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Around the House: Laundry Room

By Dawn Sailors In Around the House, House Tour, Laundry Room

When we moved into our house, the laundry room (ok.. laundry closet) was kind of a disaster zone. The ugly stained laminate floor was peeling up, there were scuffs and stains all over the walls and the shelves all had a mysterious sticky liquid on them which I convinced myself was laundry detergent so I wouldn’t cringe when I had to get down to the serious cleaning.

This was our first big project once we signed the papers, and I have to say, this little room was a great starting point. We wanted to test the reno waters and our ability to work together before we tackled anything too huge, so that we wouldn’t be stuck with an unfinished project in the middle of a bedroom or living area. Luckily it was smooth sailing for the most part and gave me the green light to continue with my big plans for the rest of the house!

We began with the floor, tearing up the peeling laminate sheet and replacing it with easy-peasy and cheap (you’ll find this to be a theme of our design style) peel and stick laminate tiles. We briefly considered leaving the floor as it was, even if just for a few months. After all, the washer and dryer would cover it, and there were SO MANY other places we could have spent the money, but as soon as we started peeling it up, we knew we’d made the right decision. We quickly discovered mold growing in several places under the tile, and my obsessiveness with all-things-clean kicked in. We broke out the bleach and scrubbed and scraped until I was convinced that no mold spore could possibly have survived. Then the hub spent the rest of that evening cutting and installing the new flooring.

The next day I started painting bright and early. My motivation: our new washer and dryer were delivered later that week and everything had to be ready!

The before and afters above make me smile to know that our efforts really paid off, even if no one besides me ever sees this room.