I actually did a little 'makeover' to my laundry area, but because I only have one before picture, I decided it is better described as a tour.
Our washer and dryer are in our basement. Not in an actual room. And I'll be honest, it is just plain old dark, musty, dusty and dirty down there. It isn't finished and therefore it is quite ugly.
Also, we do not have shelves down there yet. So all of our
junk stuff(decorations, camping and fishing stuff, etc.) Is piled under the stairs; and not neatly, I might add.
I guess I never did much down there because I subconsciously told myself "when we get some shelves...". So over the course of two years, it became the ONE (well, ok, maybe the number one lol) place in the whole house where I would 'die' if someone ever went down there. One day, in the not so distant past, the phone rang. Mom and Dad had lost power and the boys were headed to camp the next day. They needed a few things washed before they left... yup, that's right.
I mean, seriously, I wish I remembered to take a picture before I rolled up my sleeves and dug in. Before she came, I did a quick ''de-gross-a-fy" sweep. I had to use a barn shovel down there because the piles were too heavy and big for a dust pan! (wood chips and bark along with dirt and who knows what).
So She came with my sisters, and later my sister-in-love came with my oldest-younger sister and my niece and we all had a good time visiting and doing laundry.
Later I thought to myself "why does this area of the house
have to be ugly, dirty and gross?" It still isn't great, and the basement remains (so far) unfinished and for the most part ugly and dusty, and still musty too. But it is an improvement. Now I actually enjoy walking downstairs and seeing the spiffed up laundry area. And I have started going through the junk under the stairs, sorting and hanging up what I can without shelves. So here goes...
This is the before picture of the little cupboard next to the washer. I was partway through cleaning it out before I remembered to take the photo. The top was covered in stuff and old, ripped up contact paper from before we bought the house. (Stuff was ours, contact paper wasn't).
And this is after...
The hose goes out to the barn, there really is no other place for it to hook up to.
Inside is where I tucked the yellow clothesline for indoors. When our old dryer died it was still snowing outside, so Darling made one for me to put across the living room. It hooks to the wall with snaps, so I can unsnap it and put it away when I don't need it. Also some extra detergent, a smoke alarm, lunch baskets Darling used to take to work, and a large, bulky pan. And some leftover wall paper and a bag of window kits.
We got a large basket of clothespins at a yard sale for $2.00, I keep them in the big jar I used to use for flour. I bought another one to hold my dry soap for homemade detergent. The humidity would make the powder clump in the boxes it came in. Plus, it makes it easier. That is coming up in another post. The little jar is for soap bars.
I covered the vinegar bottle in contact paper, because I thought it looked prettier.
I spray painted an old coffee can with some paint I had kicking around, then wrote on it with a sharpie and stuck little gems all over it. I also covered the shelf with contact paper.
Three drawer organizer my Mother gave me last year. I keep extra cleaning rags and extra towels in here. I can only fit four in our tiny bathroom, which is enough for us, but want to hang on to extras just in case.
In the top drawer I have travel size detergent packets (I don't know where they came from lol) and some rags I cut up for cleaning off the washer and dryer. The basket on the right houses my lingerie bags.
Here is an over all look at the laundry area. That green sheet behind the shelf hides old window holes from before the addition and heat ducts from the old wood furnace.
Nothing too special, but I'm happy with it. Now I'm a little more chipper about having to go down there to do laundry, sort of lol. I have found that when my surroundings look appealing to me, I am more apt to keep it nice, clean it, etc.
Products used:
- Contact paper-Dollar Tree
- Large and small glass jar-Walmart
- Little white baskets-Walmart
- Flowers-kitchen counter lol. Originally from Dollar Tree
Hope it inspired you! Have a good day!
