Laundry Space Renovation

So this project was kind of "slow burner" project as I call them. Meaning that it wasn't a ton of work but it took us forever to complete for a variety of reasons (the main reason in this case being that we had a baby in the middle of the project). We decided to redo the laundry area for three main reasons: 1. I hated our current washer/dryer and decided to get new ones before we had a baby  2. Our laundry room is on our upstairs and was very visible to me 3. We needed more storage (ok we always need more storage) 

The Before

The laundry area was quite the eyesore. It is on our upstairs landing so it is very visible on a daily basis. It has accordion doors to cover the area but the dryer was too big to actually shut the doors. It also lacked in storage space- it did have a wire shelf- but you should know how I feel about wire shelves if you've read enough of my blogposts. My other big beef with this area was that it was dark- This wasn't as big of deal at night because I had the bright hallway light but during the day it was hard to see because this area is tucked into a corner and I didn't want to turn on the hallway light. Plus sometimes the hallway light doesn't want to actually turn on (another problem for another day) 

This was the space once everything was removed. 

We gave away the washer and dryer on a facebook "buy nothing" site. They still worked- just not that great. After we removed the appliances my husband removed the linolium flooring that had probably been there since the house was built. It was clear that the previous owners had never cleaned this area- we had cleaned it when we moved in but it was still pretty disgusting. 

During this time when we had the best access to it we cleaned out the dryer vent very well. We plan on continuing to do this every year to prevent a house fire. 

Part 1: Installing a new floor, cabinets and a light

This all happened pretty quickly over the course of a day so I didn't have time to take pictures of each individual step. The first task we did was to change out the vent that was currently in place to a vent with a light. According to Washington State building code there needs to be a vent fan near the washer to adequately clear any moisture. I thought this was kind of strange because I don't really think my washer generates that much moisture- but whatever. Installing a light and fan made a HUGE difference- we are able to see so much better in the space. 

After installing the light and fan we used left over flooring from our coat closet renovation (see this blogpost: https://craftytravelgirl.blogspot.com/2022/10/coat-closet-reno.html) and installed waterproof vinyl flooring. This was probably the easiest flooring install my husband has ever done because it was literally a rectangle with nothing to have to work around. We also added trim to the side walls because we had left over trim from other projects- we left a space in the trim should we ever be forced to reinstall the accordion doors (they are going to live in our garage just in case) 

After that we purchased basic shaker cabinets from lowes and installed them. This is going to help us immensley for storage space that we desperately need. I've found there's just a lot of random house stuff that ends up in my laundry room area thats just not that pretty so I need to hide it in cabinets. 

Part 2: Install Tile backsplash 

Ok so this didn't really need to happen-however we had about a half a box of left over tile in our garage left over from our master bathroom shower (see this blogpost:  https://craftytravelgirl.blogspot.com/2022/05/our-master-bathroom-remodel.html)  and I somehow convinced my husband to throw it up on the wall in the laundry area to get it out of our garage. It was also a pretty easy job because there was only one light switch to cut around- the rest were straight cuts. The whole tile job only took him about 2 hours. Yay for getting random materials out of my garage. 

Part 3: Get washer and dryer and create a wood counter

We got new appliances- this turned into a huge drama because we ordered the appliances months in advance but they were back ordered due to supply chain issues. We had timed getting rid of our washer and dryer so that we could have a week without one in the space to make this project easier. Unfortunately the day that they were supposed to be delivered they did not come and would not come for at least another month. I ended up buying the washer from another company because they had one physically in stock (not on a boat in the port of LA) and then we just had to line dry everything for a month. The dryer ended up coming literally the morning after we got home from the hospital with our first child (great timing!) 

Because they were both front loaders we wanted to make a counter top that sat on top of the appliances. I researched multiple ways to do this- from ordering a slab of granite, to using butcher block. Eventually we decided to buy wood boards and glue them together. I only have one photo from this whole process because we had a one week old baby during the time that we were completing this part of the project and if my husband was working on it that typically meant I was feeding him. Basically we needed roughly 24inches width of counter top and the widest boards we could find were 12" so we purchased 2 1X12s and 1 1x4 and glued them together. From there I stained them with Minwax Jacobean and applied two coats of polyurethane. 

We screwed a 1x2 board into the wall to provide a surface to adhere the counter top to and for it to be able to take a lot of weight should it need to (like if a child decides to climb on it) I think it turned out really well for our first time making a wide counter like this. 

Part 4: Build a drawer/cabinet for in between the appliances 

I was determined to get the most storage space out of this area. So between my dad and I we designed a custom cabinet that pulled out like a drawer to fit in between the two appliances. This was not my husband's  favorite project because he had never made anything like this before and it was a bit complicated. 

First my husband had to build the outer shell of the cabinet. This was mostly constructed out of plywood because it was the cheapest and people aren't really going to see this part. Once he finished it I painted it all white. 

Then he constructed the door for the cabinet. We wanted to replicate the shaker style like the cabinets above it to look like they all belonged together or were made in the same place. From there he made the inside of the cabinet. I wanted to be able to store laundry detergent, lint and my indoor clothes hanger when not in use. I painted it all white and he installed it in between the appliances.

Part 5: Add some cute decor and DONE!

I made this cute "Let's get ready to tumble" sign with my cricut and left over scraps from other projects and put it on the shelf as a cute display item.

Overall I am really pleased with how the laundry space turned out. Some might say this is a bit "extra" for the laundry area but it's right in the middle of our upstairs and it is a major focal point so I wanted it to look nice because I knew I was going to use it a lot and see it a lot. I also think we added a lot more needed storage to the space.