For the Love of Laundry

We refinished our basement a few years ago. It used to be just a 1950's concrete dungeon. When designing the layout of our basement, we did leave one unfinished corner where we have a spare fridge, the furnace, water heater, workbench, etc. We shifted the laundry space [formerly in that same corner] over a few feet & pivoted it 90 degrees. By doing that we were able to put it in the 'finished' [walls, floor, lights] section of the basement. That already was a huge improvement from where we came from. Laundry felt clean again.

Being tucked into the back of our basement, however, it somehow became a catch-all. A lot of it was spill over from my craft room / art studio. Some of it was just junk that had sat there in the corner in a box or a tub because since remodeling the basement it just never got a home. It's been a thorn in mine & Kyle's side ... and while we would have loved to have gotten cabinets & a real counter by now, we've done other things with our $ [like buy a lake house & then buy a new dock] ... so it just keeps moving down on the list.

I recently started following the blog (and Instagram photos) of Emily from the Jones Design Company. I like her style. I saw an old post of hers where she had redone her laundry room. Combine that with the 'catch-all' problem we were having in the basement ... and I knew we either needed to splurge & get the cabinets / counter at Lowe's. Or fix our problem by some other means.



I love thrift stores, including the Habitat for Humanity ReStore & pop into them about once a week or once every 2 weeks at a minimum. I texted this photo to Kyle: "Kind of a cool piece for across from W & D. Places for bins & baskets. Great dimensions. Not bad for $20."

It used to be the top of a desk. It has cork in the back on the bottom & had a light which I unscrewed & can reuse somewhere else. Since the top was unfinished, I knew some work would have to be put into it. I thought about what the top would be used for (folding, stacking, possibly ironing) & decided tile might be best. I went over to look at the tile selection at the HfH Restore & found some beautiful celadon 6x6 tiles. I grabbed some, went over to the piece & sized it up. I knew if I could space them just right, I wouldn't have to use a tile cutter (I don't have one & have never used one. I've actually never even tiled before until this piece.). So I bought enough tile to do this piece + 2 extra. They were 25¢ a piece. Next stop was the hardware store where I kept it simple & just bought a small bucket of pre-mixed adhesive & grout (a combo) for $8.95.

Painted the piece all white, then nervously started the tile project. I survived. And now have some  confidence for any future small tiling projects. This was a great starter piece. :)

I just decided to leave (but paint over) the cork on the bottom. I couldn't think of anything better to do down there & figured that space was only for storing laundry baskets - it really didn't matter what it looked like. I knew I wanted baskets for the big open spaces & hit up Home Goods & T.J. Maxx. I found 2 sturdy baskets with perfect dimensions - $12.99 a piece. Almost doubling the cost of my whole project! :D HA! But I LOVE them. They are sturdy enough to hold the weight of a jug of laundry detergent & a bucket of oxi-clean. The smaller compartments I don't really have a use for just yet. I have a box of fabric softener sheets in one of them. If I wanted to, I could remove the vertical slats & just have a flat shelf - they do slide out in the back. But for now, they're okay. 

The finished laundry counter got me excited about turning up the dial on the rest of the room. I already had the huge rolling metal cart. I had gotten it at Goodwill almost a year ago - for $14.99! I was the envy of all at Goodwill that day - people stopped to talk to me about it in line at the register, out in the parking lot. I knew I had done good. ;) At the time, I wasn't sure of its final destination - but just like the purchase of the desk top hutch, I HAD OPTIONS. I think that's key. It has been in my basement laundry room since purchasing it. We were able to take what we were using [a plastic & mesh flimsy hamper] to the thrift store as a donation. I not only take, I also give. :)  

The only thing I altered on the metal rolling cart was just done as an afterthought as I looked at the finished laundry room. I had a lot of black accents in the room & decided the dingy off white rubber / plastic rim would look better black. And since I have no problem painting things that probably shouldn't be painted, I went for it. Then sealed it up with a spray sealer just so it wouldn't rub off on the wall. 

I didn't want to be 'over the top' with decorative items. The huge canisters of powder is cute. And the drink dispenser of liquid detergent is also cute - but looks like a pain in the you know what. I already had a bag of clothespins & thought that would look good & natural in a laundry room. Already had the jar, I just threw them in. I wanted something else that could buddy up with the jar of clothespins & when I saw this pin for a cute button project Sarah Richardson put in a laundry room, it inspired me. Buttons work for a laundry room.  So I gathered up all my scattered ziplocks of buttons that came with articles of clothing & put them together in a jar. So much handier having them all in one place & out of their bags! I even found a few I was looking for - 1 for my coat & 2 for a duvet. I adore her button art, but already had a few other ideas in mind for the walls. 

Since I like 3's, I decided the iron would just hang out in this grouping. Since all that glass was set on the ceramic tile, I decided to anchor it all with a basket charger I already had. I just faux stained it [watered down brown paint] to match the baskets I had bought. 

Deciding what went on the walls was harder than I thought it was going to be. I started with a large 18x24 canvas I had ... it was kind of abandoned after another project hadn't worked out. Instead of wasting the canvas & being reminded of my 'fail' - I painted over it. I sanded over the letters from the previous project & just slopped paint on there. I adored this quote. And had seen some people pin it with the suggestion to frame photos from 'memorable days'. I did have a lot to choose from - muddy days at Boy Scout or Cub Scout camp; days spent fishing at the lake; toddlers having popcicles & icecream; post-baseball game photos. I had a hard time choosing & keeping it even steven, representing all 3 kids (I try to keep it fair like that). So I waived off on the idea for now. I do have another whole blank wall above the washer & dryer - that's another project for another day. But I just might take some of those photos & turn them into black & whites.

After I finished with the canvas, I knew I needed a few other items to complete the grouping.  I agonized over this way more than any person should. It was redick. I found some really cute free printables, but it was too busy having them both. Too many messages, too much laundry info all in one place. ;) So I decided to stamp out my favorite message that was on the one (from Sweet Bella Roos)... and print off  the other one (from 30 Handmade Days). I decided to just leave just the main part of the message & I trimmed off the rest. Hanging from the wooden pants hanger (99¢ at a thrift store), it was too much length & was throwing off my balance. What am I talking about? I don't know. All I know is that after I trimmed off some of the top & bottom, I liked it better. I got the bulk of the message across - ironing is a JOKE.

I had this frame & mat already ... I just used an old paper bag to separate the white mat from the white paper. Instead of finding an area of the bag that was pristine - I decided to ball it all up in my hands to further the message of 'don't sweat the small stuff'. Even those wrinkles shake out in the wash.

The other idea for the walls was a cute clothespin wreath. I made one, but it didn't look right in this grouping. Again, this might be another idea for the other side of the laundry room. 

During my days of 'sweating over the small stuff' aka figuring out my laundry room wall art [See? I need that wrinkled reminder up above.] ... I hit the thrift stores for inspiration. I found this little resin wall plaque. Cheesy. But ... I really wanted to paint over the sky & paint something super snarky coming out of her mouth. Like ... "WTH". But I didn't want my kids asking what it meant [I for sure wouldn't use the WTF version - but I could have probably gotten away with saying the H stood for "heck"]. But I think I will always look at this as a missed opportunity. I think it was $3 or $4 and I really did NOT need it. And so sometimes I will only get those kinds of items if that particular color is on sale that day [thrift stores often have color codes & certain colors are on sales certain days - i.e. Red & Blue are 50%, green is 25% off!]. This was going to be full price & since I was trying to keep costs down & I didn't want to explain WTH to my kids, I left it. But it. would. have. been. good. 

I am certain it's still there (City Mission on Wornall for you KC peeps) if someone else wants it. I will even do the painting for you if you want. I kind of want someone to fulfill my snarky dreams. :)

Like I said, there's another whole wall - above the washer & dryer. This room is not done, but it's a welcome change.