Laundry Room Redo: The Plan

The laundry room isn’t the most exciting room in the house, I realize. But, sadly, I spend a lot of time in it. So I want to make it as functional and lovely as possible. Our laundry room is functional now, but beige and a little dreary.

Now some of you may remember that there was a pedestal in here before, on which the machines sat.

I loved it, but I had to remove it – or so I was told. Our washer was really off-balance after we moved (which often happens), so I called to have it serviced. When the service technician arrived, he told me that he couldn’t service the machine on a homemade pedestal like this. It had to be on the floor or on a pedestal from the same manufacturer as the machine.

So, I (and by “I,” I mean two very strong guys) removed the pedestal.

Turns out the service tech was wrong.

After the service was complete, I called Lowe’s – from whom we bought the machine. I told them what happened and that the guy would only fix the machine once it was off the pedestal I had built. The customer service person I talked to said that wasn’t true; I could have left it on the pedestal.

Dangit.

So the pedestal is gone now (but not forgotten) and I’m back to the machines on the floor. Trying to look on the bright side, I see potential now for a useful shelf and a countertop for folding above the machines.

I found something I’m going to repurpose into a countertop here – I’ll share that with you later (suspense!). I want to make sure it’ll actually work first.

So, here’s the rough sketch of the plan so far:

In the drawing, I circled paint sample #4, but then decided it might be too purple or too dark, and decided to go with #5. But then I started putting #5 – Harbor Haze – on the wall…

…and I hated it. It’s too blue. So, back to the drawing board on paint color. I’m thinking I’m going to go much lighter, like this color in our old dining room, which is Moonshine by Benjamin Moore.

The laundry room redo plan is:

• Paint the trim and doors* white semi-gloss;
• Paint the walls;
• Install trim on the bottom half of the walls to look like beadboard. I’m not sure I want actual beadboard here; I might just want to create the look of it (especially since I don’t want to move the machines too much). Stay tuned.
• Add a shelf between the cabinets and the machines.
• Add a countertop for folding and stacking above the machines. Turn an old desk top into that counter – oops, I spilled the beans a little on that project! (Wink, wink!)
• Debating whether to remove the wire shelving and replace with cabinets. That way, that stuff would be hidden.

*This creates a typical Karen If You Give a Moose a Muffin (<– affiliate link) project. If I paint the trim and doors in here, I have to paint the trim in the kitchen, too, since the rooms share the doors and are connected. Which is fine, because I don’t like the gray trim in the kitchen anyway. But that means sanding, priming, and painting the trim in here and in the kitchen…one project always leads to another.

So that’s the plan for now. What do you think?