Building a Laundry Mudroom for $3700 - Appliances Included
It's so eye-opening to add up the costs of what I've spent on my house. I honestly didn't think the changes I wanted to make to this house would cost as much as they have - particularly since I was going to do the work myself! This week I went back and added up everything I spent on my laundry and mudroom, the total tally was $3664.64 and includes everything I put in the space. Seriously?! W-O-W! Oh and I already owned quite a few of the items I put in the space, but I've included everything in my tally.
Going back to moving day, all I had in the mudroom was hookups for the washer and dryer. The previous owners had taken the appliances with them...
I splurged on a front-loader and matching LG dryer because they were on sale and I had a friend who could pick them up and drop them off at my house so I saved on the $100 delivery cost. Here is the way the room looked after the washer and dryer arrived:
That's a single pane window over the washer and dryer. I had a double pane slider installed by a contractor - that set me back $617! Yikes. That one cost is what set me on my DIY journey. His labour cost to do the work was $250 and he only spent 3 hours on the job... nice work if you can get it!!
Here is the window installed and trimmed out.
Then I installed a curtain rod that I found in the garden shed and I added clips and made a curtain out of a twin sheet I found in a clearance bin for $1.94. In the second photo, you can see the cabinet I bought to house my laundry tub. At this stage it is just being used as a counter. The counter top is a leftover piece from my kitchen reno.
Next thing I did was to add a closet organizer that I bought on sale for $60. It had a tower and rods and fit nicely in a little cubby I had at the back of the room.
I moved the sink cabinet and put a hat rack over the top. I had planned to keep it in this position and install the sink there but when I got a better understanding of the cost of installing plumbing lines, I swapped out the closet organizer and the sink. I also decided I was going to stack the washer and dryer so that I could have a counter in front of my window. Here's what the space looked like after I moved things around.
I liked this idea because the stacked washer and dryer would hide the hanging coats/laundry from view. The sink was placed up against the bathroom wall to share the plumbing lines and save me a lot of money. I love my laundry tub! It's the Ikea Numerar sink and I had bought it for my other house but it was never installed. I finally could use it!!!
So motoring right along, after much pain and suffering I renovated my bathroom and the plumbing was hooked up. My washer and dryer were stacked and I had moved the dryer vent with the help of a friend. I tried to do it myself, but after I whacked myself in the mouth with the hole saw - basically a ginormous 4" bit on a drill (an industrial model I borrowed from work) - I realized I didn't have the strength to hold the drill steady as it went through the wall to the outside... Thank God for good friends!
Here is what it looked like after the appliances were stacked. I used a wrought iron hook rack as an open broom closet. Everything is neatly tucked away in the little cubby and the ironing board can even be hung on it! I hung some doors on the closet organizer tower to clean up the space a bit. The doors came from a beat up pantry cabinet that had been left with the house. The cabinet was in rough shape, but the doors were just fine! A piece of wood trim hides the gap between the doors - they were just a bit too small.
I hung seed catalog covers on the dryer to liven up the space a bit. It's so fresh and pretty now!
As this space was coming together, I became very dissatisfied with how dark the room was. If only there was a window over the laundry tub... But of course! Why hadn't I thought of that before now?! Silly me, I hadn't thought of it because I had the cost of the other window in the back of my mind the whole time. If it cost that much to install a replacement window, what the heck would it cost to put in a window where none existed before??
Well, cue my bathroom reno. During the tear-down phase, I had discovered that a window had once existed in that room. With everything torn down, it was simple to buy a standard sized window, carve a hole through the wall and use the existing framing to plug the new window into. I had to install all new wall covering anyway, so why not have the window I wanted? So now I had some experience to bolster my confidence at installing a window over the laundry tub. OMG I had no idea how much work would actually be involved... Good thing!
So I planned for this job to take 2 days of my vacation. It actually took 5 days. The problem was that half the wall was inaccessible due to the cabinetry. If I had done this work before installing the sink, it would have taken me the two days I projected. I learned so much doing this!
Here is the before & after of that wall:
I am SO GLAD I did this!! It has made an enormous difference and I get so much solar gain in the winter months that the whole room is heated by the sun. Here is the window with the shutters I built:
So there you have it, a laundry and mudroom completed for the total cost of $3700 including appliances and the laundry tub and faucet. If I hadn't paid that contractor, the cost would have been only $3200. Live and learn as they say!
I hope I've inspired you to take on your own renovations from scratch. Once you get going, they really save you a lot of money. That first window cost me $617 - and it was just a replacement window! The new window I installed by myself cost me $300 total and that included the panelling, insulation, window, trim, caulking and paint.
If you're interested in more details, click on the links below:
$10 DIY Shutters
Install Your Own Window
Laundry Storage Solutions Part I
Laundry Storage Solutions Part II
UPDATE: A small, inexpensive update to this space made a HUGE difference, pop over and check it out - click on the photo!
Happy renovating!
With a small budget, big dreams and a love of a challenge, Anne blogs about renovating and decorating her tiny 1930s bungalow. A self-taught artist and professed power tool lover, she enjoys writing, gardening, photography, nature and diy'ing. And she's never met a dumpster she didn’t want to root through! Come along for the ride!!
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