Saturday, January 24, 2015

Wash, Dry, Decorate: Laundry Room Update

When we moved to our retirement condo on Applegate Lane, there was a stackable washer and dryer squeezed into a small closet in the first floor bathroom.  You could actually see it from the living room . . . definitely not a good look, even if I tried to pass it off as steampunk!

 
Our house is a 2-story with a gambrel roofline . . .


So we found wasted space under the eaves . . .

and moved the laundry room upstairs next to the master bedroom. 


Here it is!


Under the sloping wall, we added an area for folding clothes with lots of storage underneath, hidden by a fabric "curtain" threaded onto a length of heavy wire secured to the underside of the counter top by small eye hooks.
 

This space is also really handy for wrapping gifts and laying out fabric for sewing projects.


I love some of the photos shared by blogger Miss Kopy Kat in her recent post entitled  How To Transform a Laundry Room.  Her fabric treatment under the counter is similar to mine and also hides a storage area.  Her laundry room even includes a coffee station and wine bar!


 
If I had wine in my laundry room, DH and I would have the cleanest clothes in town!


I hot-glued brightly-painted clothespins to a yardstick and mounted it on the wall between my dryer and folding area to hold those mystery socks that always seem to exit the dryer without their mates. The paper towel holder is handy for spills and a framed pattern envelope from the 1950's adds a little color and whimsy.  (How about those hats?)

 
On the opposite wall, I found room to hang a miniature clothesline to display a collection of vintage dolls' clothes.  
 

 An old apple ladder holds an antiques child's dress and an assortment of vintage wooden coat hangers. It's useful as well as decorative . . . I hang newly-ironed clothes on it until I put them away.


And the piece de resistance? A chandelier we rescued from the original porch of our former 1830's home. It's so unexpected in the laundry room that it just makes me smile!

Extra craft storage is hidden on a shelf unit behind the door where I can get to it easily. And there's room to leave the ironing board up all the time for quick touch-ups as clothes come out of the dryer.

 
 This room works perfectly and makes good use of formerly wasted space in our home.
 
Who says doing laundry can't be fun?

 
 
This post is linked to:
 Party Junk at Funky Junk Interiors
Show & Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
 

7 comments:

  1. Well this is just precious! Love how you decorated it and made is super useful for not only laundry but also wrapping and folding! Cute! Love the framed pattern!
    hugs,
    Linda

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  2. This is an amazing space Cheryl! You had the right idea to us that wasted space like this. It looks great. I like the yardstick on the wall and the vintage prints. Great job!

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  3. I'm in love with your laundry room, Cheryl! I love all the cute little doll clothes you've hung in the room and the framed pattern envelope add a touch of style! Great use of space!

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  4. Cheryl, this is just too cute! So many creative, unique touches--LOVE! Blessings, Cecilia

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  5. This is really cute. I like everything that you've done here and especially the yardstick and clothespins for socks!

    I found a sock attached to a dishtowel the other day...static cling. There's one sock mystery solved! :)

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  6. Cheryl! You have done an amazing job on your new laundry room! It is just full of functionality and personality! I love all the charming accessories that you have added. Thanks so much for the "shout out" in your blog post...yes, great minds do think alike...we both have the curtains to hide our storage. We had a coffee disaster the other morning but the curtains cleaned up better than I thought they would.

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  7. What a fun laundry room! Love the vintage doll clothes and the way you've displayed them, and I think the clothespins glued onto a yard stick is brilliant. You've inspired me. I'm going to get to work on my laundry room.

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