Easy (on-a-budget) Laundry Room Update

When we moved in to our new-to-us house last year, there were lots of pieces and places I wanted to update. Nothing was particularly wrong with anything, but considering my parents had lived in the house for 25 years…well, you understand. I wanted to make it ours. The laundry room tends to be my spot, and Math Man “gave me permission” (please understand, he really just agreed) to have at it doing whatever I wanted. So, I did. What resulted is the easiest on-a-budget laundry room update ever.

The “old” laundry room had doors on the cabinets over the washer and dryer that wouldn’t close. They’d been painted so many times that the latches didn’t latch and the hinges were basically crying. I had been considering removing them for some time, but a piece of me liked that perhaps my grandmother had loved the design on the doors. Then, I realized she would probably think it was dumb that I didn’t go with my own style just for the sake of remembering what might have been hers. So, I took some pictures for memory’s sake and had Math Man help me get them off.

It wasn’t easy to remove them. There was so much paint over the screws that he finally had to use a crowbar to pull them out. I will admit to having butterflies in my stomach while he worked and used those muscles.

Look at the picture and how full the cabinet was. Yikes! So disorganized and so totally not helping my anxiety about any sort of knowing-where-thing-are or feeling any sort of zen. I knew that once we took these doors off, we’d have to find a solution for the mess that was inside. Plus, some of the stuff sitting in there was so old that it just needed to go!

Next, I wanted to repaint. Purple is my favorite color, and I had the desire to use the shade (or something close) that I use here on the blog. We went to the home improvement store, and I started looking around. Math Man convinced me to get spray paint, so I did. Now, confession: I realize after the fact that I should not have used spray paint. The mess it left behind and the fumes were literally just stupid. Lesson learned.

I painted the cabinet edges as well as the fronts of the remaining cabinets (we decided to leave that half closed and attached because sometimes it’s handy to hide the mess!). It was Math Man’s idea to do the inverted coloring, and I thought it was cool. He has a much better ability to visualize an end result.

So while the color was cool, and I was enjoying the fact that there were no more cabinet doors over the washer and dryer, things still didn’t look as aesthetically-pleasing as I needed them to. I went to the Dollar Store and various other inexpensive locations to find shelf liner and fun items to put in the open cabinets.

Pinterest was helpful with giving me some ideas, but my new Cricut was a source of much inspiration. I found a couple of items (a bucket, a dish pan) and cut some vinyl to put fun sayings on, help with organization, and make me feel like I’d done something extra fancy. Plus, the practice with cutting and transferring the vinyl didn’t hurt.

I found very inexpensive shelf liner that we decided would look good even as the back of the cabinets. This cut down on the time it would take to finish as well as the need for paint. I didn’t want to spend even more time with this project (impatient, anyone?), so the shelf liner was an awesome solution.

Problem was, the shelf liner wouldn’t stick well to the very raw, very rough wood inside the cabinets. It was Math Man’s idea to use some hot glue to provide a little extra support. He’s so smart.

In the end, it’s not perfect, but I spent very, very little on supplies and/or additional decor. The jars in the top right were pieces I had in another cabinet that were getting zero use. I plan to fill them with clothes pins and other random items that find themselves often scattered around.

Otherwise, we also just uncluttered the floor of the laundry room. Some cabinets in the back corner or the room as well as in the kitchen needed their shelves fixed. Math Man took care of that, so all the mess that was inside these cabinets found a new home. We also cleaned up the floor so the kids can use the sink for messy hands and can get there without tripping over paint cans and other ridiculous clutter.

One of my goals this summer was to get things organized, and the laundry room was a problem spot for me. I actually feel relatively relieved when I walk in to do the laundry, and starting with a clean room just makes me feel better in general!

All signs were my creation! The Laundry 24-7-365 could have been different, but y’all – I ain’t got time.

Note: The sock bucket used an image that I found online: Sock clothing silhouette | Designed by Vexels.com

Go check out what my blogging friends created with the theme of Simplify Your Life:

Skillet Cordon Bleu Dinner from Baking in a Tornado

Parmesan Ranch Chicken from Spatulas on Parade

The Keep-Donate-Toss Buckets from Part-Time Working Hockey Mom

Easy Ways to Keep Your Family Organized and on Track from The Bergham Chronicles

Simplify Your School Year from The Lieber Family

Tags: blog with friends, create, cricut, diy, laundry, organize, redo, vinyl