Laundry Room sprucing

Doing something, anything with the laundry room has been on our to-do list for a long time. Its only as wide as the washer and dryer, and deep enough for a door to open so its more of a glorified laundry closet than a room. Also, its in the middle of the house so its windowless. Doing laundry is never fun but doing it in this room was downright depressing.



Notice the same stained vinyl flooring as the guest bathroom. Eventually we will tile it but that project is pretty low on the priority list.



As someone who craves order I dont know why I let that fiasco on the shelf happen. The only stuff that really needed to be there was the glass jar of homemade laundry soap, the oxyclean, the vinegar which we use as fabric softener, and a few other laundry supplies. (I wont bore you with more details about our homemade laundry soap and vinegar fabric softener but if you want to know more let me know and I'll elaborate.)

That brown mark on the top of the dryer is a bunch of rusty scratches. Replacing the dryer is on the list because it takes forever to dry clothes, but like tiling the floor its not happening anytime soon.



The only laundry basket we had was too big for the corner so we resorted to throwing dirty clothes on the floor. I guess with the shelf being such a mess I felt like a messy laundry pile was acceptable. The light fixture was just kind of blah and I thought we could replace it with something with a little more pizazz.

So what did we do in here?

When we installed the crown molding in the guest bedroom and craft room we had some pieces leftover that were just the right size for the laundry room. I know crown molding in a laundry room sounds a bit excessive but I love how it turned out! We painted the walls and ceiling the same gray as the guest bathroom, and all the trim got a coat of white. I'll have to do another post about how I made the light fixture - it used to be a shiny brass light in our living room!

This is the laundry room now:



With the light turned on the wall color is a bit off - it looks warmer. Its actually a cooler gray which you can see in the photo below with the light off. I really love how the white crown molding pops off the gray walls and ceiling.



The shelf got cleaned up and prettified!



We use Mrs Meyers on our sheets - I love the lavender scent. The big glass jar holds our laundry soap and I got a smaller jar for the oxyclean - I thought it was nicer to look at than the plastic container.



I got these glass bottles to hold vinegar (fabric softener) and distilled water (for ironing). Again, much prettier than the plastic containers! The woven basket holds things we use in here but didnt want sitting out on the shelf.



The jar of wooden pegs is purely decorative. I thought it was a cute idea but Josh thought it was ridiculous. I guess he might be right but I still like it.



This is the former 'clothes pile' corner. I saw this galvanized metal trash can at the home improvement store and realized it would fit perfectly in the corner. Its bigger than it looks in that picture and can hold a lot of clothes. And for $16 it was a steal! The sunflower photo is one I took last summer and I like how the sunny yellows look with the gray walls.

Those three metal things on the wall are these snazzy hooks we found at Ikea. When they're not in use they're flat against the wall and then you just fold them down if you need to air-dry something. Genius!



And here's one last shot of the room. I am on the lookout for a small rug to put in front of the washer and dryer - I think that will be a nice finishing touch.



We are very happy with it!