When I first saw my new house and what an ugly laundryroom I was stuck with, well I was a little bummed, because this is the laundry room I used to have.
Insert big sigh….
But, there’s no use crying over the old when there’s always room to improve the new, so that’s what I set about doing. I could hardly stand looking at this ugly old laundry room. This is what it looked like the first day I laid eyes on it.
Could you get inspired to do laundry in this space?
Pretty sad, right? How in the world do you make THIS look better? This is a long narrow room. That door to the right goes right outside to the backyard and is the door my dad built the cute little roof over.
This end of the room is the laundry room part. Ugly wire shelf hanging on the wall is not staying. And that door on the right comes in from the den.
I wasn’t sure at first, but I figured I could work on it. And now that I’m moved in and bought a used washer and dryer, it was time to bring them up here and put them in place. I could NOT stand the thoughts of doing laundry in THIS room in THIS condition.
No way, no how!
So, I set about figuring out what in the world I could do to improve the space. You’ll remember, I did have the ceiling painted black back in the summer. That was my first step to making this space a little more tolerable. The open rafters and ugly ductwork did nothing to beautify the space, but painting it black did help. At least it all disappeared and looks a little more industrial with the black ceiling.
So this is what it currently looked like as I was getting ready to bring in my washer and dryer to actually do laundry in this room. Ughhhh, pretty disgusting. It’s got some sort of paper like wall board paneling that is warped in several areas. I figured painting this would greatly improve it so I got out my left over ceiling paint and at least got some white paint slapped on the walls.
This room is long and narrow, like a bowling ally. The one good thing about it is it’s really BIG. I love that! I can do laundry at one end and have space for storage on the other end. Even though I don’t like the way this space looks, I’m so grateful to have it. Storage space is always welcome. Mudroom, laundry room, bathroom, and storage space, can’t ask for more than that, right?
Yep, this room is stubbed for a toilet in that right corner back there. See that black spot on the floor? A toilet in here could come in handy later on.
Here it is with most of the walls painted white. I ran out and had to go get more, but they all eventually got one coat of white paint. Huge improvement already!
But, what to do with those floors?
In stepped Sherwin Williams with the offer to send me some free paint for a project. Yippee! I have just the project for their porch and floor enamel. I figured I would do a cool striped paint treatment on this floor and vastly improve it. That old concrete floor was plain UGLY. So, I brought home 2 colors of concrete enamel (Alabaster and Cityscape) and a gallon of H&C Concrete Sealer with a wet look to seal my concrete and protect my new stripes. All of this came from my local Sherwin Williams. Can’t say enough good things about these products, they have performed wonderfully! Big huge thanks to Sherwin Williams for my free porch and floor enamel.
First, I washed down the concrete with warm soapy water and then rinsed with a fresh mop, letting it all dry overnight.
So, back came my daddy-o to help me with this project. He has not stopped either and has been over here helping me with all sorts of little things since I moved in. He cut in the edges of the floor and I rolled.
We got it done pretty fast and it looks pretty snazzy with just the white paint.
I did go back and do another coat of white paint to give it good coverage.
Then, Dad came over with his blue chalk and we snapped a chalk line for my stripes.
I measured the floor and decided that I would do 7 total stripes: 3 gray and 4 white. The outer stripes will stay white. I measured the middle and then we went out from there, measuring 16 inches for our stripes. We snapped a chalk line all the way down the room and then I was ready to tape it off with Frogtape. The extra chalk will wipe up after the tape goes down too, so that wasn’t a problem. Any chalk showing after it’s all dry will come right off.
That didn’t take too long either, less than an hour and it was taped and ready to paint. Remember you want to tape the outside of the rows you are painting, so see the larger 3 rows? Those are the ones I’ll paint gray.
Two coats later of gray paint and ta-da! I’ve got some funky gray stripes on my floor. I think I’m in love!
I’m definitely in love! This looks 100% better than what I started with. That Sherwin Williams floor enamel is supposed to be really durable. I then went back and rolled on a nice thick coat of the H & C glossy topcoat and wow, does that look great. It gives it a pretty sheen and makes that floor shine like crazy.
After it all dried for a few days, Dad came over again and we decided to go ahead and get some 1×4’s and add baseboard trim and door trim. No need to move everything in here and not do that too, so we took the time to just do it. He cut everything on the miter saw and I nailed it all in with the nail gun.
None of the doors in here had any facing around them, so it’s just amazing what adding trim can do.
See the gaping holes around the bottom of the walls in here. Just plain UGLY! Painting the floors helped so much, but adding the 1×4’s definitely did the trick too.
And here’s the floor all trimmed out with baseboard molding. I will go back later on and prime and paint this too and this room will feel so much better.
See the pretty sheen on that floor? Gorgeous! Sherwin Williams Alabaster White and Cityscape are the 2 colors I used.
And here’s the finished room with one coat of paint on the walls. It will be after Christmas before we tackle anything else, but I’m so glad to get this room livable and halfway pretty. I can stand it now!
I brought in a folding table for now and we moved in the used washer and dryer I found on Craigslist for $150 for the pair. Yay, Craigslist! I was happy to find them and not have to buy new and hopefully these will last me for quite awhile. I’ve already put them to work! The used fridge will come in handy here too.
And see the stubbed sink to the left up there? Eventually, I’ll get a sink put in here, along with a countertop and add some of my old cabinets over the top and this space will be very functional. I’ve got big plans for this space! Oh, and I’d love to add a window above too on that left wall to let in some natural light. That shouldn’t be all that expensive to do either. Big plans, I have them!
Rugs USA had a huge 75% off sale on Cyber Monday and I jumped on this cute gray trellis rug. It was a little splurge and I wasn’t planning to put a nice wool rug out here, but for the price, I couldn’t pass it up and it will be so nice to have this underfoot out here.
I also hung up a closet rod out here to hang clothes on . I took this out of my office closet and it was perfect for hanging up. I have lots of plans for this space, this is only the beginning, but I can’t tell you how much better it feels in here just doing these things.
I love my laundry room now! It might not be really pretty yet, but it’s clean and fresh feeling and now I can do laundry without cringing.
Note: This is a sponsored post from Frogtape. All ideas and opinions are mine and I was going to paint stripes anyway.
Thanks as well to Sherwin Williams for providing the Porch enamel for this project. The products rocked my laundry room renovation!
Love it already! Great vision on this. The colors, trim, painted floor, rug etc….all look great! Only you would show us your recently laundered clothes hanging to dry…and how pretty they look! Holding my breath to see how you bring this space along to where you want it to be! I betcha in the end you’ll love it more than your old laundry room! Window – yes! Love the screen/storm door idea too. It will bring in more light. Storage – Perfect space for that! I think you could even add that sink, countertop and a cute little toilet and make it a true all purpose room…great for when you’ll be outside doing garden projects don’t want to drag all the way in the house for a quick break or cleanup. You’ve got some vision…and what an economical way to bring this room to life! TV – yes. This should be on a makeover edition somewhere!
WOW!!!!!! What a beautiful transformation! When life give you lemons, make a delicious, refreshing pitcher of lemonaid!!!!!! It is gorgeous!
Merry Christmas!
Cindy~
Wow! Amazing what a little paint and tlc can do! I love the
whole house….you did a beautiful job. I also love the little dragonfly lamp in the first picture. Where, by chance, did you find that?
HI, Tammi, that was a yardsale fiind and I think I sold it at my last yardsale.
Great job…Can’t wait to see the finished project. How blessed are you to have a Daddy that can/will do SO much! Hope you have a wonderful Christmas!
Rhoda You are amazing!!I miss the days when my Dad could help me with projects, he would love to, just cannot.
This is turning out to be one Fab Laundry Room, and I can tell you have other ideas for it as well! Bravo!
2012 Artists Series,
xoxo
Karena
Wow…what a huge difference!! Nice work!! Doing laundry won’t be so bad!!
My Goodness you have such vision to turn a nightmarish place into a great looking laundry/storage facility, YOU ROCK!!! I love the striped floor too!! How blessed you are to have so much help from your Dad, Dads like him are such a treasure to us all! Congrats on another OUTSTANDING Re-do!!
Pretty pretty! It looks so good!
Our surroundings have such a big effect on our moods. You did a great job of lightening it up. I agree: the laundry would never have gotten done in the “before” room. You’ve done amazing things to this home.
Rhoda, I love how to come up with great solutions to this troublesome space! What a transformation already!
“came up with” – wish we could edit comments here in Blogland 🙂
Wow, Rhoda, what a difference paint makes. I love the way the floor turned out. You will have it all decorated out soon as Christmas is over. Blessings and Merry Christmas Paula
Rhoda, What a nice job. Of everything you have done I am actually jealous of your laundry room. Mine is in the basement of a 90 year old house in the north. Years ago it had a coal boiler so the floor still has a kind of residue after all these years. It holds the boiler, hot water tank and 3 doors, no plumbing or space for a utility sink and the back wall is the side of a bomb shelter (really) that is made of metal. Yuck. But it beats the laundromat . Smile at your laundry room!
I love the striped floor. It’s beautiful. Laundry rooms are wonderful to decorate. My new home has a finished bath/laundry room. I can’t wait to pretty it up and make it mine
Rhoda, I have the EXACT same rug in my living room! I love it 🙂
The folks at Sherwin Williams are SMART to give you paint, girl! Wow, what a difference that floor treatment makes. I have no doubt that you’ll turn this multi-purpose room into something that really shines. It’s such fun to see what you and your mom and dad have done to this house–it’s a huge inspiration to all of us who have to deal with what we’ve got!
Beautiful job! You have given me a great idea for my laundry room floor.
Hi Rhoda
What a fabulous transformation. I love the stripes!
Mudroom, laundry room, bathroom, and storage space, can’t ask for more than that, right?
You got that right Rhoda! Storage space is wonnnnnderful! I was just sitting here thinking,
man I sure wish mine were THAT large! Mine is like 6′ wide and only 12′ long and I know that’s probably larger than most folks have. Sure thankful for it like you to!
I like to store all my small kitchen appliances in it and have just enough space at the end of the deep freezer to put a shelf for those. At the other end is my washer and dryer.
Hardly no space in between those at all. I have to store all my stuff in the attic or under the bed or sewing room. lol Storage space is just awesome and sure wish I had some that were more convenient than it is now. But again I am thankful for at least what I do have!
Hee hee on wanting your Daddy. Me to I want your Daddy! He IS a gem that’s for sure!
I dearly love a man that will get in there and help do just whatever needs to be done. He’s a keeper that’s for sure and I dearly love how you and he work together. This has
been priceless watching you carry out this new journey in your new life. Just so neat watching how God put it all together for you!!!!
Love the idea of the screen glass door and your window for in there! Man it DOES look soooooo much better! I know you did cringe when you had to wash your clothes in there.
I know I would have to. When I had to go to the laundry mat to wash mine I was cringing! Man the place is soooo nasty I didn’t feel like my clothes were even clean after I washed them! ughhhh shivers!!!
Anyway I can’t wait to see what all you do with this space to. Makes my day to come and see what else you have done to your new home. Or should I say, you AND your Dad have
done to your new home. 😉
Man how nice of Sherwin Williams for helping you out with the paint! WOW I need them to do that for me. lol I have a bedroom that I need to paint the flooring in. I ripped out our carpet about 5 years ago now and still haven’t gotten any floor covering for it yet. So I’m sick of waiting and it looking ugly so I thought I’d just paint the subflooring in there. Was going to do stripes to. Actually was going to try
and make it look like ceremic tile.
Rhoda…what a beautiful job you and your dad did on the floor…and the rug was just the icing on the cake!….The room makes doing laundry more tolerable!
Ha! You are so speaking to me in this post. I have a secret in my house and it is my ugly basement laundry room. A place that I spend a ton of time but dislike so much. You have given me inspiration in your post. It looks fantastic! I hope to rework mine and I will be following you on your journey in hopes that mine too will be a place I will like to be!