Laundry Room Reveal!

It’s finally “done”.  At least to the point I feel I can share it with you.  There are a few minor things I want to do which I will point out in the pictures, and I want to find the perfect rug for the space.  But for now, I am thrilled every time I walk into the laundry room…no small feat since laundry is not my favorite thing to do.

When we moved in, the laundry room was just one big beige box with nary a shelf in sight.  Although starting with a blank canvas is better than starting with demolition, it was hard to imagine what to do with the space.  The laundry room measures 5’3″ by 8’6″.  Not a tiny laundry room, but not a huge laundry room.  On top of that, this house had no storage for linens, batteries, light bulbs etc….  Don’t believe me?  Look at the smallest linen closet ever.

On top of that, this house does not have a coat closet either.  My mother-in-law and I spent hours drinking coffee standing in the laundry room measuring and trying to figure out what to do with this precious space.  We thought about building a backpack/shoe drop area like this.

Emerald Interior Design

We don’t wear coats very often here, and it seemed like I could use this space better.  I also didn’t want to spend a lot of money.  A brand new house needs a lot of things, like garage door openers, refrigerator, sealed tile, and window coverings.  I decided I couldn’t spend more than $700 on the laundry room, total.  I knew I needed storage and wanted cabinetry for that.  The pictures of laundry rooms with beautiful open shelving is always so pretty, but honestly, in my family we need doors.  I decided on the plain unfinished cabinets from Home Depot.  I purchased two of THESE cabinets to go above the washer and dryer.  Then I purchased two of THESE cabinets to go on the long wal.  Because they were unfinished, I was able to give them a quick sanding and start painting.  The color is River Mist by Martha Stewart paints at Home Depot.

I knew I wanted to do something fun with the knobs and pulls.  I looked at Hobby Lobby, Anthropologie, and World Market at all of the fun cabinet accessories.  I just never found the “perfect” thing for these cabinets.  I wanted to do something with a coastal feel and found THESETHESE knobs and pulls from Liberty Hardware.  They were very affordable and had that fun coastal feel.  I mixed it up with three different types of knobs and pulls just because I could.  After all, it is a laundry room and shouldn’t be taken too seriously.

I fell in love with the line of hooks that Young House Love created for Target and snapped up this cute dog hook modeled after their dog Burger.  It holds Dixie’s leash and makes it easy to find.  I snapped the picture of Dixie a while back and I feel it totally captures the sweet, calm, and wistful  dog she is.

I jumped on the bandwagon with one of these cute “looking for my sole mate” random lost sock boards that are all over Pinterest.  Where do those socks go?  I’m hoping this will help me find them.

Since there isn’t a coat closet, I felt we needed a place to put the occasional coat and my son’s backpack when he comes home from school.  So many times hooks put directly into the drywall just pull out over time.  I wanted to sink them into wood but didn’t want to do a paneled look or slats of boards.  I came up with this vertical design that is attached to the studs but not permanently adhered to the wall.  A girl has to leave her options open after all.  I will post a tutorial on how to build this and get the weathered effect.

I still have some projects I want to do.  We need to add some trim on the top of the cabinets and sides that adhere to the wall.

I also would like to put bun feet under the tall cabinets to give them a more furniture feel.  I remain on the hunt for the perfect rug with a latex backing so it doesn’t slip.  I also am searching for a great light fixture.  I want something vintage coastal, almost on the tacky side.

I hope you like my “new” new laundry room.  Have a great weekend!

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Savvy Southern Style