Pimp my Laundry Room

I got a wild hair the other day to give my laundry room a little facelift. Its not that I spend a lot of time in there, but I walk by it everyday and cringe at the florescent lighting, and yellow walls with remnants of floral vine wallpaper that I half ripped off when we first moved in. We also use the built in shelving as a pantry because we ripped the actual pantry out when we remodeled the living room and kitchen areas, and that whole thing was a complete disaster/eyesore.

It was one of those "enough is enough" moments. I scavenged the left over paint samples that were living in our garage until I found something that gave me a little inspiration: fifty two shades of grey (names I didn’t even look at because I was in such a craze). I cleared the pantry shelves and decided to paint the back walls of the shelving the darker of the two grey colors. These pictures are from my phone, so apologies for the poor quality… but you can see a little bit of the jank wallpaper, disorganization, and Mr. Husband’s dry cleaning that likes to hang out in the laundry room instead of his closet.

While that paint was drying I decided to run to Michael's and buy some baskets (50% off that week!) to get that nast of a pantry organized and looking pretty. I found a group of baskets in a dark brown color in varying sizes – 4 large tall, 1 large short, 2 medium short, 2 small shorties – all for less than $50!

By the time I got home, I was ready to tackle the remaining wall space with the lighter shade of grey. It turned out a little darker than I would have liked, so I decided I would paint some lighter stripes on the back wall – which is what I see every time I walk by the room. I read a few different blogs and took most of the advice (I didn’t use frog tape because I already had regular painter’s tape at my house).

My wall space is 94” and I wanted the stripes to begin and end with the color I had already painted so I needed an odd number of stripes. I started with 5, but thought almost 19” stripes were too wide so I went with 7 stripes at almost 13.5” each.

  I measured from the top down and used a straight edge to draw the lines connecting my measurements. Then I got busy taping that bad boy up, using a credit card to smooth down the tape and get rid of air pockets. Using the color already on the wall, I went over the edges of the tape where I would be painting the new color to seal the space in between the tape and wall… this will help prevent the stripe paint from bleeding under the tape and I won’t have to do too many touch-ups on the lines.

Then for the stripe color...

I went back to my garage to see if I could find a lighter color that would work. I was a little disappointed in my options, but found one tan'ish color that could possibly work. My initial thought was "yuck," but I decided to keep painting and finish at least one stripe before heading to Lowe's. Maybe its the grey painted under it, but this "tan'ish" color turned out to be a lovely yellow creamy butter, and i L.U.V. it! Plus, all of my work taping the wall really paid off... the lines are perfecto!

My attention then turned to the jank cabinets above the washer and dryer. I couldn't have this beautiful wall, and organized shelves, then turn around to see a brown mess of cabinets that I hate. Mr. Husband actually gave me the idea to remove the cabinets doors, and use the shelving for my storing my project supplies (his way of getting me excited about clearing all of my things out of his office). We had some left over white trim paint from having our sofets re-done outside, so I just pulled the doors off, gave the base a light sanding and layered a few coats on there. Already looking better - minus the popcorn ceilings which I'm really hating myself for not removing with the rest of it through the house when we moved in!

and with some progess....

...and finally done!

And the other side of the room with the panty...

I'm so thrilled with the results, especially considering the fact that I probably only spent about 3 days working on it. Maybe now I'll actually do the laundry! maybe...

Resources and Paint Colors:

Darker Grey - Sherwin Williams, Serious Gray

Lighter Grey - Sherwin Williams, Uncertain Gray

Butter Yellow - Sherwin Williams, Kilim Beige

Baskets - Michael's

Yellow and Grey Shelf Liner in above washer/dryer cabinets - Home Goods

Detergent and Dryer Sheet Jars - Target

Galvanized Metal Lookin "WASH" Letters - compliments of Holly over at Life As A Thrifter, here

Three-tier Storage Stand - compliments of The Crafting Chicks, here

Wine Rack Storage - Pier 1, here

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