The 3-Year Laundry Room Makeover

Actually, make that three and a half years :) 

As you can see, this wasn't some huge renovation that should have taken a long time.  It really was just a simple re-vamp of a small space.  It could have been done in a weekend if I would have really focused...  ooops! 

Luckily the recent living room renovation inspired me to get it done.  You see, after knocking down some walls, the door to the laundry room became much more viewable from the main living area.  And I definitely didn't want any of our visitors to sneak a glance of the huge mess that has been in there for... well, 3.5 years.

See how the hallway is almost gone now?

Somehow I have lost track of all the "in-progress" pictures, so I'll just give you a quick summary of the things I did to spruce this room up...

Year 1

(pretty much the first week I moved in)

• Painted it a bright cheery yellow color
• Updated the floor with stick-on laminate tiles
• Added shelving above the washer/dryer

Year 2 & 3

• Filled it up with too much junk
• Had trouble finding anything
• Avoided doing laundry until it was a must

Year 3 - 3.5

• Put a fresh coat of white paint on the built-in shelving
• Added beadboard wallpaper to the back of the shelves
• Replaced the regular door with the french door from the old hallway
• Made a burlap curtain for the french door
• Organized everything in pretty bins and baskets

Here are a few more pictures so you can take a closer look...

One reason it took me so long to finish this project was because I just had SO much stuff!  So, I had been waiting to find the perfect piece of furniture to put right outside of the laundry room.  I felt like I needed that extra storage space before I had the confidence to dive in and organize it all.  It was a tough piece to find since I only had a small area to work with.  Luckily, I found this great old cabinet at the Antique Show at Metrolina just in time.

It had a pretty ugly pink color on the inside when I first got it, so I just painted over it with some leftover Silver Sage (a Restoration Hardware paint color).  Added some baskets on top for even more storage and made the little chalkboard out of an old picture.  This is also right outside of the bathroom door, so I put extra bath towels, wash cloths, and other bathroom goodies in here for easy access.

So once I found this old cabinet, I had no more excuses and had to just go for it!  I took everything out of the laundry room and spread it all out, threw away a bunch of stuff, tried my best to categorize everything else, then went to Target to stock up on bins and baskets, and finally put it all back together!  Oh yea, and then just yesterday, I added the labels :)

Needless to say, I'm very happy and relieved that it's all done. Shew.

No more avoiding laundry for this girl!

For lots of amazing organizational tips and inspriration, you should check out I Heart Organizing and all the projects being posted on her latest linky party for transforming small spaces...