Laundry Room! Done!
This time last year, we were wrapping up the demolition phase for our big 3-room-project. On the agenda was the second floor bathroom, master bedroom and laundry room, and because all of these rooms shared at least one wall, it made the most sense for us to dive in head first. No looking back, no way. What followed was days and days of tiling, closet building and paint deciding (among countless other to-dos), and finally – finally! – we’ve reached the very end of the tunnel. You guys, the laundry room is done!
To be fair, after completing the bathroom and bedroom renovations, we put the laundry room on temporary hold while we focused on the back patio this past summer. We had gotten the room to the point where the cabinets were in place and the butcher block countertop had been cut, and the washing machine and dryer had been hooked up for months. Although we were thisclose to calling it done before the outdoor season started calling our name, we didn’t really wrap it up until this month. And we couldn’t be happier! That ostrich wallpaper. Those gold knobs. We think it wins the award of cutest room in our house. So, so cute.
The first phase of laundry room deconstruction and reconstruction had us making the room smaller than it was. Above, the wall with our laundry sorter is the backside of our bathroom’s shower. We borrowed space from this room to make the bathroom larger, and we’ve no regrets. Our laundry room is appropriately sized for its purpose (probably more so, really!), and there’s still plenty of room to move about as we toss clothes into the machine or pull our tees out of the dryer.
At the eleventh hour, we asked our contractors if they could add two recessed lights in addition to our central fixture. This was before we installed our cabinets, so there was a bit of guesswork and a lot of crossing our fingers involved! Our fear was that the counter space would feel too dark otherwise, and since then, we’ve said countless times, thank goodness we thought to ask them! When in doubt and if at all possible, always err on the side of more lighting – and add dimmers! The brass flush mount was inspired by a fixture I spotted in a bathroom (of all places) at the Chicago Athletic Association. Side note, Chicago locals, give yourself an afternoon and take a look around this gem – grab a drink in The Drawing Room, dine at Cherry Circle Room (or the Shake Shack downstairs!), have a staycation in the hotel and make sure to check out every nook and cranny. The building is stunning!
The sorter we DIYed has been a game charger to our laundry game. If something is tossed into the hamper, it goes directly into the corresponding bag, making laundry itself much less of a chore! We divided them into colors, whites and our reusable mops and microfiber cloths. (By the way, all of our projects from this room will be linked at the bottom of this post!)
There’s a retractable clothesline hung above our light switch, and when needed, it strings across the room to a catch we installed on the inside of our window trim. I’ve always wanted one of these (such a space saver!), and it looks so sweet on the wallpaper, too:
It’s been nice having the sink so close to the bed, if only for my middle-of-the-night-must-have-a-glass-of-water habit; we picked up this glass carafe for that very reason! A bar of laundry soap sits on a stone dish, perfect for rubbing onto stains before throwing clothing into the washing machine or to use as regular ol’ hand soap.
Just like we did in our kitchen, we added a tip out tray to those typically wasted front panels below the sink. Inside, we tuck away Magic Erasers, scrubber pads and extra tough stain gel.
Several months ago, the base cabinet was transformed into Libby’s domain with the help of this adorable cathole, her safe haven of sorts, and one that she absolutely loves. (If we can’t find her lounging on the couch, she’ll be curled up in her cabinet!) The lowest upper cabinets contain the things we grab most often, like cleaning supplies and a few of our everyday towels. The higher cabinets house even more towels, extra bedding and photo albums – something I’ve been meaning to drag out of the attic for a while now! Let’s just say it took me a good few hours to put those albums away. Nostalgia for days.
Despite having walls full of ostriches, we couldn’t not hang at least one photo. We went through a box of artwork from our old home (yes, we still have a lot of art in storage!), but everything felt overly colorful or competed too much with the wallpaper. In the end, we decided on something more personal, and we chose a photo of us with our friends taken on a vacation earlier this year. Although it’s a colorful sunset photo, I converted it to black and white and had it printed and framed through Framebridge. Also in this little corner, we filled our favorite jars with DIY suds, Libby’s food and these (awesome!) wool dryer balls.
When we tell someone that we have a laundry room right off our bedroom, we get two reactions: 1) Really? Isn’t that kind of annoying/loud?, or 2) Whoa, that’s so smart! When I first told Scott that we should consider turning this room into our laundry room, he wasn’t sold at first, saying that there had to be another nook we could transform. Now that it’s here, we can’t imagine it any other way! Our dried clothes get pulled straight from the dryer and tossed onto the bed. The machines are only a handful of paces from our closet doors, and it’s been so dreamy to have everything in one place. Even still, we incorporated a pocket door to the room’s entrance, if only to have the option to close the room off:
Okay, ready for the before and afters? When we bought this house, this room was being used as a small bedroom, evidenced by the drywalled closet. Now, it’s much smaller than before, and we swapped the plumbing to the opposite wall to make room for our plans. It’s tiny, efficient, and it packs a big, fat punch.
BEFORE AND AFTER
BEFORE AND AFTER
And that, friends, puts a wrap on our bed, bath and laundry renovation! Can you believe we began talking about this space more than a year ago? We’re so happy with the transformation. It’s the sweetest little room, we think. (And most importantly, Jack approved, too.)
SOURCE LIST
Wallpaper: Beware the Moon | Cabinets: Aspen White Shaker | Frosted glass pocket door | pocket door hardware | Navy striped rug | DIY laundry sorter | white step stool | Brass cabinet hardware | Ceiling flush mount | DIY butcher block countertop | Purist chrome faucet | Porto Fino sink | Retractable clothesline | Storage jars | Metallic gold frame | Water carafe | Animal planter (unavailable, similar) | For bedroom sources, you can also shop our house!
For a full rundown on how we got from point A to B, click on any thumbnail below to take you to the original post!
A Laundry Room Progress Report: Cabinet Edition
Our bed and laundry rooms are slowly making their way,
How We Measured, Cut and Installed Our Butcher Block Countertop
cabinets | drawer pulls | wallpaper We’re still
