before & after: the laundry room.

last monday, i shared my just-before-christmas
guest room makeover-lite . . .
no building, no painting, not even a furniture rearrange;
just a lot of cleanup & a little decor refresh.

so, just before christmas this year,
i launched another room makeover . . .

because, really, what better time to
take on an additional home-improvement project than
in-between holiday shopping, wrapping, baking,
decorating, entertaining, etc.?

what is wrong with me?
yeah, don't answer that.

in my sanity's defense, i actually planned
& purchased all the materials for this revamp
way back last august/september.
but i needed help with the execution,
& it took a while to get around
to getting that part of it together.

yes, it's my laundry room.
i spend an abundance of time in there,
in that rather smallish, hallish room,
literally airing my family's dirty linens
[well, ok, if not airing, then washing, drying & folding them].
& while our old-school washer & dryer
are holding up for the time being,
the rest of the room wasn't really playing its supporting role.

ok, time for the befores:

from the entryway, viewing the left wall. beige, blah. & mess, yes.
kids' swimsuits hung up on door hooks.
pool tote & sack o' returnables hanging out on doorknob.
husband's clean shirt hung over door, awaiting transport
to the upstairs master closet & a hanger all its own.
lack of working storage space, as you'll see, was a HUGE issue.

panning down so you can see the galley-ness of the space,

the perky rugs i purchased in an inadequate effort to happy it up a little,

& the random crap accumulating around the room for lack of proper homes

[yes, that is a vacuum attachment hose sticking out of teen girl's riding boots].

panning up so you can see the atrocious amount of wasted vertical space,
thanks to our beautifully vaulted first-floor ceilings
& our builder's cheap-a$$ one-wall-long-shelf-in-a-laundry-room-is-plenty
approach [you know, some people actually call it a UTILITY room].
[& yes, that is a tin movie poster replica for viva las vegas.
i love me some elvis-annmargaret action. who doesn't?]


& showing the opposite side of the room, so you can see
the other end of the wall-long shelf, the extendable wall-hanger thing —
another stopgap measure, being misused for empty mismatched hangers,
dog harnesses & my travel purse — how more random crap has accumulated
up on the little wire storage shelf i added to the top of the washer,
& my wizard of oz movie poster calendar.

[i'm just realizing for the first time that this room had a theme:
garish vintage movie posters. not a good or desirable or well-executed theme,
but a theme, nonetheless. of sorts.]

also, you can't see it, but there's about 15 inches between the far wall & the washer,
where the aforementioned stuff is hanging over the aforementioned boots/vacuum hose,
a tall, pink, cylindrical trash can, a beatup green bucket, our steam cleaner &
a container of baking soda.

& finally, a quick snapshot of my other storage addition
[along with the washer-top shelf], a skinny, three-tiered wire caddy
sandwiched between the washer & dryer, & holding laundry necessities
like detergent, dryer sheets, lingerie bags & a bowl for pocket paraphernalia
in the top tier, along with even more accumulated random crap in the bottom tiers.


i can so feel your envy [snark snarksnark].

ok, time for the afters [yay!]:

i purposely chose a decor concept for my new & oh-so-improved laundry room:
the beach. because the beach is my favorite place to be, period.
i love the colors of the water & how the sunlight twinkles on it,
the soothing motion of the waves, the salty air, the feeling of the sea breeze.

so here's the view from the entryway, straight on.
i kept the hooks on the door, as they worked really well during summertime
for getting kids' soaked swimsuits off the floor & up to dry.

the paint is martha stewart living enamelware,
in eggshell finish, from the home depot.
it's a little greener — closer to aqua — than it's reading on my monitor.
i heart it, bigtime.

the comfy little rug is a microdry® ultimate luxury memory foam bath mat,
from bed bath & beyond.

against the left wall is this handy-dandy ironing organizer,
from target. the darling ironing board cover
came from etsy shop city chic country mouse
[sorry — the poor lighting situation doesn't do it cuteness-justice].
now i'm jonesin' for a new, cuter iron to go with it . . . maybe this one?


here's closer look at the wall opposite the door,
where i did a little decor detail.
the vintage blue glass ball jars came from etsy shop sunshine hill farm 1848;
the middle one is semi-filled with shells from world market.
the frame is one i got from exposures long ago,
but they don't seem to offer it any longer.
the "life is good at the beach" plaque is from primitives by kathy;
i found it at a barnes & noble store, of all spots.

oh, & the photo is of teen girl & little boy, when they were
little girl & baby boy [ca. 2006], loving the beach at galveston.

panning around to the right, you glean a sneak peek at some of my
new & HUGELY improved storage, along with my much, much happier
washer & dryer. we scooted them together against the back wall, but had to also
scoot them farther out from the right wall, to accommodate the dryer vent.


ok, here's the spectacular storage shot,
showing my wonderful white wire shelving [long shelves from organize-it,
short shelf over the dryer from my friendly neighborhood target store],
& all my beautiful baskety storage [white plastic woven baskets from world market;
water hyacinth bins from the container store].

do you hear angels singing? i do.


this is just a closer look at the area above the washer,
so you can see the beachy art
[ocean view {left} from etsy shop alice b. gardens photography,
conch shell closeup {right} from etsy shop ginger street studio]
& the salvaged white wire shelf atop the washer, now gorgeously organized
with more world market plastic woven storage [holding lingerie bags],
a bamboo organizer from the container store [holding dryer sheets],
& some plastic-lined planter baskets from ikea
[holding microfiber cloths & a tiny ipod speaker].


here's the door wall again, with my biggest storage addition
& the reason behind the scooting-over of the appliances:
a four-cube expedit shelving unit from ikea.
adding this puppy gives me not only a little more floor space
[since it's only about half as deep as the w/d], but also a little work surface
&, of course, the square storage shelves beneath.

atop the expedit are more ikea planter baskets, a lamp from target, &
a little puppy-schtuff bin from the container store [no longer available].
above the expedit is some space for hanging clothes,
along with a dozen joy mangano huggable hangers from target.

also, please note my self-created, streamlined new 2012 calender
hanging up on the wall, 100% gaudy-movie-poster-free. :)

ok, final shot — of the expedit in all its storing glory,
holding our bevy of beach towels, naturally,
& a couple of plastic milk crates from the container store
[they fit the cubes perfectly!].
the left one is holding a small bucket + sponge & laundry-essential extras;
the right one is [gasp!] empty . . . for now.

oh, & there's my new vellum-y trash can, too . . .
can't seem to remember whereabouts i found it. snap.

well, if you've hung in with me through this l - o - n - g post,
then a thousand thanks for indulging me in my latest love affair.

& just to wrap it all up with a big, beachy bow . . .

before:


after:


my laundry room.
aw, ma — i love it awful.


wanna see a laundry room that inspired me to makeover mine?
you already have — it's at the top o' the post!
but you should check jen joneses' whole amazing i heart organizing blog,
while you're at it. thank you, jen!!