Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Laundry/Mudroom Makeover!

Okay, don't judge me too harshly by these "before" pictures. I thought about cleaning out the laundry room before we started this project, and then taking the "before" pictures, but that would almost be like lying.

My laundry room really did look like this. The top of the washer & dryer was always a catch-all for anything junk. If it didn't have a place, it ended up on the top of the washer & dryer. I tried to keep it clean, but it just seemed impossible. I also didn't have a place for my laundry baskets.

There was no place for all the junk mail, or the kids homework either.

My laundry/mudroom comes in from the garage, and it is literally about the size of a closet. You can see the width of it is just a bit wider than the width of a washer & dryer, and that's about it.

Eww eww ewwwww! I'm getting anxiety just looking at these pictures. I can't believe we lived like that for so long!

Look at all of that wasted space up near the ceiling.


The room used to actually be a little laundry room and a closet. It really was so cramped that we just decided to get rid of the wall to make the room bigger. That was like 11 years ago. The room was never finished after that, as you can see.

Some nice scratch marks from the dog we used to have....

So I got my inspiration from Pinterest. To see my inspiration board where I got the ideas, click here. I knew exactly what I wanted! I explained it all to Kevin, and he immediately got to work. We started this project on October 29.

We gutted the room, and Kevin started his magic.



Kevin wanted to get it done quickly, so instead of dealing with mudding and taping the damaged sheetrock, and waiting for mud to dry, etc., he bought this panel board instead and covered all of the scratches/holes, etc.

The little helper.


Almost ready for paint!

He built this pedestal for the washer and dryer. He installed the tray that keeps water contained in case there is a leak. He re-routed the drain as well.


Kevin painted on November 7.

And drumroll.......




I am literally IN LOVE with my laundry room now! I even enjoy doing laundry a little bit more. :) The washer & dryer raised on the pedestals keeps kids from touching the buttons, keeps me from having to bend down so far to get the clothes in & out, and gives me a place for my laundry baskets! Brillliant!!

I also went through all of my household cleaners and kept getting rid of them until I could get them all into the cabinet above the washer & dryer. My goal was to not have ANY bottles of cleaner in sight. I wanted it to look finished and clean, not cluttered like it was for so many years.

I now finally have a place for all of my weekly ads, coupons, scratch paper & notes from school.


This has to be one of my favorite parts about the room. Each of the kids has their own clipboard hanging above their hook to keep homework! It's been SO fabulous. I was always losing and misplacing homework!

And these baskets above the hooks/clipboards hold things like my toolbox, old Walmart sacks to be recycled, among other things that never had a place to go until now.


And this is my other favorite part about the room. Each of the kids has their own basket to put their shoes in! No more tripping over 1,000 pair of shoes every time we walk in the door. I love that they are out of sight. :)


Pure happiness!

It literally took Kevin just over a week from start to finish. I had to borrow my neighbors washer & dryer during the project, (thanks, Megan), but I'm so thankful he was able to get it done so quickly. He is just. plain. awesome.

8 comments:

kimbob said...

Oh my gosh I love it!!! I'm a little jealous but it looks great! Way to go Kevin! and Tia for finding the idea (love Pinterest!)

Brianna said...

It is so amazing!!! Kevin is such a great handyman and your ideas combined with that made a beautiful room :) Way to go you two!

Jessica said...

Fantastic! It's got to feel so much better.

Amy said...

That is sweet!! I would love to have a laundry like that. Nice job Kevin!!

Alyssa Elledge said...

AMAZING!!! Thank you for sharing this. I love all of the extra touches and I love the color scheme. That's the best-looking laundry room I've ever seen. Good work you guys!!

Mindy said...

great job, it looks fabulous!

Kelly and Megan said...

Can I hire Kevin to do the same thing over here?! I love it. It is so bright and cheery. Great job!

Angie said...

Completely and utterly amazing! So jealous! I really want a mud room.