Laundry Room Transformation

It's quite surprising, really, that I have been in this home for nearly 8 years, and decorated just about every square inch of it except for the laundry room.  The funny thing is, it really didn't need much work to look good...mostly just a fresh coat of paint.  When we moved in, there was one wall that had two different sheens of paint on it and poorly patched holes, but I just tried to overlook it.  It's amazing what you can pretend isn't there, until something happens and you realize it needs your attention...the shelf fell down!!!  In that moment, I knew it needed my attention.  Here are the shelves "before",

and after...

Much improved, right?  Now, keep in mind that I am still learning to shoot in manual mode on my camera, so some of these before pictures are less than par.  As seen in the first picture, I was using canvas bins to contain everything.  The walls were kind of a light yellow, and I was hiding the unsightly water connections behind a blue and white striped sheet.  Then, I was shopping at Walmart, and had to do a double take when I saw these lined chicken wire baskets and metal bins!

So, I picked up a couple of the baskets and bins, brought them home and started organizing my laundry stuff. Pleased with the result, and still practicing in manual mode on my camera, I started snapping photos to show you!

And then, the shelf fell down.  It wasn't anchored into the studs, and couldn't hold that much weight!  And about that time we were still working on the new floors...

(we will put in baseboards sometime!)

Anyway, we took down the shelves, and I patched all the holes around the room.  Then I painted the shelves and the whole room  a creamy white.  (Benjamin Moore's simply white.  That is my "go to" white)  I decided to paint the ceiling too.  I painted it a pretty blue by mixing some old blue and white paint from previous projects.  (I had to keep adding white...Did you know  that colors tend to look darker on ceilings? I didn't.  Also, people who live in the south paint their ceilings blue because it keeps spider webs and bugs away.  That's definitely an added bonus!)

My husband anchored the freshly painted white shelves into the studs, and I got to work organizing them again.

The striped sheet, that hid all kinds of eyesores, was filthy from being in the garage all winter while we put the floors in.  I decided to replace it with a $10 painters canvas drop cloth from Home Depot.

You'll probably remember my homemade laundry detergent in the thrift store upcycle post.

I added some faux green plants from some other places in my house (I move things around all the time!)

And now, my laundry room looks and feels much prettier!  In the meantime, I am dreaming up plans for the kitchen, the guest room, and the kids bathroom....  :)  I'll keep you posted.