Laundry Room on a Budget!

I hate laundry.

Ok I know most people do, but I reaaally hate it. This got me thinking, 'What can I do to make laundry more enjoyable?' since its going nowhere. Turn it into a project! But wait, I have no budget hmm, lets get creative!

My laundry room was easily the ugliest room in the house, way down in the dark basement, a washer and dryer with primer on the walls and pipes sticking out everywhere (its roughed in for a washroom down the road).

Working at Benjamin Moore I'm lucky to know the trick for mistints. Most paint stores have them, they are the colours that get tinted wrong, by mistake, or even in excess. The store I work at sells the quarts for $5, gallons for $10. Thats a smoking deal for an awesome product, the only catch is finding a colour you like. This blue-y gray I fell in love with, and for ten dollars it came home with me, even though at the time I had no idea where it would go. We painted the walls and any exposed pipes so that they would blend in better, removing them wasn't an option as we are going to eventually put a bathroom down there.

Next we got some cabinets given to us by a friend doing a renovation. We mounted them above and to the side of the washer and dryer for storage. Next I took an old shower bar I had and mounted it from the cabinets to the wall for drying. We were lucky enough to be given cabinets, but an awesome place to find all sorts of new and used building supplies, including cabinets! check out the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Burnside!

B built me a box to go over the pipes coming out of the floor. It hid them as well as brought my hamper up higher so getting those clothes at the bottom is much easier. I changed the lightbulb to a brighter cool daylight bulb, hung a piece of art I had from the old house, bought a small piece of cushion floor at Kent for under the washer and dryer in a slate stone look for under $25, finally, I added a cheap but pretty mat from Target, and voila! 

Here are some befores, and of course, afters!

Before: primer, concrete, no storage, NO FUN!

So many pipes! 

After!

So much nicer having storage!!

All done! On a tight budget! And for the record, I've been caught up on laundry ever since! Its so much nicer in a light, bright space!