Here’s what we did
Stripes!
We started with horizontal stripes on the three walls that surround the washer and dryer. There is a natural break the room and it felt right. I chose a straw-colored paint (Benjamin Moore – Cork) for the stripes and we taped them off at roughly 12” wide. This color complemented the neutral color that was in there already, so we only had to paint one color. We taped (Frog tape is literally the only thing anyone should ever use for stripes, especially if you have texture on your walls) and rolled and touched up and the result was this fun, clean kind of preppy kind of funky little stripey room.
Shelves
Putting in some clean, useful shelving and storage is probably the most important thing we did in the room. We used simple and clean Ekby Valter brackets from Ikea and purchased pine 10” wide boards locally from a lumber store (which was actually cheaper than either Lowe’s or Home Depot. It definitely pays to comparison shop when budget is paramount). We hung 2 rows of shelves the length of the walls on each side of the washer and dryer to provide plenty of space for storage.
To those shelves we added these bins from Walmart.com. Let me just say here and now I am not much of a Walmart shopper for a lot of reasons – but these were the perfect size, style and price and I couldn’t find anything I liked better after a lot of searching. They really are perfect for the project and I could not be happier with them. At $7.50 a pop, it’s was just too good to pass up. I bought 8.
Window Treatments
From our previous house, I had several leftover linen panels from CB2. I cut one down and used as a sheer curtain for the window and the door. I purchased one yard of a bold patterned illustrative floral fabric from Hobby Lobby (for $5!), cut it down and sewed up the sides to create 2 panels for the window, put the sheer panel the center and used a curtain rod and rings we had left over from our previous home. This $5 investment in window treatments brings just the right amount of bold color and lets plenty of light in while giving us our much-needed privacy.
Door
I hate our back door. I think it was repurposed from another project before we bought the house and looks a little bit beat up in places. It has a window which is awesome, but the built-in blinds always looked a little bit janky. I like the light from the window, but wanted to hide some of the door. I also wanted to invest zero dollars in this problem – so my quick and semi-temporary fix is the other half of the sheer linen panel literally stuck on the door with some fun little magnets. I took some super strong little rare earth magnets (from Harbor Freight, which is Nathan’s personal obsession) and glued them onto some little wood squares we made out of scrap wood. I painted the phrase “Do Good” and “Be Kind” on the magnets. It is small and subtle but strangely cute and functional too.
Art
I wanted to put some cute laundry-roomish art on the wall but wanted to keep the budget minimal. I purchased a 2-pack of canvases from Hobby Lobby for $6 and used paint I had to create a fun Wash & Dry / Fold & Repeat set of artwork. I chose to do this in a chalkboard green color with white letters to provide a visual contrast to the reds and yellows that dominate the room. I also opted for a script over more block lettering which is typically my preference because the room was developing a fanciful feel that just wanted a little extra flourish.
Lighting
The light that was in there was ok, but boring. We had this cool vintage-y light fixture we weren’t using that we took down in our dining room when we moved in. It is not necessarily the light I would have chosen if I were buying everything new, but I liked it better than what was there and it adds a kind of fanciness to the little room it wouldn’t otherwise have. We set out to stay within a budget and to repurpose when we could, so this was not a hard compromise.
Storage
In addition to the bins which provide the perfect home to dog stuff, Swiffer pads, garbage bags, vacuum attachments and other randoms I brought in a Raskog Utility Cart from Ikea (which they no longer sell in red, but I’ve liked to a really cool blue). We had been using this for dog food/dog stuff but our streamlining efforts stretched beyond the laundry room and we were able to free up this cart for use between the washer and dryer to hold laundry soap and essentials as well as a few cleaning supplies and a hand-held vac tucked away in the lower shelves.
We hung much sturdier hooks for coats and hats along the back wall (as well as painted the electrical panel door which cleans up the room considerably.
We added a back of door iron and ironing board holder. We hung another Ikea storage solution behind the door to get our brooms, dusters and stuff off the floor. Why on earth didn’t we think of this before? Also, how does anyone stay organized and stylish without IKEA? I just don’t even know.
Shoe storage. This one makes me so happy. Nathan cleaned up an old artillery bin we had in the garage, flipped it on its side and added casters (so we could move it out of the way as needed), installed a couple of shelves using leftover fencing panels and some trim (!) and I painted it with some paint we already had. We did buy the casters (at Harbor Freight of course) but all the rest was free. And having used it for the last couple of weeks, I don’t know how we lived without it. It’s pretty cute and adds an additional surface in the room which is really helpful in the laundry sorting and folding department.
Also, a new galvanized metal cute trash can with a lid keeps those dryer sheets and dryer fuzz out of view.
Drying Bar
Last but not least we had to have a place to hang stuff to dry. With no wall space available we opted to hang a bar where the ceiling drops down. We had Nathan’s pull up bar from our old house – it’s basically just heavy-duty piping, painted it glossy white and hung it up. I can just reach it to hang clothes on it – which is good because when Nathan drapes his sweaty gym clothes up there, it’s not in my way.
Here’s what we spent:
- Shelving brackets $48
- Shelves $17
- Bins $60
- Paint $28
- Curtain $5
- Art $6
- Coat Hooks $22
- Pegboard/hooks $12
- Ironing board holder $14
- Casters $10
- Spray Paint $3
- New trash can $14
(~$245)
What we repurposed:
- Curtain panels
- Curtain rod/rings
- Light fixture
- Drying bar
- Shoe storage
- Utility Cart
- Rug
I would love to see more detail on the shoe solution. Any chance you can post a couple photos?
Stephanie — I added a couple more photos of the shoe box in the post! We repurposed an old crate by adding shelves, painting it and adding some casters so we could move it around if needed. I use this ALL THE TIME now for laundry basket or laundry folding. Hope this helps 🙂