Laundry Room Redo

Targeted Obsession: Home Decor

A while back we started the process of renovating our office. What I didn't tell you was that we started discussing doing our laundry room too! And I'm kind of glad I didn't tell anyone because the laundry room took us longer than the office for various reasons, but it's now FINISHED!

The major reason we wanted to focus energy on the laundry room was the lack of storage in our house. We also hated the fact that we spent so much time and money on making our home exactly how we wanted it, but whenever we sat on the couch and turned our head slightly to the right, this was our view...

That's one nasty "before" picture, right?!

The laundry room became our "catch all" space. It also butts right up to our staircase. Why homebuilders don't think to give you extra storage under the stairs is beyond me, but we'd always discussed cutting under our staircase from the laundry room to create more places to stick stuff. I've mentioned before that my husband is pretty handy (flashback to the shiplap wall- I still go stare at it daily BTW) and he totally figured out how to add the storage under the stairs while protecting the integrity (aka, structure) of our home. What he didn't want to do was figure out how to plumb, reroute electricity, and hang cabinets... so we contracted the majority of this project out. Therefore, this wasn't one of our cheaper re-dos. However, we love it none the less, so without further adieu... check out this "after" shot!

It doesn't even look like the same space, right?! It's amazing what a little space planning and some cabinets can do! We didn't move any walls or change flooring, we simply added things and moved our washer/ dryer hookups. When we built our home, we had it plumbed to one day house a sink in this room. We went for the extra large farmhouse sink and cool industrial faucet in order to better bathe our 40 lb dog. (Let's be real- that was our "reasoning" but we totally wanted an excuse to splurge on the cool stuff!) I have to hand it to my husband though, the sink and faucet were both purchased off of Craigslist for half of what they'd typically cost and the stackable washer/ dryer combo came from an incredible sale as well. SOOOO, even though the re-do wasn't cheap, it could have been way worse!

Now, we all know I have a 5 year old. His preschool does the most adorable crafts and artwork! I hate clutter. All of that is the perfect combination for mom guilt because WTH am I supposed to do with the plethora of art that my son brings home weekly?!!! Cue big idea! A few summers ago I grabbed a piece of sheet metal and spray paint from Lowes and a poster frame from Target and wound up with this:

I loved the easy-to-switch and cute photo display, so I thought about doing it on a grander scale... and voila! We wound up with a sheet metal wall! If you live in the Lake Norman area and want to know where to get large pieces of sheet metal on the cheap, I can hook you up!

It's perfect for displaying everything and is located right in our "drop zone!" It didn't alleviate the mom guilt though. Come to find out, we're out of magnets so I still have to pick things to discreetly get rid of whenever something new comes home. And do you see the shelf in the bottom corner? That's the hole under the stairs!

Ivan cut a shape that followed the stairs for easy access and then built this rolling cart to sit in front of the giant hole! Behind the cart is a TON of space where we stash seasonal items and the cart is our new "drop zone" for Ridge. (See the pile of unhung artwork in the top right? hehe!)

And that's it. Seven months, three contractors, one husband, and hours on Craigslist and this is what we came up with. The storage is awesome and the view from our sofa has greatly improved! Ciao for now, or at least until we find another room to mess with...