Friday, February 6, 2009

A Mini Makeover

I dream of a laundry room like this...

laundry_room_1

because I have a laundry room like this...

squeezed into the utility room

It's not a laundry room. It's a utility room. The washer/dryer are crammed in there, next to the furnace. I don't even have the heart to show you the other side of this tiny room. There's a water softening system AND a water heater over there. Sheesh.

This room's down in the basement, and the walls vary from concrete to "oh-so-chic" exposed 2x4's. Sometimes you can just tell the floor plan of a house is designed by a *man*, can't you? HGTV could not do anything with this room! It's a hopeless case. It's the only room in my cute house that makes me sad...

Every once in a while, somebody will talk about decorating their laundry room, and a little part of me just has to go pea-green with envy. All the space I have for seein' to our laundry needs (not counting the actual washer and dryer themselves) is against the wall as you walk into this utility room. The area I'm talking about is a whopping 55 X 25 ... *inches*. Um. Ya.

The previous owner installed some metal shelves that fit into this tiny space; screwing them into the wall for safety -- they're looking a little worse for the wear, but, hey -- they fit the space. 

old shelves

What's a recessionista to do? She wants to improve her miniscule laundry space, and has no budget to speak of (DH still out of work) -- throw in the towel? No way! It's time for...

.

::: The Mini-est of Mini Makeovers :::


...mini-in-money and a tiny, mini room! First thing -- shopped the house. OK. Found some stuff I could use...for FREE. :-)

Covered the shelves with liner

The ugly shelves stayed. Can't afford new ones, and these are the perfect size for this space. A little leftover liner from a kitchen project -- voila -- they're lookin' much better!

hanging stuff on the walls for more space

Then we installed heavy-duty hooks to hang the ironing board and wooden dryer rack up and out of the way. Wow -- that alone is a huge help! Okay, I'm lying. Hubby and I did this part last year. It was the Sweet Girl's idea. She rocks.

glass jars from the storeroom holding clothespins and pocket money

Now I needed some containers. I grabbed some old canning jars for clothespins and well...uh..."pocket money". You probably have this rule at your house, too -- if you don't empty your pockets of your change, the laundry lady gets it! I very nearly put a label on that jar that said "TIPS". LOL As you can see, I'm not doing too bad! ;-)

jar to keep my oxyclean non lumpy

Oh -- and I'm so tired of reaching into my Oxyclean box and finding nothing but big ol' lumps in there. Something about the humidity in the room. My Borax did that, too. Bah! Frustrating. Solved it with two glass jars with lids I wasn't using from the pantry. Ta-da!

Containers found on clearance for all the bottles

How many bottles do you have in your laundry room? I have a ton -- carpet cleaners, ironing supplies, stain removers, etc. Just corralling these babies would make the space look great! It's the one thing I spent money on. I got these babies on clearance: four for 10 bucks. Not bad! Look, they even had a space in front for labels. Love it!

a small little laundry saying

Here is my nod to having a decorated laundry room. I know. It's silly, but it has to be there. It's that, or go off the deep end and move to a house with a real laundry room. I found this little saying on the internet, printed it, put it in a cheapo frame I had laying around somewhere. Check it out -- the words match the shelf liner. HGTV should give me my own show. ;-)

laundry room art and helpful hints

It lives on the top shelf with the ever-important laundry hint sheet.

the finished project 2

OK -- there's the finished project. It's still not up for a magazine shoot, but I can stand to look at it, it functions well in an impossible location, and it was a $10 makeover! Only one thing still bothers me...

detergent on the floor

I hate that my detergent's still on the floor. If we have a flood, it's a goner. Got any ideas? How do you store your detergent?

Thanks for taking a look at my mini-makeover!

10 comments:

Elena said...

Hey, I am QUITE impressed. My last laundry room was also the walk way to the garage and was tiny. It was a nightmare. My laundry room now actually had a few cupboards and is to the side of the walkway, but it's still a nightmare. I honestly don't know what to do to make it better. You did great. And I think I'd just set the laundry detergent on top of the dryer or something.

Rebekah said...

WOw. This is really neat! I need to hire you to decorate and organize my icky places. I think my favorite was the saying. I like how you designed and printed it up-- very chic!

(And I like the saying---the one I've heard is "Drop your pants here." I'm worried the boys will take it literally and I don't have curtains down there yet!)

Cool ideas!

Oh, my detergent is on a shelf over the w/d.

Vincent Lee said...

Wow... I just leave my laundry stuff lying around wherever I can find it. The way I see it, it's a laundry room, not a master bedroom, no point in making it look pretty. But then again, I never really cared about making anything look pretty. Your Sweet Girl is so practical! I hate it when stuff like that just clutters up the room. Good luck with your dream laundry room!

Rebekah said...

Can I get a copy of your laundry hint sheet?

Robyn said...

So nice! I have been waiting many moons to get my washer and dryer moved to the basement and get my space all set up down there. Sigh!

"The Queen in Residence" said...

It looks fabulous!!! Anything to make it look better and make you feel better is a makeover.

My laundry room is a nightmare, cause it has 2 weeks of oaundry calling out to me....wash me, fold me, put me away.....I just close the door.:>

Wendy said...

Thanks for your sweet comments. I still dream of a real room to do laundry in some day. (sigh)

Here's the link to the laundry hint sheet you saw in the picture.

http://images.marthastewart.com/images/content/web/pdfs/pdf3/stain_removal_basics.pdf

It's from Martha Stewart. I actually have *several* laundry hint pages stuffed in that page protector on that shelf! LOL

My go-to stain removers are Oxyclean, Spray and Wash (spray and stick), Woolite Oxy Deep carpet cleaner (yeah, I know -- but it works!), and Spot Shot. I use bleach when I can, but most of the time I'm scared to use it! :-)

I can't get the link to the MS laundry hit page to look right. Grr. If the link doesn't work, then do a google search for:

Martha Stewart Stain Removal Basics.

It's easy to find. Battle on, laundry warriors! ;-)

Mama Williams said...

I love your dream picture. That's my dream too...not the closet I have now.

Christine said...

My mom bought a huge glass jar with a lid on it..I almost want to say it is a big cookie jar, any way, she put her laundry soap in it and it really looks nice. I love your dream laundry room too!

Elizabeth said...

I love what you did to your laundry room. I have a utility room with crammed in washer & dryer. Ugh. I guess I'll have to see what cool things I can do to make it all look better.

Blessings,
Elizabeth