I recently migrated my blog and some of the pictures didn’t make the move. So imagine pictures where captions are.
Actually, it isn’t even a “doom”.
It’s a laundry closet.
Shoved into the back hallway where there is a small bathroom and the door to the garage.
Basically, it’s a nuisance instead of a laundry area.
I spend half my home life in this back hallway with no natural light.
No wonder I am gloomy during winter.
Because not only am I subjected to snow all the time and freeze your nipples off temperatures but I spend half my week in this tomb toiling away at other peoples stains and soils all while under the influence of Downy fabric sheets.
Or the smell of whatever my six-year-old left in the toilet that is literally five inches from the washing machine.
Be jealous of my life.
I said to the hubs a few weeks ago, if you want your clothes to be clean going forward, we need to change up that whole “laundry situation”.
So on a frigid January day, we headed to Lowe’s to get the supplies we needed.
Why Lowe’s?
Because our Home Depot doesn’t have curtains and we needed them for this project.
And when you live in the glacial Midwest, you make as few stops as possible.
If this means you have to buy your laundry detergent at the Shell station and pay 20 bucks for it, you do it.
LESS STOPS = BETTER.
By the way, I edited all these pictures using Sepia tone because the lighting is so bad back here it looked like a 1970s B movie.
Bow Chicka Wow Wow.
I wanted you to get the feel of how little this space is.
This is as far back as I could go to get this before picture.
On this day, it was a HIGH, A HIGH of -8.
So that would have required me to go out into my garage and take the pic from there.
Do you see all the things wrong with that, mainly, THAT I HAVE TO GO OUT INTO MY GARAGE TO GET ENOUGH ROOM TO TAKE A PICTURE OF THIS HALLWAY?
So the laundry basket on the left side holds our paper towel.
It has since we moved here almost nine years ago.
It works.
The laundry basket in the middle is for laundry.
Then there is a dollar tree misfit basket next to that one that holds cleaning supplies for the bathroom that is five inches away.
They are all different colors and sizes.
Which when you shut the door on them, is just fine.
That is when the door would stay shut at all.
This stupid door comes off the hinges every.single.time I do laundry.
So can you imagine the lovely words that would fly out of this laundry hole every time I was trying to maneuver the hampers full of dirty clothing WHILE stuffing the washer and/or dryer with clothes to be washed and/or dried WHILST the kids are trying to get shoes on to go outside or shove past me to use the bathroom that is five inches away.
They weren’t nice words.
My lovely array of stain treatment products.
We are a messy bunch.
It was a logistical laundry nightmare.
And don’t even get me started on that crappin door.
Yeah, YOU.
Let’s just say that this winter being as brutal as it has been/is being/will be….the husband seeing that his wife is struggling decided that it would be in his best interest to help me see this project out.
Or no clean clothes.
Like. Ever.
So this was what we did to have clean clothes forever in the land.
Ditched the folding doors.
And put up cool curtains.
Then painted the insides of this laundry cubicle.
The color is called Shallow Valley by Valspar.
Ok, I have a “thing” about the color green.
It started with this room:
Not the same green but green nonetheless.
So when thinking up a color for this laundry cubicle, I needed a happy color.
And green is happy.
And reminds me of grass.
Something we haven’t seen here in almost three months.
The washing machine just looks happier!
Yes, that is a glaring red dot on my calendar.
You guess what it means.
I brought in a lamp from the living room so we could get some better light back here.
I had this basket in my family room holding magazines that I never read.
I recycled the magazines and put in extra towels for the bathroom that is five inches away as well as our fabric sheets and stain removers.
We bought three matching laundry baskets at Lowe’s for seven dollars each.
I love the white against the green.
Even the teenager loved this little room.
She better seeing as how I am the reason she looks and smells good on most days.
I had to take the above picture from the garage.
It was 20 degrees that day.
Balmy.
So cost to go from this:
To this:
Was a grand total of $68.00.
Yes.
I know.
Cheap me was disappointed because I wanted to do this under 50 which I know is unrealistic.
Here is the rundown:
Paint- we did Valspar basic paint because it is a laundry area and I didn’t care if I got primer in it or not. $17.00 for a gallon
Curtains- Lowe’s has great curtains! We got these in the kids’ curtain section for $14.99 each panel; $30.00 total.
Laundry baskets- $7 each for a total of $21.
Now I would eventually like to make a counter to go over the machines for folding and the like but for now, this is perfect.
And I now do laundry with a smile!
OK, a smirk.
Come on! It is laundry…..
I love that green. I think it would make me happier to do laundry surrounded by that green. As far as the red dot goes, you know, there's an app for that.
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I am so much happier.I know, I need that app.I am old school.
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Ooooh la la! I painted my laundry "hall" a couple of years ago, but still curse the day I got the stacking washer and dryer…WHERE ARE MY HORIZONTAL SURFACES TO CLUTTER UP? (oh, sorry, you probably don't know either) FIVE cheers for your makeover, so sad there isn't a party. I'd have brought shirts and pants shaped cookies…and all of my capes to wash!
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I will have a party JUST for the cookies and the cape.
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Cute! I love the curtains.I have a laundry closet/hall too. I always have these big ideas to do something with it, but it doesn't happen. Maybe it's time to take a page from your book and just go for it…
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Do it!!!Nothing like blogger peer pressure.
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Looks awesome!! Great job. I'm totally jealous.
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Aww thank you Sarah!
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Very cool, my laundry/water heater closet is very impressed 🙂 Great job, my friend!
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Thank you so much Liz!!
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Wow! Color makes such a big difference! Love the green, and the lamp, and the curtains! It looks about 65 degrees in your laundry nook now! 🙂
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That is THE perfect description for it!Thank you!Going to have a margarita……
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I truly feel happier for you! The color and the curtain make such a huge difference! I had one of those hallway laundry closets in our last home, but luckily the bathroom was more like ten inches away. Wish I could send you some of our weather — I'm sure 79 degrees would really make you happy and you wouldn't even mind doing laundry; well, you would really hate laundry because you would want to be outside…..lol!
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Thanks Carol!It does make laundry doing much happier now. 🙂
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You've changed my life! I had no idea that Lowe's carried curtains. When I saw what you had done, I immediately went to their website and started searching. I found the curtains I had imagined for my living room! Only $20/panel. Thanks for the tip. btw…saw the ones you used in your laundry room. They are so cute!
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I love comments like this!!I am so happy for you!!!
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What a much happier space!! Yay!! Thanks for being so faithful to Show & Share! I really appreciate it! Your Laundry Doom was the most liked link!! 🙂
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What a much happier space!! Yay!! Thanks so much for being faithful to Show & Share, I appreciate it! Your Laundry Doom was the most viewed link last week!! 🙂
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Aww thanks Jennifer! I love your blog so it is an honor!
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Kari, you make me smile!!I love the way you've taken your space from dull and irritating to bright and inspiring! Now will you please come do the piled-up laundry at my house? At least it's pretty warm here!!Thanks so much for joining the Grace at Home party! I've pinned this and I'm featuring you at this week's party. 🙂
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Weee! Yay!!Thank you so much Richella!Your blog is a happy place for me. 🙂
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The room looks great! The color is a great boost of personality and the curtains are just precious! My laundry room is on the third floor of our house (yes – third). It is a cool little space but is definitely in need of some love. The only pop of color is my red washer/dryer combo and my collection of flamingo what-nots. But now I have been inspired to paint it!
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Thanks Kristi! THIRD?!?! I am so sorry.This color makes my clothes look better too. 🙂
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Very nice idea Kristi, love the green and the curtains!
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Thank you!
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I absolutely love the curtains, plus green is my favorite so the walls get 2 thumbs up from me.
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Awww thanks Jessica!
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I too have a laundry closet in a dark area of an otherwise bright and sunny home. No lights in that closet because we were told 'code' didn't allow it.I did figure out years ago that I could put a lamp there but that's about as far as my brain went. I've had make do curtains up since we moved in 18 years ago but yours are so dang cute I must remedy that. I foresee a bright lovelier laundry area in my home.
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I never thought of the lamp!It makes it so much brighter!!
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