My New Favorite Room

I am at a stage of life where my my mini van is cool, most of my shopping is mail ordered, and my favorite room in my house is my laundry room.

For 8 years, this has been my laundry closet (with a washer and dryer of course).  I had to do my laundry with the door closed because if it were open, I could not access the dryer.  Also, if anyone happened to walk in from the garage, they would hit me with the door, and that happened frequently.  I recognize people work with less, so I hesitate to complain, but I want you to see why this was not ideal for a family of 6.

So one day, Trent and I decided that we needed more laundry space more than we needed the extended piece of our garage that stored our Christmas decorations.  My ironing board was a permanent piece of furniture in my bedroom, the kids clean clothes lived in piles on the stairs, the drying rack was in the middle of my closet with wet clothes dripping on my carpet, and shoes... Don't even get me started on my kids shoes.  They were everywhere. 

I spent weeks researching laundry rooms and now I want to share my conversion with you in case you are feeling the same pain and could benefit from some of the jewels of my new favorite space. 

I started with this cool antique door from Adkins Antiques in Houston.  Funny story-  It was between this door and one other.  The deciding factor was that this door was from Argentina and the other was from a crematorium in Chicago.  #Notaharddecision

We stripped and re-stained it, had a piece of shatter proof glass put in, put this decal on it from Upper Case Living, and then spray textured it.  Originally I was going to peel the letter off to make it see through but changed my mind after it was textured.   The materials for the rollers were purchased from vendors in Houston but can be purchased at Lowes.  The sliding door now made the laundry room full accessible.

The next thing we did was to convert the washer and dryer space to cubbies for the kids. Trent constructed this space because he is awesome like that.  I placed a box for each kids individual socks under their cubby.  Moving their socks downstairs was a must.

I stacked my washer and dryer to maximize space and have loved it.  I was probably most concerned about this step because I am a shorty, but I have had no regrets.  I added these floating shelves for laundry soap and unfolded socks.  I chose to do this instead of standard shelves because I wanted an open feel there. 

Stacking my washer and dryer allowed me to add a farm sink.  I purchased the sink and base at Ikea. You can't see it here but there is a matching Ikea cabinet above for cleaning items that I don't want my little ones to reach.  Ikea was by far the most affordable way for me to get a farm sink.  I chose an extendable faucet from Home Depot for washing the dog.

Across from the washer and sink is my folding and drying area.  My husband constructed this for me taking into account my sewing machine and the height of my laundry baskets.  The rolling baskets and drying racks were also purchased at Ikea.  The bottom of my shelving unit is actually a sleeping and eating area for the dog.  This was intentional to get the dog out of our guest bathroom.  The green crates hold craft supplies, PT supplies, and extra drinks that don't fit in my pantry.  It is all labeled with chalk ribbon and mini chalk boards purchased at Michaels.  

I had a hard time deciding on my flooring and probably researched that the most.  We were unable to match the other tile in our home and I didn't want to put down yet another square tile.  I was concerned about wood getting wet and then I found brick.  You can see several pictures of brick laundry room floors on Houzz.com.  It was a look that I fell in love with.  Actual bricks were out of my price range, but I found these brick tiles in downtown Houston that look and feel like brick.  I love this floor and could not be happier with how it turned out.

 Finally I chose to add some black and white lifestyle pictures of my family to cheer up the room and carry my decorating style into my new favorite place.

If you are as frustrated as I was, I hope this has helped you reconsider your space.  I am happy to answer any questions you have.

A few more details:
Contractor- Alan Ganley Construction-  I highly recommend his team.  They showed up on time, did excellent work, and completed their part in under 2 weeks.
Wall color- Denim by Sherwin Williams