Hi Everyone!
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room my house for a minute, shall we? If you’ve been with me for a while you know there are two rooms in my house that I have done absolutely nada to since we moved in almost three years ago: the laundry room and our master bedroom. I’m talking diddly squat folks. No paint, no pictures on the walls, no nothing!
I briefly showed you the laundry room last year when I was recovering from my appendectomy, but just to refresh your minds this is what it looks like as we speak
I know right! The shame. At least I finally did something about the pile of shoes stacked against the wall that accompanied the mound of clothes climbing them. Uh quick Shavonda sidenote: laundry is the bane of my existence. That is all.
This past weekend I had enough. I tripped over a boot for the last time and decided this room needed to be addressed ASAP. First step was a storage solution for the shoes. We’d had our eyes on this shoe cabinet from Ikea for over a year and finally pulled the trigger on it. I’m telling you this thing is money very well spent.
Ok, so I’m not gonna lie, the room isn’t all that bad. I mean, I’m grateful that we actually have a dedicated laundry room AND a space to dump our jackets that isn’t in the main living area. I’m also grateful that there’s a door so I can shut it and pretend the room doesn’t exist! Anyway, aside from it not looking pretty right now, the biggest issue we have with it is its size. At only about 60 sq ft the room must serving multiple important purposes, including being our main entry off the garage, and its not doing that very effectively right now.
Once I got the shoe cabinet up I really sat down and thought about a way to make this space work for us rather than against us and I came up with a design plan. My year’s goal is to simplify, so this space needs to make our lives much easier than it is now. Here’s what I’m thinking:
1. Paint the walls: though I really love bold colors even on walls in small spaces, I’m going light in here for two reasons. 1-This room gets zero natural light so I don’t want to make it seem cavernous and 2-Naomi said the walls have to be light. Enough said, right! And while I know white walls are totally hot right now and many would think such a small space needs white walls to feel spacious, it’ll never happen in my house. Im not on #teamwhitewalls. I cant stand em. Don’t believe in em. Never will. They are pretty in pictures, but not in my reality. We will most likely use the same color in here as we did in the hallway-Dolphin Fin by Behr. It looks muddy/taupey in the picture, but its different once its on the wall.
2. New Floors: we’ve gone back and forth with several options for the floors and in the end we are going with a dark slate or at least slate looking tile. I’m aiming to install them in a herringbone pattern and I’m really excited about it. I love herringbone, and much like gold, Naomi is not a fan which is why there’s none already in the house anywhere. This is the compromise space. She’s ok with it in here since its a small area and she doesn’t have to see it all day. Ill take what I can get! Oh and there will be dark grout because muddy shoes and white grout…umm #aintnobodygottimeforthat.
3. New Lighting: not gonna lie, track fixtures are not exactly my first choice when it comes to lighting, but in this space its the best option considering what we have to work with. The current fluorescent box has to go and being as though there’s a huge attic crawl space access in the middle of the room, my dreams of a pretty chandelier hanging from the center of the ceiling will not come to pass. At least with the track lighting we can direct light to specific areas in the space.
4. A Folding Surface
5. A Wall Mounted Drying Rack-not specifically this one, but I prefer the ones that fold up and down like this one does and opposed to one that folds in and out.
6. A Fun Rug-just because
7. Shoe Storage- done and done!
8. Hooks-to hang coats and scarves, and giraffes are my fav. Double win!
9. A Mirror
I’ll also be painting the cabinets in here as I did in the kitchen and hallway. They may not be white though? The floors are kind of a big project that’ll be done a bit later than the other things but we are anxious to take this space off our ugly list.
So there you have it. Whew! Are you still with me? I know, this was a long one. The laundry/mudroom is officially our first “major” project of 2014. Are you planning any room revamps this year? Until next time….
Xo-Shavonda
mossum says
Planning any revamps this year? Hmm…well, let’s see…
Planning to replace the reviled lino in my kitchen with cork plank, in 2011 (gasp!) I removed the baseboards Mr. Make-It-Worse had GLUED on before I divorced him. Then I came down with cancer (I’m fine now) and the project remains incomplete to this day.
Then, in the Fall of 2012, Mr. Make-It-Better (husband 2.0) and I decided to pull the trigger on a complete rehab of the front bathroom. We took it down to the studs, moved some electrical wiring around to accommodate the new lighting configurations, insulated everything (mostly for sound), and got as far as installing about 2/4 of the Hardie Backer for the new surround before we had to stop, shut the door, and tackle the next issue…
My 25 year old water heater decided to split her seams like Sophia Vergara at the Emmy’s. The resulting flood destroyed the lower half of the wall shared by the garage and Mr. MIB’s (ugh) man cave. Everything on the garage side had to be rebuilt before we could install a new tank, and that only took a week, but as we were working on the interior side, everything came to a halt when Mr. MIB came down with bronchitis and I had to travel for business.
Of course, being a homeowner yourself, I’m sure you understand this only a slice of the forty gazillion projects one usually has going at any given time. Pray for me.
Bethany DeVore says
Looking forward to seeing what you do! I love herringbone too!
Brandi says
Love the ideas you have in mind. We store our shoes in the garage on a shelf. I may need to look into the cabinet from IKEA.
Kelly @ View Along the Way says
Excited to see how it turns out! I will say, many a DIY project has begun around here after I tripped over one too many shoes. I was totally feelin’ ya on that one.
Jennifer@The Chronicles of Home says
These are some fun plans! I have no doubt it will be the coolest laundry room going when you finish with it. The floors sound amazing!
Style Domesticity says
Hi Shavonda! Great mood board and good luck on your project! I have my own lengthy list for 2014 re-do projects. Wishing you success in yours!
Stop by my blog sometime and say hello!
Kelli
Style Domesticity
Darnetha {ChippaSunshine} says
Can’t wait to see how your floors turn out.
Gabbi @ Retro Ranch Reno says
Ohhhh, I cannot wait!!! 🙂
Katrina ChicLittleHouse says
Its going to look so good, love those giraffe hooks so freaking cute! I’ve always loved that shoe cabinet its looks just like a piece of furniture 🙂 lol, I’m with you on white walls, so i’m shocked that I had both our bathrooms painted white for the time being, lol 🙂
Katja @ Shift Ctrl Art says
Love your mood board. I am excited to follow along on this makeover. I just started a laundry nook makeover myself.
Gretchen says
I’m excited! My laundry room is on my never touched list, too 🙂
Kristin@bliss-athome.com says
YAY! I love your plans for this space! Can’t wait to see it unfold! xo Kristin
SHERRY HART says
God….I wish someone would makeover my laundry room….it is the pits. I’m looking forward to seeing this!
Caroline Nolazco says
I love the plan! I’ve wanted that shoe storage for forever and I thought Ikea had stopped carrying it. Maybe they did and brought it back? Maybe i’m nuts? Too bad I already built in my own solution- Ikea’s version is way prettier! Cant wait to see it come to life.
… I hate white walls and track lighting too! But I’m sure there’s some decent ones out there 🙂
Julia Konya says
Can’t wait to see it! Especially the floors!
Cassie @ Primitive & Proper says
it’s still 10 million times better than mine at the moment! can’t wait to see your magic happen in there!