Who knew a broken washing machine would take me down the path of a 6 month renovation! The smallest room in the house, took me the longest to complete. I should give myself a little slack…. I did all this by myself while caring for 3 boys, one being a fresh baby. That baby, now a toddler, is currently grasping at the computer and trying to press the delete button as I type this ***sigh***

Let’s go back to June 10, 2019. Scott and I went to Lowe’s to buy a new washer. Ours could no longer be repaired, but who really goes to buy just a washer though? We both knew deep down we were going to buy a new dryer to match. I went to Lowe’s with it set in my mind, I wanted a white or black set. My old set was a metallic charcoal. However, when we walked out the door, I had purchased a set of Samsung’s in the color CHAMPAGNE. Boy, I love champagne but this was not my first pick. It was on sale and Scott liked it best. I never go with his opinion, LOL. I am so glad I did, though. I LOVE the champagne color and am so glad I did not come home with something else.

So, let’s breakdown some of this issues with the laundry room.

1. First issue… It is super small. For the size house we have, the laundry room should be double.
2. There was a door that opened into the room, which caused it to feel extra small. The space behind the door was dead/ wasted space because the door always had to be open.
3. No place to put dirty clothes. I am not a fan of hampers, but all the dirty clothes ended up on the floor. Not cute.
4. Lastly, my washer and dryer were on pedestals. This is great for tall people, but I am 5’2. I had no place to fold clothes and I was using the pedestals as step stools. It was not working for me. I was throwing all the clean clothes on the guest bed downstairs. That room was becoming my laundry room and that was bumming me out.

The Solution: To solve these issues, I decided I needed an area to fold clothes IN the laundry room. A place to store dirty dish towels and small items. I also wanted to simplify. I realized I was storing stuff I did not need. I always keep this thought in mind “If we had to move, what would I really keep.”

The first step was to remove the laundry room door and the upper cabinetry. The cabinets did not go to the ceiling. I hate that. It was a furry dust mess above these cabinets. So gross.

The next step, I went to Lowe’s and purchased butcher block for the countertops. They carry it instock and was a nice quick option. This is what I bought: https://www.lowes.com/pd/The-Baltic-Butcher-Block-6-ft-Natural-Straight-Butcher-Block-Birch-Kitchen-Countertop/999931664

In hindsight, I wish I would have gone with marble. However, I was thinking this was going to be a quick project. We had already spent a lot of money on the new washer and dryer. I was trying to do this inexpensively….and I have three boys. I wanted to get my laundry room back up and running.

First issue we ran into. The waterline was super high. I had our plumber come and move the water down as far as it would go, but it wasn’t enough for us to have a seamless look. I had to come up with a plan to hide the waterline. So, I decided to create a shelf.

In order to do that, I cut off 8 inches off the back of the butcher block. I bought 1×2 and 1×3 pine boards and drilled them into the studs to support the shelf. I set the shelf 4 inches above and placed a 1×4 in front to hide the plumbing.

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I originally spent two days staining the butcherblock to look like my wood floors. Well, I wasn’t happy with that. I changed that towards the end of the project, though. I kind of did things out of order. I should have decided all my materials before I started, because I then decided to tile the back wall. I probably should have waited, but again…I was trying to get this done. I chose a cement tile from www.cletile.com

I wanted a pattern tile, but I wanted to stick with my black and white theme that I already have going through the house. Cle Tile offers instructions on their site and made it super easy to install this myself.

The next thing I needed to address was the doorway where I pulled off the door. I could have left the old trim, but then you would have known I pulled the door off. I don’t want people to know that I am DIY’ing these things myself, lol. I want it to look like a professional did it. So, I needed to match the existing bullnose on the doorjam. This is something I have never done before.

I watched some videos on Youtube on how to install the bullnose and how to skim coat the walls. I used joint compound that I bought at Lowe’s to smooth out the walls. I wanted to leave it like that, but everything has texture in my house. So I orange peel textured everything to match. This wasn’t a hard job to do, just messy. Again, in hindsight, I should have done this first before anything else. I really needed this to look good though because I bought the coolest sliding door from Rustica Hardware. Don’t let the name fool you. They have an amazing selection of modern doors. Barn doors aren’t what they used to be. Not everyone would want a glass door on their laundry room, but I am a firm believer in keeping things tidy. This is the ONE we bought. These are completely custom to your dimensions. So, it is perfectly sized.

I followed detailed instruction on Rustica Hardware’s website on how to hang the door. I had to find the studs, and even had to join two studs together. I showed how to do this on Instagram. Overall, it was pretty simple and much easier than I thought it would be.

After the door was installed, I needed to address the back wall that was always hiding behind the interior door. The old cabinet was not a custom size, so there was a ton of filler. From wall to wall, the space is 42″ wide. I reached out to my contact at Cliq Studios, Donna, who is amazing, and she assured me that I could order two 22″ cabinets. So, I actually gained storage space because I did not need to use any filler on either side. It was a tight fit, but I barely needed to caulk! I chose the AUSTIN style inset cabinet from Cliq Studios in Bright White. It’s a little brighter and more on the blue side, than I wanted it to be, but that’s what I get for not ordering a sample. My Master Bath cabinet is from Cliq and I chose White. It is a creamier white.

Once the cabinet was installed, I needed to decide on countertops. Luckily, I already had some leftover marble from my Master Bath remodel from two years ago. I found a guy in town that was willing to cut it to my measurements for a small fee. Unfortunately, the walls are never square. When I got the piece of cut marble home, it wouldn’t fit because the drywall was bowing out further than 42″! So, what would any sane person do? Cut the drywall out. LOL. That was an easier option than cutting a hair off the marble.

I originally wanted to add another feature wall of tile, but instead opted to just cut more of the marble material I had and made a 5″ backsplash and called it a day. I also decided to go straight black on the butcher block.

I moved some art from the hallway into the laundry room and I called this room finished.

The Loloi Rug was the icing on the cake!

Sources:

1. Cliq Studios AUSTIN Cabinet
2. Samsung Washer in Champagne
3. Samsung Dryer in Champagne
4. CB2 Vega Brass Flushmount Light
5. Cle Tile Swiss Cross Tile
6. White Floating Shelf from Wayfair
7. West Elm Rolling Laundry Basket
8. Restoration Hardware Hexagon Knob
9. Restoration Hardware Pull
10. Rustica Hardware Modern Barn Door
11. Loloi II Layla Rug
12. Baldwin Reserve Door Hardware
13. Paint: Origami White from HGTV Home by Sherwin Williams at Lowe’s
14. CB2 Hanging Planter