I am so excited to start posting ‘after’ photos here again! The house tour was fun and all, but I could really use some pretty in my life again. :)
I teamed up with The Home Depot, Maytag and Tide to celebrate a summer promotion where if before August 2 you buy a select Maytag washer and a 150 oz bottle of Tide, you’ll get a $100 Mastercard gift card. My part of the celebration is sharing my laundry room redo along with my best tips on renovating a laundry room on a budget. The extra exciting part is The Home Depot, Maytag and Tide are giving away a Maytag washer and dryer and year’s supply of Tide HD that comes with a laundry room design plan courtesy of yours truly, AND, wait for it… $5,000 to do it with! So fun, right?
But first, I want to show you what Michael and I were able to do on a tight budget in our sad, green checkered laundry room.
I was tempted to start from scratch in here. But when it was time to figure out a budget for this room redo we were also picking out floor$ and front door$, so I was like, yeah… you know what, we’re going to just paint everything in here and see what happens. :)
The walls were painted Benjamin Moore’s Cashmere Gray (one of my favorites – it’s a soft green-blue gray) and the floors were painted two and three shades darker on the same card. I think keeping the paint colors in the same color family helped the floors to not look so crazytown. I used water-based alkyd paint on the floors which holds up as well as oil-based paint, but dries lightyears faster and is a breeze to clean in comparison.
Other things that were painted in the room besides the walls and floors? The ceiling fan (just white spray paint!), the cabinets (Ben Moore’s White Dove in semi gloss), the mis-matched new hardware (three cheers for gold spray paint!), the IKEA woven baskets (spray painted tomato red!) and the new light fixture above the window (made the green line on the globes with green nail polish!).
We purchased a few new things for the room to make it more functional. I found the pull-out spray faucet for a great price on eBay and let me tell you – it is changing my life to have a deep utility sink and a really amazing faucet in my laundry room! :)
The sad before:
There wasn’t really a space to add a hanging bar in here, and seriously who doesn’t love a rolling laundry cart? So when I stumbled across this laundry butler online that was exactly counter depth, it was a no-brainer purchase.
You can see here above how we opted to take off the doors on part of the upper cabinets. Here’s what the uppers looked like before:
My sweet and totally ripped sister, Ali, basically karate chopped her way through the bottom shelf so we could get it out of the cabinet frame. True sisterly love right there.
Once the doors were off and the bottom shelf was out, we could fill the holes and sand the imperfections and then touch up the paint. I discovered my new favorite putty/patching compound
We added a little furring strip to the bottom of the cabinet and to the fronts of the top shelf to finish off the edges. This helped the shelf look SO much better.
We also painted the backs of the shelf the color of the wall. I think between that and the addition of the furring strips, the cabinet started to look like a wall shelf instead of uppers without their doors.
We added a furring strip to the bottom of the upper cabinets on the other side of the room too, just to help finish those off as well. I wish we could have replace those doors so much, but I think the white paint helps clean them up a lot and they’re not so, so country now. Compromises for the budget! :)
In the upper cabinets above the appliances, I modpodged the backs with neon gift wrap from Homegoods (the best place to buy wrapping paper IMHO).
I also added cork tiles to the insides of the doors for pinning up little reminders and momentos that make me smile while I’m reaching for the detergent.
I needed some cheap wall art in the room so I did my $4 print trick using a quirky image I found online of Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire.
I also made a sunburst-esque mirror out of laundry clips from IKEA that I thought turned out pretty cute. The arc lamp is from Homegoods. I found that little chair at Goodwill for $15 and reupholstered it in some Dwell Studio fabric from Home Fabrics in Mesa that was about $7/yd. Love that store so much.
I think my favorite project in the room has to be the new countertops though. We used a concrete product called Ardex Feather Finish to resurface the old laminate. I’m excited to share the tutorial!
The concrete made the room feel instantly more modern.
Love the transformation! Especially loved how you worked with what you had, made me feel like I really can transform my space without any demo really.
what?? i am amazed. like i keep scrolling between the old and new pictures. Jenny, you are so talented. i absolutely love it!! everything is perfect. countertops, floor, cabinets….ikea baskets….can i move in there please?
Love it! Where did you find the big lightbulbs for the ceiling fan? They really made it look more modern!
I can't wait for the counter top tutorial! I need to do something about ours on a serious budget, and cannot get over how good yours looks! Everything about this space is brilliant (I would have never thought to do that with the floors)! I'd expect nothing less from you.
Amazing, I love everything you did! So clever!! I can't decide what idea I love best! You thought of everything! Can't wait to see what you are going to do with the rest of the house! Congratulations!!
Amazing, I love everything you did! So clever!! I can't decide what idea I love best! You thought of everything! Can't wait to see what you are going to do with the rest of the house! Congratulations!!
I gasped out loud when I saw the first "after" picture (probably did the same seeing the original laundry room tour)! The floor is wonderful!
If this is what you've done to the laundry room, then the rest of the house is going to be epic! Beyond epic. And I'm so grateful you are sharing all of it with us! Thank you, Jenny!
WOW, WOW, WOW… you amaze… moving cross country w/ 3 kids and you have had time to redo the laundry room?
so inspiring… love the washer/dryer combo… entered the contest… in the process of redoing my laundry room (former bathroom) but I guess I'll rip it all out if we win!
Thsnks for sharing.
Great job, Jenny! Hooray for pretty pictures making a return!
dang, you're good!! your vision is a gift, and you nail style every time doing the unexpected – i almost wish i had linoleum something so that i could concrete it.
Oh my goodness! Fantastic job, Jenny! I love the laundry room you guys did such a good job. I especially like the floor!
~Pam
You do more than throw up paint. You're eye for detail and practical upgrades (think furring strip) is what sets you apart. You have a gift and I'm so grateful for your willingness (and energy) to share. Just lovely!
This is amazing, and add me to the list of people who can't wait to see the countertop tutorial. And that, by the way, is my very favorite thing about your blog — I learn about all these great, budget-friendly DIY workarounds that I didn't even know were possible. (BTW, I'm making a roman shade from mini-blinds this weekend – ha!)Awesome, awesome job.
Do you mind sharing which tomato red spray paint you used for the baskets? I love the color!!
Wow! You get things done fast! What an awesome job!!!! Love your blog!
http://reuschinteriordesign.blogspot.com
Wow! What a difference! I've been trying to decide whether to paint my ugly oakish kitchen cabinets white or dark. Thanks for the tips. Maybe some of our readers will help me decide: http://gustoandgrace.wordpress.com/2013/07/19/light-or-dark-yall/
Jenny! You seriously knocked this one out of the park. Seeing such a transformation on a tight budget is even more inspirational than if the sky had been the limit. Seriously. Lovely, modern, functional…the best qualities of any space!
Seriously impressive. I think the floors are my favorite – not crazy town at all!
Holy crap you are seriously amazing.
This is AMAZING! It scarcely looks like the same room. You must be thrilled with how all your hard work has turned out :) xx
my pick my jaw off the floor. this transformation is insane! how long did this take?
LOVE IT!!! I think the cabinets look loads better painted and how inspiring to show people how different a room can look without gutting it!! Everyone would love to gut a room and start from scratch but so often there isn't enough $$ in the budget. Can't wait to see the journey of this house reno!!
I have been looking forward to this post for weeks!!! Feels like Christmas with the generosity of eye candy.
Stunningly awesome redo! I can't even believe it's the same room! And it seems like it was pretty inexpensive and not too difficult to boot! Great job!
oh my my my! that is incredible! i am so jealous…we just have a laundry closet…and it is not pretty! ;) great job…can't WAIT to see the rest of the house!!!
So, so great! I love how airy and bright it is now, without any structural changes.
http://greenmountainglobetrotter.blogspot.com/
Jenny,
This before and after is simply incredible. Awesome what some paint, elbow grease, and a little creativity can do!
If you don't mind, I'm going to pin this to The Home Depot's All About Paint Pinterest board.
Cheers,
Caroline
Senior Editor, homedepot.com
Looks amazing!
WOW – what an amazing & cheerful transformation!
Holy smokes!! You are so talented!!
Wow what a difference!!!! Looks great!
Holy moly, I need help so much help with my laundry room… There are holes in the wall…not a pretty site!!
Aaaaaagggghhh! I'm a wee bit tortured by how good you are! I mean, I look around at my house and think, "well geez, WWJD"? What would Jenny do with this?!
Wow, what an improvement.. Very clever.
The Laundry Room is incredible. Seriously beyond impressed. And I'm renting and my laundry room is a cupboard in Phoenix, but with a husband in med school the laundry detergent would be awesome. You're amazing!
Holey cannoli!!!! You have such great design vision. I look at that room and just groaned. Blown away by after.
its amazing!!!!! good job!
fantastic!! super creative and so fresh. love it !
Your work is amazing, you work magic. It's just insane.
Love your blog! This post was great! Love those counter tops! And the mirror!
Wow! It's amazing! So beautiful. Do you think concrete counter tops would work in the kitchen?
Incredible makeover! One would never guess the before by looking at the after. Well done!
Wow, NICE! I am loving those modern countertops, what a happy place this was transformed to!
so good to see you back at it! and i was wrong in my guessing, you even kept the fan! everything looks amazing! we have a home fabrics here in kansas city and it is definitely my favorite little place! i did my entire daughter's nursery in fabric from there!
http://www.themakerista.com/2013/07/millys-nursery_15.html
thanks for sharing, jenny! your gifts are many and the fact that you share them with others is very kind. have a lovely weekend!
I absolutely love everything you did! I have to admit that I am blown away by those counter tops! I'll be excited to see your tutorial and then do it to mine!
Seriously so amazing. It doesn't even look like the same room! And how did you do it so fast? I can't wait to see the countertop tutorial. Love me some concrete counters.
Amazing!
I have that same bubbly milk glass bowl! Love me some milk glass.
You did such a good job with the floors! It looks fantastic. And, despite you repeating a zillion trillion times how much faux brick was in the new house, I still thought for a moment that you had laid new tile. Amazing job.
Completely amazing – i was looking forward to the re-do ..but you basically took every project I'd ever like to do in a budget-friendly home re-do, and accomplished it in this one room- hats off!
I am once again amazed at your vision and creativity — and the speed in which you get things done. Genius!