Washing In Style

“New Hizzy” has a laundry room. A laundry ROOM with a DOOR that CLOSES. Not a walk-thru from the garage to the kitchen, not a catch-all with an accordion door. A real ROOM, people.

So I’m excited.

I searched for ‘laundry’ in my Pictures folder, and these are the first three that caught my eye.

Melissa at 320 Sycamore spiffed up her laundry room and it’s stinkin’ cute. It’s official, I am going to need a lamp in my laundry room.

This Country Home Laundry room has been on my radar for, like, ever. I’m in a big black and white (and gray) phase right now.

But, BUT as much as I love black/white/gray… I really love red. And the laundry room is really my little home… while I soak softball pants for the millionth time and turn shirts inside out. Maybe this is the room where I have a little fun with color? (Not sure of source on this one… anyone know?)

What kind of laundry room do you have? Have you done any special decorating in it?

The Plan: Laundry Room

I always find when looking at re-decorating anything, I want to start in the smallest room and work my way up to the biggest room(s). In the old house, it was the bathroom where I tried things out and started first. In this house, while the bathroom is the smallest, the laundry room is the most cost-effective place to start.

The laundry room houses our washer and dryer, an old portable kitchen island we use as storage, upper cabinets above the washer/dryer, one window and a built-in pantry. The floors are carpeted and the walls are painted wood paneling, just like the rest of the house. I will say that the walls were painted very well, which makes my work very easy. The accordion doors are wonderful for keeping the dryer noise from the rest of the house, but not so pretty.

The Plan:
* Replace Flooring – Ceramic tile will be extended from the kitchen into the laundry room.
* Paint – Walls get a fresh coat, cabinets get painted out, island gets painted.
* Replace Light Fixture
* Pantry/Cabinet Organization – Clean, fresh lining, organize.
* Window/Door Dressing – Blinds for privacy on the window, curtains to support the decor.
* Decorate!

Inspiration:

I can’t wait to get started on this project. It may take some discussion with the boy to start here, because he’s a big-picture kind of guy, but I’m sure when I bust it out quick, he’ll be greatly appreciative.

Any thoughts or tips from your own laundry room re-do?

Photos courtesy Houzz.com and BHG.com.

A House Tour… Part One

If you’ll remember, I moved (yes, again) into the bungalow my boyfriend was living in. This 1915 gem has a wide front porch complete with porch swing and is full of character. It’s also full of nasty carpet and windows painted shut. But we love it. I took these photos before and after Christmas decor went up and the fireplace was painted, so don’t be confused. After I show you the new digs, I plan to highlight in other blog posts more details and what our plans are.

Upon walking in the front door, you are greeted by our main room. This main room serves as a living room and dining room, and provides access to the kitchen, two bedrooms and the bathroom.

This room also a fireplace. The fireplace used to look like this:

After some wine encouragement, it looks like this (more details to follow):

The living/dining room is long and narrow. I think this picture really showcases that.

Straight back from the front door is our kitchen. The small, lack-of-counter-space, CARPETED kitchen. But it’s cute! That counts for something, right?

It does have glass front cabinets, my dream.

There’s also no dishwasher… unless I can name my dishwasher “Justin”.

Behind the accordion doors in the kitchen is our laundry room.

It has a built in pantry, which is a MESS right now. Amazing how such a little place needs so much work.

After seeing these pictures, I’m sure YOUR mind is already running through a list of projects to be taken on. In Part 2 of the house tour, I’ll show you the other half of the house. And look for up coming posts detailing the projects we plan to take on in each room.

Let me know what you think!