Elsie’s Laundry Room Tour

Hi, friends! I’m so happy to invite you in for a little tour of my laundry room! I’ve spent the last few months obsessing over this teeny tiny space. Weird, I know. I’ve never really put this much effort into making a laundry room a pleasant place to be. Everywhere I’ve lived, it’s always been a sort of cramped and uncomfortable room. I wanted to create a space that felt organized and just, well, nice. I mean, it’s a laundry room, so there are only truly two things that happen in this room: washing clothes and grabbing a tool or supply that is stored there. With that said, there is an open doorway into our dining room from the mudroom. Every person who uses our downstairs bathroom or goes into the backyard sees this room along the way, so I wanted to make it cute…you know, for a laundry room! 😉

Before: Ha! OK, so before I started working on this room, there wasn’t much going on. I had a place to do laundry, a bunch of piles of stuff and that was it. What shocks me the most looking back on this before photo is how much space I had in that room that was completely wasted. The shelves were filled with things, but not organized. There was a ton of wall space and a little floor space that wasn’t being used at all. We painted it white and switched out the light fixture when we moved in. But beyond that, zero effort had been made. Its time was coming!

Now to show you how we fixed all that:

First, let’s talk about color. It’s kinda funny because we decorated most of the rooms in our home really quickly, but not this one. I changed my mind on the color in this tiny room so. many. times. We painted, re-painted and re-painted again. I have four colors that are my comfort zone for my home. They are teal, yellow, green and pumpkin orange. I have used the first three a ton so our house kinda matches. I love that, because I can swap couches, rugs, tables and pillows with no problem. But for this room, I promised myself I’d try a new color since it’s kind of a wild card. That was harder than I thought it would be, but I’m so glad I committed to it. I love the peachy color that we chose. Instead of using it on the walls, we used it in three accent spots: the shelves and homemade countertop on the machines, the front of the shelves you can see above, and on the inside of the shelves on the opposite wall, which you’ll see below. We used just enough so that it feels like a lot of color, but it’s still white and bright! As a bonus, if I ever wanted to change colors, it would only take an afternoon to repaint rather than a day or two!

We mixed a strong dose of black and white pattern and print into the design as well. We used electrical tape to add pattern to our washer and dryer. This technique is water-resistant, easy to clean and removable. I’m so happy that we tried it, because it turned out to be the perfect solution for us. Fun fact, more than thirty thousand of you guys pinned that little project in the past few weeks! Crazy, right?! I’ve been getting lots of photos of readers trying it and it looks adorable every single time. I’ve even seen some experimenting with other patterns, which is really cool! 

Yesterday Emma shared the laundry basket shelf that she built for me. This is SO helpful. Adding that little shelf beside the machines gives us a spot to store two baskets of clean clothing and a surface to throw a clean towel on and do a little ironing when we need to. I love that the space is no longer wasted, storage is added, and it’s visually more pleasing as well.

So I posted a few sneak peeks of this laundry room makeover on Instagram and I got approximately 8 million comments about how it looks like the swan is pooping. A bit of a facepalm moment for me, but I left it anyway. Oh Instagram!

Anyway, the jar of laundry pods has been a helpful solution already. Before, in our messy laundry room, we would have been digging through piles trying to find the laundry soap. Now it’s just there, lookin’ pretty! Our other frequently used cleaning supplies are in arm’s reach as well.

On the opposite wall, my dad helped us install peg board. Now that entire space that used to be wasted is used to store cleaning supplies and tools. I used a metal box from a flea market to create a little first aid kit, since I always forget where our band-aids are.

Something that isn’t pictured that I still want to mention is a second pegboard just outside our laundry room in the mudroom that is now being used to store pots and pans. It looks just like Emma’s, but painted white. We needed some more cabinet space in our kitchen, and our pots and pans were always super hard to find because they were stuffed into two lower cabinets. That solution has been really helpful for our situation. I wish I would have done it sooner. Thanks, Dad!!

Here are a few more photos of the room. There is a designated spot for dog bones, spray paint, paint brushes and board games. Any shelf space that wasn’t being used is now holding extra paper towels and toilet paper.

As a naturally messy person, I’m proud of our new tidy space! Our new laundry room isn’t perfect, but it makes me smile when I walk in now, so I think it’s reached its full potential. A+ for you, laundry room!

I’d love to hear about your laundry room trials and joys, hopes and dreams! I’m not afraid to admit that I’m a little bit geeky for laundry rooms now. I even started a pin board for them. xo. Elsie

Etsy Art Sources// If you want to be happy/Maridee Studio, Oh Darling banner and Yes, Yes, Yes/Fifi Due Vie, Rain drops/Ashley G.

Credits// Author: Elsie Larson, Project Assistant: Laura Gummerman, Emma Chapman (and our dad too- thanks, dad!), Photography: Janae Hardy.