BEFORE & AFTER

This downright delightful laundry area is by Sarah of Simplify the Chaos. Sarah stuck to a small budget and minor changes with this project, because she and her husband have plans to gut the adjacent bathroom and expand the laundry room within the next few years. In the meantime, though, Sarah was ready for a more functional, less brown space for laundry, which she certainly achieved.

The biggest undertaking of the project was definitely the DIY faux-wallpaper. Yes, you read that right—that’s a stencil and paint, baby.

The stencils only cost $12 each and she used three, plus a gallon of paint, a foam roller, and repositionable spray adhesive.

The patience this must have taken demonstrates Sarah’s dedication to having a nice space for laundry in the interim leading up to the full renovation. And she’s right, your space should make you happy!

You can read even more about her process in her tutorial here.

This mudroom nook additionally got some minor upgrades to the storage, which also make a big difference.

Another big change was the removal of the lone upper cabinet + rod in exchange for a couple of floating shelves. Although floating shelves don’t do much in the way of storage, the closet to the left of the washer and dryer had plenty of space to store laundry necessities, freeing up that area to be mostly decorative. The shelves look much nicer, and baskets and jars beautifully disguise all the frequently used items like detergent.

Another small but mighty improvement was replacing the dome flush-mount lights (also known as boob lights) with an inexpensive white flush mount light that Sarah spray painted for added character.

Also, all of the door hardware, hinges, switches, and switch plates were upgraded— all very minor and relatively inexpensive changes that make a world of difference.

The final cost of the laundry room makeover was approximately $400. According to Sarah, the money and time spent on the project was well worth it even though it’ll just be redone down the road. In her reveal post, she states that “two years is a long time to live in a space that doesn’t work well for us and I don’t even like to look at… The good news is, a full remodel doesn’t feel urgent now. If the two year plan for the laundry room becomes a five year (or longer, or never!) plan, I’m now okay just living with the room I have.”

Congratulations to Sarah on a project well done!

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