Laundry Room Before & After Magic

Footprint

Our laundry room was desperate for some before and after magic. The remodel started with the footprint because there was no change. Haggled and hemmed and hawed about changing things around in this space. Raise the machines? Move the sink? Enlarge the space? Our laundry room was such a disaster I was all over the place about the design. I just needed to hide everything. Ha. 

Solution

I needed to organize and cover up the mess. No need to enlarge this space, but I needed to enlarge the storage capacity, the hidden storage capacity.

As seen in the before laundry room photos below, there was plenty of storage, but it was all out in the open. Exposed wire racks and exposed products of every kind. For over 20 years, my redneck mess.

And to think I love to do laundry?

Video Here Of Before Laundry Room. Yikes.

Before the remodeling activity, I lived in Pinterest World, admiring and dreaming, planning, and creating. Inspiration mages from Pinterest below, or visit my personal laundry room Pinterest board to see all the stunning photos.

I wanted the laundry room before and after magic to materialize asap.

Across from the washer and dryer space, the inspiration image below is what I wanted to incorporate, a bank of cabinetry.

Design Blueprints

The image above shows the original design. The blueprint shows a hanging rod above the sink. Argh.

It sounds goofy, but I did not want my laundry room to look like a laundry room, clutter filled. I did not want to see clothes hanging when I looked into the laundry room.

When I mentioned this to my designer and asked her to lose the hanging rod, I indicated that l would find a shelf to put in the space. She looked at me and said, we can add a butcher block shelf if you want. WHAT?!?!? Of course! A butcher block shelf is what I want!

An update to the Laundry Room Blueprint is shown in the image above on the right, without the hanging rod.

I still wanted a place to hang my wet clothes. My solution is here. Brilliant and behind the door. Yes, I can drape clothes here and not have it interfere with the door, mostly because I am the only one who enters this room, shocker.

Our new design removed the hanging rod. Next, the outlet had to be relocated because it would have been inaccessible behind the cabinets. My husband drilled a hole through the side of the cabinet at the bottom, and I keep my cordless Dyson plugged in here.

There was an empty nook behind the open door where I now keep my Dyson. I was lucky, and I loved this little surprise.

Demo

The Demo. Fun. As seen on TV, we were Chip and Joanna. My husband did the demo for every room we remodeled. To say there were some close calls would be an understatement. BE CAREFUL!

Subscribe Here for when I Share those Scary Blunders

Floor

Now for the fun stuff. Time to pick out the flooring, and I thought this would be a snap.

Easy, right? Nope. Of course not. Have to give props to my husband here because he picked out the flooring for the laundry room, and I continue to love what he found. I originally picked a shiny, glossy tile and brought it home. Anything would have looked better than the vinyl that had been there for 20+ years.

I love the chosen flooring. It is a white glacial 12×24 tile. Quick Tip: When selecting the tile with multi patterns (meaning not all tiles are the same), pick out of the palette every piece of tile you want and discard the uglies because it may look dirty. Story below.

Let me ask a question. Do you ever have someone say something to you, and it sticks with you? A friend mentioned when she sees shiny flooring, she wants to put on her ice skates and work on her triple salchow. 

I have been to many homes with shiny floors, and they are fantastic. Shiny is just not me. Bling is not me. Initially, I chose the sparkling tiles to branch out and have a little ‘not me’ in my home. The wrong thing in this experiment, it was a little too permanent.

Instead, I chose to add bling accessories like my crystal door knob and glitzy flush mount light. See below. Wow, I am so edgy. Eye roll here. Decorating is personal.

Back to the Flooring

Almost a horrible mistake happened with the new laundry room floor. 

Our head contractor was unhappy with me, but he obliged and did the work himself. The error would have driven me crazy. Learn from me here, folks, and ensure you get what you want, or it will haunt you!

While the tiles we chose are supposed to have differences, some tiles looked dirty to me. They would be the first tiles I would see, and I would try to clean the un-cleanable. 

I told my contractor how I felt, and he fixed it personally. He removed the two already laid tiles and replaced them with better ones. Thank goodness I spoke up because that would have made me nuts. Always speak up.

Reminder about tile selection if tile pieces are supposed to differ, choose each tile for your project.

The smallest yet noticeable details often make me crazier than the big stuff. This event happened twice in my laundry room. The first example is above, and I saved it. Phew.

While all of this is going on, I have a new dilemma. Actually, my husband has a new dilemma. Dryer stopped working. Hmmm. My solution, time for a new dryer! Yay me.

Because I can make a long story longer, here I go.

We had washer and dryer front loaders. Never a fan. My husband bought all appliances as scratch and dent. I never complained. 

Moving back to the lake, I wanted to remove the pedestals on the front loaders. We could put a folding table on top, the new cool thing to do. 

Designing the laundry room, I wanted to incorporate this look which required removing the pedestals. Enter the washing machine valves. Ugly.

Removing the pedestals would expose the valves, seriously? (See image below). Looking at all of my inspiration pics, and I don’t see valves anywhere. Clever photographers. 

I reached out to a friend who had someone build her pedestals that hid the unattractive valves. Time and money started adding up. 

My new dryer arrived, and it was taller than the old one. Interesting. My husband said purchasing the matching washing machine to the new dryer may be more economical. This new washing machine would be taller and semi-hide the valves. Okay, I’m in! 

The best part is the new washing machine is a top loader. And there is no Agitator! Beyond excellent for all my down comforters. I can now wash and dry down comforters in my machines. Score!

I sacrificed the laundry folding table on top of the machines. Not a big deal because I fold laundry in my great room or kitchen. Plus, my laundry room stays clean and uncluttered, bonus points. The butcher block shelf took care of the textured aesthetic. 

End of report.

Mistakes

I referred to two mistakes in the laundry room.

The second mistake was an accident. As the cabinet installers completed the laundry room installation, an unremovable spot on our new dryer appeared. I did everything to eliminate it, but it would not go away.

We determined the drop cloth used by the installers had some mastic on it, and the spot would never go away. The company installing the cabinetry took care of business and compensated us for the dryer part. Another reason I love the company that installed all of our closet systems. Top-notch.

SpaceMakers / Carolina Closets / Seden Harrison

Have I mentioned the importance of choosing the right subcontractors for your remodel? Boy, is it clutch! I would call our favorite contractors friends. 

Cabinets, closets, floors, tile, electrical, plumbing, there was some trial and error involved, but now we have our people, and they are beyond fantastic.

Reveal…Laundry Room Before & After Magic

BEFORE VIDEO OF LAUNDRY ROOM HERE

AFTER VIDEO OF LAUNDRY ROOM HERE