Spring 2022 ORC - Laundy Room Wrap Up
Week 1: Recap and Updated Moodboard
My laundry room makeover was the target project for the Spring ORC last year. I knew back then that this room, although small, was going to be a personal challenge. It required having to outsource some of the labor, learning new skills and working with heavy materials and appliances which made completion of the project within the 8 week timeframe pretty impossible. Now, a year later, do I think I can wrap this room up in the upcoming 8 weeks? I certainly hope so but schedules have been challenging in 2022. That's life right? No two years are the same because of ever changing priorities and circumstances. So I'm just rolling with it!
Spring 2021 ORC Recap
This is the closest view of the "before". Ever since we moved to this house, we had the washer and dryer oriented facing the large board and batten wall. Once I decided to update the room and add more function and storage, I determined that having the machines facing the entry door was probably was my best bet of adding a counter, sink and a laundry basket storage tower.
The paint color in the laundry room was Gray Wisp by Benjamin Moore and really is a beautiful soft gray green. However, since my plans included doing some demo on the back board and batten section and removing the wire shelving, there were a lot of wall areas to patch and so I decided to change the color as I had to buy paint anyway.
I chose Café Olé by Benjamin Moore and it's a beautiful earthy pink. The laundry room has no natural light so I updated the light fixture to keep the room bright despite the saturated color on the walls.
A big portion of the room's update was adding a counter with sink and a storage tower for my husband's sports gear and laundry baskets. The progress shot on the right shows the first section of the cabinetry that I built. I won't get into the process of how I built them but the basic ingredients are plywood, pocket holes, wood screws and a whole bunch of bicep power to bring all that from the garage to the laundry room that's on our second floor! I did take off the baseboards in that corner and along the wall with the plumbing so the cabinets could sit flush against the wall.
As the weeks went along, I built more cabinetry to fill in the space between the tower and the back wall. Our washer and dryer sit on pedestals (I prefer the height that way) which doesn't really allow for a counter above the machines. Having the machines in their new spots required us to have the gas line extended so we had a plumber come out and do that.
Given all the space constraints, I maximized the depth of the counter to 20" but that only left enough room to have a small utility sink. We don't have a utility sink anywhere else in the house, so even though small, I appreciate the fact that I could incorporate one at all! Of course the faucet was my opportunity to bring in some pretty gold.
I had never considered a laundry room as a place to add a rug and other décor but if there's anything that I've learned in the past couple of years is that these little details matter. On their own they may not seem important but once all the different layers come together, that is what truly makes a room come alive. I still believe function over form is important but once function has been accounted for, I say it's worth your while to make it pretty! I used a 3' x 5' rug from Loloi Rugs and love how it ties all the colors together.
I added a couple of shelves above the machines but because of the height of the machines, these shelves aren't easily accessible. I don't intend to use them for detergent storage but they helped fill out some negative space in the room and gave me the opportunity to bring objects to balance out the colors in this largely pink room. Instead of going with floating shelves, I used L shaped gold brackets to tie in with the faucet color.
As you can see, the laundry room came quite a ways but there are quite a few finishing details left to wrap up this space. The picture at the start of the post is how the room looked at the final reveal last year.
Spring 2022 ORC Updated Moodboard
Last year I created a rough layout in my favorite program Floorplanner to map out the room but as with most things, you get better with practice. This year I revisited that mock up and updated it to reflect some of the choices I made last year and added the missing pieces that will be the target of this year's ORC.
Most of the work left is centered around finishing the cabinetry but let's break all the things left to do down below:
1. Add additional vertical support for the sink
2. Redistribute the shelf spacing in the storage tower to be more convenient for storing sports gear.
3. Add face trim to all cabinets and install baseboards to make it look built in
4. Add shelves/cabinet doors to hide plumbing under sink
5. Finish the counter top - thinking faux marble with epoxy
6. Add tile backsplash above the counter
7. Install drying rods/rack for drying clothes
8. Install hooks to hold the ironing table
9. Finalize décor and reveal!
I created a virtual tour of the laundry room and you can check it out at the link below:
(the colors in the rendering are a little washed out but it's fun to move around in the space and see different perspectives)
Well, there you have it folks! The run down of what I did last year and what I have ahead of me. I'm pumped to get started and make progress on this space so I can finally reveal a finished laundry room!
Thank you, as always, for reading and thank you for cheering me on through this year's challenge! To check out some of the amazing projects from the other participants click the link below:
Let's do this!
-Neeta
