Laundry Reveal! (ORC Week 6)

We did it! And its perfect and amazing! You know how at the beginning of every HGTV renovation show they say, “Oh and we will have your entire house completely redone in our 5 week timeline?” Well, I may not have renovated our whole house in 5 weeks (3 years and counting…), but the laundry area was sure done! Also, can I just say how impressed I am with all of the completed renovations done as part of the One Room Challenge? Everyone did so well! There are some seriously cool transformations done, be sure to check them out!

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In case you need a reminder, here is a shot of our laundry area before we even moved in to the house.

And this was when it was spotless!

Not going to lie, I might be actively trying to forget how this space looked. I mean, the brick wall paper and the green cabinets are making me cringe!

And now, I present you with the final space!

Squeals with excitement!

Found these cool baskets at Target!

I knew I would use these knobs someday!

Pretty awesome, right?! You can check out our progress each week (Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5), and read on to see how we finished it all off.

Before I could really start putting the space together I had to get the ceiling wrapped up. I sanded down all the mudding and painted it the same color as the surrounding garage walls. Even though it is a smaller space, my arms were still super sore and tired afterwards. I think I need to work out more or something. I am so happy that the paint was Valspar (from Lowes). It only took one complete coat and then just a couple of touch-up spots! The hubby popped in the lights once the paint was dry (I wanted to get them up right away, but he was the voice of reason saying to hold off for just a night) and aimed them towards the laundry space. We decided on directional lights since we didn’t care about lighting up more of the general garage area. Worked like a charm!

Then came the really fun parts! We hung up the cabinets! We measured everything out and marked the edges with painters tape. I wanted the cabinet on the right to line up with the washing machine since it worked well with that set-up for the past three years. It makes it easy to grab the laundry detergent if its right there. After getting that one hung we measured three feet to the left and hung the second cabinet. This kept the cabinets and shelving centered along the wall, and kept the perfect amount of space for the shelves. Once the cabinets were hung I added on the door knobs (which I had gotten years ago for some future project) and placed the shelves inside. So far so good!

I feel like I need to go shopping to fill these! But I’m sure I won’t have a problem once I get going.

The hubby then got started on putting together the sink. I am completely in love with the faucet! It looks so grand and is everything I could have dreamed of! And I never thought we would actually end up with a faucet like this just because of the price point if it is bought separately. Thank goodness for sets!

I would have a faucet like this in every room if I could…it’s just so fancy!

While he was working on the sink I put together the floor cabinets from Home Depot. We were able to get 18-inch wide cabinets, which will be really nice for storage. Each cabinet has a drawer on top (which I plan to throw all my knick-knacks into, and doors on the bottom. Totally didn’t notice it with we bought them, but the inner shelf in each cabinet only extends about half way into the storage space. These will be great for storing muddy boots with the extra height space! The cabinets were already white, but I needed to paint the trim along the bottom. I added on the drawer and door knobs, and my part was done! After I was done with them, the hubby cut some of the bottom off of each cabinet. This way the cabinets and the sink would all be level once the countertop was in place. He then added plastic feet along the bottom to keep them just barely off the floor. The floor shouldn’t get wet, but just in case.

The next big part was the countertop. We bought a butcher board counter top at Ikea. I had no idea Ikea had countertops all ready to go! A lot of places we looked at had laminate countertops in stock, but they all looked very, um, 1990s (or 60s). I’d say we lucked out in this department! We bought a countertop made for an island so that it was deeper than we needed, and already had plans for the excess. The hubby and my dad used the table saw to slice off the back, and the hubby used a jigsaw to cut out the space for the sink. Then we laid it across the cabinets and called it done!

I can NOT get over how much I love the countertop.

As for the excess, we decided to use it for the upper shelves. I was originally going to cut and stain my own shelves, but this way they matched perfectly with the countertop. I knew I wanted super simple brackets, so I spray painted some corner supports black to keep it nice and simple. The cabinets are supporting the entire weight of the shelves, and since we used the butcher block there isn’t any need for center supports. I love when things are easy to install.

I also attached a hanging rod from the cabinet to the wall as a space to hang clothes to dry. We don’t hang much up to dry, but this will be much better than draping everything randomly around the house. My mom also mentioned that once I grow up I might start hanging more up. Hm…the verdict is still out on that one.  After that it was all decorating!

Jealous of my sweater??  You can get one like it here!

Decor was super easy. I didn’t want anything like bed sheets out in the open since it is technically a part of the garage and can get dusty, but dog towels and rags were perfect. I added a clock with some color and a photo along the top shelf, and called it good to go! I am in love with our new laundry space and actually want to do laundry!