Making it Lovely » Laundry Room

A Colorful Door, Colorful Appliances

Making it Lovely — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:59:57 +0000

(And a Big Goal)

I was thinking some more about lighting, and the plan for finishing the kitchen’s minor update. OK, really what I was doing was fixating on getting a new fridge in addition to painting the back door. A colorful door and a colorful appliance! Sounds perfect! While I was giving myself figurative back pats for so confidently deciding on a plan for the kitchen, I realized I’ve seen that combination somewhere before. On Pinterest, probably? No wait, it was somewhere else…

Oh, right. In our laundry room. You know — that room right in my house? Duh.

The red washer and dryer were the nicest things in our basement for a very long time, until we elevated the surroundings with a remodel. When we finally did have a nice laundry room, I was extra glad that we spent a little more initially to get a red set instead of white.

Brandon and I took on our DIY kitchen remodel right away when we moved here in 2007, and we tried to keep the cost down as much as we could. We spent a lot on the quartz counters and a stainless steel gas stove, but we didn’t put all that much thought into selecting a fridge. We chose the model that we did because the front of it was the right color (titanium alloy, though it looked like a match to our stove), and the sides were painted gray instead of black. The fridge is completely exposed in the center of the room, so those gray sides were a big selling point to us. Our entire kitchen — with new everything except the floor — cost only $11,000. Aside from a brief period during which the fridge made a weird noise (it just needed to be re-leveled), it has served us well. Now that the kitchen has been freshened up with all of its white paint though, the fridge bothers me. It isn’t worthy of its focal point placement.

I’ve always liked the look of vintage fridges, especially when they’re pink. I think that as cute as my laundry room turned out with its colorful appliances, my kitchen could be 10x better. But appliances are not cheap, and I know that buying a pretty new fridge is a little ridiculous when I have a perfectly good one that’s only six years old.

My big life list goal for this year is to land a book deal. It’s a little scary putting that out there because I may fail (and obviously you’ll be able to tell if this does or does not work out for me), but I’m going to work hard to make it happen. And if/when I do, I’ve decided (and Brandon agrees) that I ought to celebrate with the completely frivolous purchase of a cute fridge. Consider it an added incentive.

It’s going to look so good.

Put the Kitchen Door to Work

Making it Lovely — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 18:57:32 +0000

Here’s a little storage trick that works for us. I added hooks to the back of our kitchen door to keep all of our bibs, reusable shopping bags, and a couple of aprons. We also keep one tote there to act as a laundry bag for the bibs and dish towels that need to be washed. We almost always keep the door to the kitchen open, which means the side with the hooks is up against the wall. Everything is accessible, but we don’t have to see it all the time.

Series One Peg Rail
So minimal and lovely! So not like the hooks I actually have!
Cotton Canvas Tote
We keep one large tote to store dirty bibs and dish towels until laundry day. Ours is a grocery store bag that’s not nearly as pretty as this one.
Reusable Shopping Bag
I keep a few reusable bags in my purse at all times, and store the extras in a pouch on a hook. I like the ones from Envirosax and Baggu.
Woodland Tumble Embroidered Bib
Bibs are still handy for the kids when we’re having a messy meal.
Dryer-Activated Fabric Softener
We used to use dryer sheets, but I was pretty excited when Method sent over some of their new softener. It’s good stuff (but we do keep this in the laundry room, not the kitchen!).
Kitchen Apron
I’m kind of over cutesy aprons, but I love this simple one. Works for men and women.

Of course, that was the magazine-perfect fantasy version. Since owning a single beautiful bib isn’t actually practical, our door really looks like this.

(Trivia: That shabby chic bird hook was the first thing I ever bought from eBay.)

The Laundry Room, As it Usually Looks

Making it Lovely — Tue, 01 May 2012 20:06:49 +0000

I’ve shown you my laundry room before, all clean and new and shiny. Oh, you cute little joke of a drying rack! How adorable you were, yet how ineffective! We replaced it with these folding racks, and while the function was greatly improved, it looks messier. Especially since we usually have clothes draped all over the place. This is what the laundry room usually looks like.

Is it weird that most of my clothes seem to color-coordinate with the washer and dryer? Let’s pretend it isn’t. Even the umbrella that’s in the room for some reason works with the room. (And that umbrella, by the way, is from when I first discovered the work of Salvador Dali, as a teenager. Because apparently I was an umbrella-obsessed youth.)

Brandon washes the clothes, and I put them away. I actually like putting things away when I know that they have a specific place to be, all neat and orderly, and folding laundry relaxes me. It’s part of my personality that I can leave clutter out in plain view, but the things behind doors, in cupboards, drawers, and closets, all need to be neat. Are you like that?

So yes, Brandon does 99% of our laundry; he always has. We’ve also always liked and used Method’s detergent. I like it a whole lot more now too, after learning about the company. One interesting thing they talked about was the ripple effect their laundry detergent had across the industry. They were able to super-concentrate it to previously unheard of levels, in order to package less water and be more eco-friendly. A competitor then used the technique for their own version , and the big box stores loved it — not because it was more green, but because they could fit more product on the shelves in less space. So the giant stores put pressure on the industry, and soon everyone started offering smaller versions with less water. It wasn’t done with the green conscience that Method had, but the end result was still good for the environment.

Oh, and remember when I said you were going to want to see the Method guy sing? Yeah. It’s time.

Awesome. I’m going to sing it while putting away our clothes now.

US readers can print a $2 coupon from Method’s Facebook page on Thursdays in May, and CA readers can use the discount code “WASHME” here. They also have a photo contest you can enter for a chance at a year’s supply of Method detergent.

Our Laundry Room

Making it Lovely — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 16:39:38 +0000

I showed you the final design plan already, but now I can finally show you the finished room!

The red washer and dryer that we bought when we moved in look better than they ever have, but I think it’s the giant utility sink and double faucets that make the space.

That’s pretty much my dream sink and if we ever leave this house, it would be one of the things I’d miss most. I have a little plant (cyclamen) in the window, and a gray and white striped towel hangs from a red hook to the right.

There are still things I’d like to do. I’d like to replace our rickety drying rack and hang a clothes rail from the wall or ceiling. I’d like to find some cute laundry baskets instead of the cheap plastic ones we’ve had forever. There are a few touches that I really like though, like the art. The droplets print from Summersville brings in some color and pattern, and I love that it’s screenprinted on fabric. It’s perfect for the laundry room.

I have to say, I think this room may have made me a ‘blue’ convert. It’s not normally a color that I like to use, but the laundry room is so cheery and fresh. That octagon tile makes me happy too. And three cheers for an old-fashioned swinging door! It makes me think of my grandmother’s kitchen.

It’s nice to have a non-scary place to do laundry.

Laundry Room Design Plan

Making it Lovely — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 16:12:13 +0000

Our red washer and dryer are the only things left in the basement from before our remodel. Everything else, including the existence of a laundry room, is new.

The floor in the room slopes toward a drain (required by code because our tankless hot water heater is there). We needed a small-scale tile that could handle the dip, so I chose octagon & dot with charcoal gray grout. The exterior door opens out to the backyard, and it has been painted in Benjamin Moore paint that was color-matched to Martha Stewart’s “Sparkling Brook.” The wall color was also a Martha color (“Cumulus Cloud”), matched to B. Moore’s “Whirlpool.”

The giant utility sink is amazing. And I feel like I should say that I like the built-in soap dish on each faucet because it’s functional, but I really just picked them because they looked good. (Thanks again, Vintage Tub & Bath, for providing the plumbing fixtures.) I bought a red hook to go above the sink, and I’ll hang a striped hand towel on it. The window above the sink will get a few accessories, like this blue pitcher/vase that picks up on the color of the door.

I loved the look of the Samson stool, but had wished it was counter-height. So I got to talking with a friendly fellow over at Industry West about providing seating for the basement (they’re in!), and it turns out they’re in the process of manufacturing a taller version. They’ll be sending one over as soon as they’re available. It will sit next to a black sideboard that will serve as storage in the room. Above, I’ll hang this Droplets Screenprint, framed in black.

We already had a folding drying rack and garment hanger that we’ll probably reuse for now. They’re both pretty flimsy though, so I would like to replace them with something more sturdy in the future. As the laundry room comes together, I’ve been thinking of it as a version 1.0. As we use the room more, I think it will be easier to see what needs to be improved upon.

The (Mostly) Finished Basement

Making it Lovely — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 18:51:17 +0000

Ta da! Does it suddenly feel like December again? Because that’s when all of this was supposed to be finished. Here’s the floor plan:

Let’s head down the stairs to take a look around.

And now a before:

And after:

Before:

After:

That’s as good as it gets for empty basement ‘before and after’ photos, because once we reached this stage we started moving in all of our stuff. Witness, we couldn’t even wait at this point to start filling up the storage area.

The play space used to look like this:

Now it’s a play room, and it looks like this:

And of course, we have the bathroom and laundry room sneak peeks you’ve already seen:

Our house feels so much bigger now. I think we added about 600 sq. ft. of living space to our existing 1400. Now it’s on to the fun part: decorating it!

The Blue Laundry Room Door

Making it Lovely — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 16:50:34 +0000

The laundry room looked like this a couple of weeks ago.

There is still a bit of work to be done before I show you the finished room, but it’s looking much better now that the back door has been replaced. It’s been painted a beautiful robin’s egg blue too!

I picked up a couple of matching accessories when I was at IKEA last weekend. I don’t remember where I picked up that little geometric mug, but isn’t it cute? It’s more orange than the red washer and dryer, but close enough.

Now I’ll need something to put in those pots. Any recommendations for houseplants that survive neglect?

The Laundry Room Sink

Making it Lovely — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 18:02:11 +0000

While I was out having a baby, the basement has been inching toward completion. The laundry room sink went in last Monday, but the contractor used PVC pipes underneath. I had to go ask him if he could change them to chrome, and he looked at me like I was a little nuts. I just want some pretty pipes — is that so weird? (Yeah, probably.)

I last saw the sink Tuesday morning, a few hours before I went into labor. I’m supposed to be taking it easy and avoiding stairs, so I hadn’t been back down to the basement until today. The pipes had been switched out and the chrome looks so much better! Of course, I realized after coming back up and looking at the photos that I snapped that I completely missed the underside of the sink. There are still a lot of tools in the way, and I had August in my arms, so I couldn’t get a good angle. You can see one of the faucets here though.

Looking good so far! Now if we could just move this project along…

Thank you, Vintage Tub & Bath, for providing the sink and faucets.

The Basement Tile

Making it Lovely — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 15:28:41 +0000

It’s in, and it looks fantastic. The bathroom is a different green than the floor, though it’s hard to tell in the photos. There’s no lighting in there yet so it looks a little darker.

Here’s the laundry room. We’re going to get a new back door, so you can just ignore all of that ugliness there.

A closer look at the Octagon & Dot tile:

And here’s a photo from the same angle you’ve been seeing. It’s coming together, yes?

Planning the Laundry Room

Making it Lovely — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 15:13:38 +0000

The laundry room floor is getting the same white Octagon & Dot tile with charcoal grout as the half-bath. I had Martha Stewart’s “Cumulus Cloud” matched to Benjamin Moore paint for the walls, and it’s spot-on with their “Whirlpool” color. And hello there, sink of my dreams! I chose two faucets with built-in soap holders to go with it, and I cannot wait to see the whole thing in place. Old-fashioned sinks completely charm me.

I think a striped towel hanging from a red hook (this one or this one) near the sink will look nice, and the color will go with the red of our LG washer and dryer. We purchased those when we moved in four years ago, and they were the nicest things in our basement for a long time. Now we’ll finally have a laundry room worthy of such splashy appliances!

The wall color is a very subtle gray/blue, so in addition to the red I’m also thinking of bringing in a brighter blue as an accent. Maybe painting the back door? Or a piece of furniture? Or both? Here’s a little peek at some of the details…

I’m still planning the rest of the space. I figure we’ll need a little storage, a good surface for folding clothes on, a clothing rail for hanging items, and a drying rack. And maybe a stool to sit on. Oh, and probably some sort of laundry sorting system. Anything I’m missing here? We’ve never had a dedicated laundry room before and while I’m excited about making it lovely, I’m also dedicated to making it functional.

Thank you, Vintage Tub & Bath, for providing the sink and faucets.