HOME REFRESH | LAUNDRY ROOM
Guilty. Yep I’m guilty of being one of those that claim refreshing my laundry room almost made it fun to do the dreaded chore that is laundry. But it’s true … not only was I excited to have my first ever real laundry room in my entire adult life, but once I truly made it mine and added every Pinterest worthy finishing touch that I could, I did actually like to go in there and tackle the chore, even folding clothes right then and there on my new and improved countertop that was actually cleared of all clutter and fully functional! So what all did we do?
BEFORE: SORT OF
Of course, newbie me forgot to take some really good “Before” photos, but all you’re really missing here are the builder grade cabinets that were above the counter and the vinyl flooring.
Though the cabinets were useful and handy for storing laundry and cleaning supplies, the laundry room is actually pretty small so the cabinets just made it feel smaller. I wanted to open the space up while still keeping it super functional. Once we removed the cabinets that were installed above the countertop I knew we were on the right track! I painted the entire room a lighter shade of latte and E installed some bright white IKEA shelving.
Next step was figuring out how to give the counter top itself a makeover. I loved the functionality of the countertop that I assume was installed by a previous owner, but it was covered in formica and that just wasn’t going to work for the aesthetic I had in mind. So I sent E to the Home Improvement store in search of an answer and he came home with a spreadable plaster “cement” if you will. He removed the entire countertop and worked on it in the garage.. spreading layers of light gray plaster until the formica was all covered. Once dried he applied a couple coats of polyurethane to seal it and provide a smooth surface. and just like that… a modernized workspace was made and my new laundry room was coming together!
DURING:
After I painted the room a light neutral shade of latte, shelves were installed but this photo was before the countertop was refreshed.
As soon as E re-installed the countertop he replaced the boring light fixture with a fun farmhouse one I picked out and his part of the project was done. This was obviously where the fun began … styling! I had packed up the entire laundry room and when it came time to unpack I carefully selected just a handful of things to display and repurposed items from other rooms that I thought would showcase nicely on these shelves. I purged a ton of cleaners and “stuff” that typically collects in a utility room and found metal baskets and tubs at Walmart to hide cleaners and things that were necessary to keep in the room, but not nice enough to look at.
Shortly after, the flooring throughout the main level was completed with LVP and our laundry room refresh was complete! Along with a bold striped jute rug from IKEA and a cute sign I was able to call this room somewhere I actually liked to spend time and admire our hard work! And since you can see the space from the main area of the living room, I didn’t need to always shut the door as I had before and all our guests were swooning over it!