Before and After-Laundry Room

I love a good before and after renovation, but when it’s in my own home, I really love it.

I actually enjoy doing laundry but I always dreaded going down into our basement laundry room to do it. You will see why.

Here is what it looked like before (on a bad day, when detergent had just spilled and storage was piled up).

Scary.

But I do love my attempt from a few years ago to redo this area. I stapled up some curtains and then gave up.

But this time, I decided to put in the work and do it right. They key is to just do it in small chunks so it doesn’t feel so overwhelming.

We started by moving everything over in sections and cleaned and painted everything. Paint is what made the biggest impact. That’s where most of the expense was, but it really wasn’t too bad. You’ll want to talk to the paint specialist where you buy your paint because there are specific paints to use for concrete walls as well as flooring.

Then once one section was done, we just moved things back over and tackled the next section.

Then it was time to cover up any unsightly areas. I wanted to cover up all the cords and pipes behind the washer and dryer.

Since the pipes went into the machine midway, I needed curtains that stopped before the piping. I just shortened a fabric shower curtain by pulling the bottom of the curtain up and pinning it in the back. This way there was no sewing.

Then there was this unfinished area between the wall and the ceiling. I could have painted plywood and installed it for a professional look, but this really needed to be super easy.

So, I just hung curtains to cover the area up. Like the other curtains, I just pulled the bottoms up and pinned them in the back to avoid sewing. It’s not perfect because there were some cords and ductwork in the way, but it was good enough for me.

Then I was ready for the fun part…decorating.

I primed and painted this rusty, old star a metallic silver.

I also painted this frame, which I’ve used for a Love Note Board and a Love Wall. I’d say I’ve gotten my $3.99 out of it!

Then I just hung the star and added some letter cutouts behind the frame to spell, Eat, Play, Clean.

Then, I painted the paper inside of these dollar store frames with chalkboard paint and wrote, Lights, Darks, and Towels on them.

Then I glued ribbon to the back of the frames and hung them on baskets.

I bought a decorative rug and added a vase of dried sticks and that was about it .

Now I don’t have to wear a hazmat suit whenever I want to go into our basement to do laundry. In fact, now I sometimes grab a drink and a book and head down to “do laundry” for a few hours. 🙂

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