Beachy Blue Laundry Room

Ding dong, the beige is gone! In just a few hours Nick and I took the laundry room from flesh-like to fresh-like.

The brightness of this color is a little outside of my comfort zone, but I think I like it. Nick’s a fan. He says he feels like he’s at the beach. And since that’s about as much enthusiasm as I’ve gotten from him regarding any home improvement project, ever, I’m calling this one a winner.

The color is Benjamin Moore Waterfall color matched to Valspar’s kitchen and bath enamel. It took about two coats, but I am really bad about just going and touching up thin spots instead of giving a fresh coat to the whole wall so who knows how many coats it would take a normal person. For the shelves, we used Valspar exterior semi-gloss in off-the-shelf white. I had the exterior white on hand and I figured it was a good choice to stand up to the heat and humidity above the washer and dryer.

After sorting through what had been in the cabinets and weeding out what we didn’t need, this is what I was left with:

I went around the house rounding up baskets and bins, as well as items that were better suited to living on the new shelves than in their original locations (like extra pet stuff, our reusable shopping bags, paper towels, etc).

Ta-da! My favorite part is that I poured the vinegar (that I often add to loads of whites) into an empty clear-glass wine bottle and found an old cork that fit the top. So much prettier than the plastic bottle it came in. I’m even thinking about switching to powdered laundry detergent so I can ditch the bright plastic containers and put it in a pretty glass jar instead.

Here’s something else that I’m proud of: I pulled the bottom shelf out from the wall just enough for cords to fit behind it, then plugged a surge protector into the outlet below and hid it behind the laundry basket. No more ever having to wrap/unwrap the cord from the iron again, much less climb up onto the washer to plug it into the outlet back there. The excess cord from the iron drapes neatly behind the shelf. No messy cords + flicking a switch to preheat the iron = maybe I’ll iron more often now.

I think it’s important to bring a few pretty things into even utilitarian spaces like this, especially if it’s not hidden behind a door. You can see that on the far right of the middle shelf I grouped a thrifted picture frame (that I’ve got plans for-stay tuned), the wine bottle-turned-vinegar vessel, a square ceramic vase (snagged at Michael’s for $5) and an old gingerale bottle that I’ve held onto for years because I liked the shape and color. Part of me wants to put a little herb or fern in the ceramic vase, and part of me is sick and tired of taking care of plants that clearly do not appreciate my efforts. Would it be terrible of me to maybe make a big ol’ fabric flower and pop it in there instead?

Next up is painting the trim, putting something pretty in that picture frame, replacing the tattered blinds over the windows with something a little nicer, and possibly even coming up with a solution for storing the litter box and cat food out of sight.