little girls doing laundry - vintage illustration

Here it is for you, do what you like with it ;-)

It's a little grainy blown up big, but I think it still looks great.

Thanks!