DIY Laundry Room Makeover
We’ve spent the last four years “making over” every room in our LA rental with some rooms even undergoing several makeovers! To be honest, I’ve neglected our laundry room as it was a room that became a sort of catch-all/storage space. I thought it was a lost cause and there was really nothing we could do to make it better without making some major non-rental-friendly changes. Once I realized it was only one cabinet standing in the way of the perfect laundry room layout, I reached out to my landlord to see if he would be open to me making some changes, and here is how it went…
BEFORE & AFTER
We were seriously lacking usable storage space in the laundry room because the one large existing cabinet was just to disclose the hot water heater. Also, with us removing the smaller cabinet to make way for the new layout, we had to bring in a storage solution which was our first “must-have” for the space!
MUST-HAVES
Unblock the window by siting the washer & dryer side-by-side.
Install useable storage to enclose detergent, cleaning supplies & my candle stash!
Long countertop on top of washer and dryer to fold clothes
Rod to hang clothes fresh out of the dryer
Hook to hang broom
…and of course art, small decor and a rug to warm up the space.
Updating The Layout
My landlord agreed to let me do some changes so long as they were minimal and simplistic so that it works for everyone that’s going to live there in the future.
By moving the storage up onto the wall (and increasing it) we were able to sit the washer and dryer side by side. Which made the space overall feel larger because when the washer and dryer was stacked it felt so overwhelming and huge in the space.
The addition of the long countertop above the washer and dryer was life-changing! We never had a place to fold in the laundry room and always ended up with piles of clothes on our bed that needed to be folded.
Picking The Perfect Paint
I wanted to pick a paint color that felt clean and fresh. I sampled three color options from Benjamin Moore (Ballet White, Winds Breath, and Natural Cream) and swatched them on the wall. When selecting a paint color I like to have at least one piece of decor I will be adding to the space — like this vintage Turkish rug I found at the Rose Bowl Flea Market.
We felt like Natural Cream (OC-14) tied in perfectly to the rest of the house, complemented the new decor and also felt fresh and calming.
ART
My mom is an amazing artist and had previously painted some art for a gallery wall in my breakfast nook which is just off the laundry room. So when I was originally designing our laundry room I thought complimenting art in vintage gold frames would be the perfect way to tie the two spaces together. I love pottery and vintage bowls, so I asked her to paint a still-life and a complementing floral piece in white to make the space feel light and fresh with a hit of moodiness.
You can shop these digital images and so many more on my mom’s Etsy shop!
Decorating for Feeling & Function
I wanted the overall design of the space to flow really well with the rest of the house and have a few clean, fresh yet warm, and cozy vibe. No space is complete without a bit of decor but I didn’t want to over decorate the space as we wanted it to be completely functional as a laundry room.
I added a few thrifted vases to the countertop, a vintage glass container to store our wool dryer balls, and of course a rug. I love the idea of a rug in a laundry room because it feels more comfortable and it avoids us standing on the cold tile.
I shopped the Rose Bowl Flea Market and thrift stores for secondhand decor and frames for my mom’s art she painted for this space. (Watch my Flea Market Shopping video HERE).
Shop Laundry Decor (& more)…
I never thought that i’d be standing in our laundry room where there is actual space to move around and function! Watch the full makeover on my YouTube channel below and let me know what your favorite part of this room makeover was in the comments below!
XO, MaCenna