During my first viewing of our future house, I noticed how large the laundry room is. In major cities, some people have bedrooms smaller than my laundry room. I was excited to have such a spacious laundry room when we bought the house. However, I quickly realized that all that space was wasted since there was virtually no storage. Aside from one wire rack above the washer and dryer, it was just an open space. I tried adding racks and other organizational solutions, but it just became a mess.
I had to think about this project for a long time. I was tired of making quick fixes and cheap solutions. I wanted a beautiful and functional laundry room that maximized the space it took up in my floor plan. I also didn't want to break the bank. I set myself a $2,000 budget and went to work. So, what did I decide to do?
Paint: That same brown color from my guest bathroom was also in the laundry room. I wanted a color that felt clean; brown does not make me feel clean. I chose Behr in Dragonfly.
Flooring: The floor was one solid sheet of vinyl flooring. It had scratches and scrapes. It was also brown (why did the previous owners like brown so much?!) I wanted to replace it, but I still wanted something hardy and waterproof. I went with Lifeproof in Shadow Hickory. I chose this color because it is a close match to the hardwood floors in the rest of my house. I installed it myself after watching multiple videos online. I put it directly on top of on existing flooring. I bought this kit, and it made install much easier. The most difficult part was definitely cutting the planks. It was much more difficult than videos made it out to be. I would buy a plank cutter if I was to do this again, but hindsight is 20/20.
Storage: The thing I wanted most was plentiful storage. My laundry room has my breaker box, two windows, a door, and obviously the washer and dryer. These are all things that cannot be blocked and needed to be considered in my storage plan. IKEA's SEKTION line is known for having many options and a reasonable price tag, so I decided to go with them. I used IKEA's Kitchen Planner software to design my laundry room. It allowed me to enter my room size and obstacles. Then, it has all of IKEA's products to size that you can add and move around your room. I was able to find SEKTIONs and a EKBACKEN countertop that would give me storage and laundry drying room. My main complaint is that I do not think the process for ordering or installing IKEA SEKTION cabinets was very user friendly. I recommend reading this blog or this one. It will save you a lot of headaches and maybe some trips back to IKEA.
Take a look at how it all turned out!
It was a lot of sweat and some swearing, but turned out perfect. I could not be happier!