Last week, I shared my ideas for our laundry room makeover. Our little basement space is in need of some major attention. Check out the game plan and before pictures here. Well guess what? We've made some progress down there!
Ahem. Did you know that all it takes to make a room go from this...
... to this...
...is a little elbow grease?
Hm. Me neither. And I'm a little embarrassed to say that it took us almost two years of living in this house to get this room cleaned up! But wow, what a difference it makes.
We decided to go ahead and take out that horrible door between the cedar closet and laundry space.
Remember this one?
In addition to making the laundry room a heck of a lot less creepy, the removal of the door really opens up the space and makes it feel more flowy. Is flowy a word? It is now.
See? Kind of flowy, right?
The cedar closet portion of the laundry room looks great decent now too.
Especially when you compare it to what it looked like two weeks ago.
For those of you wondering about where all the junk went... I'd say about 1/3 of it went into the trash. Another 1/3 of it was actually just empty moving boxes, so we simply piled those in David's workshop (ie. the unfinished portion of the basement) for safekeeping. The rest of the stuff has been put away in it's proper place... "work out in the yard shoes" are now in the workshop, luggage is now stored away, winter clothes have been hung. Okay and some of the stuff is still sitting in the big room of our basement, but I promise I'll put it away at some point this week ; )
So there you have it. All it took to get us over a big hurdle was a little bit of cleaning skillz. Even Tucker and Maggie are kind of wondering why we didn't bust out the trashbags sooner in this room.
Yes, I totally just made my dogs talk in a blog post. I'm so cool.
T H E T O D O L I S T :
2. Take down shelving in the cedar closet.
3. Potentially take down cedar walls or paint over.
4. Potentially knock down the wall that separates laundry space and cedar closet.
5. Replace all doors in the room.
6. Add new flooring.
7. Create an organized workspace over the washer and dryer.
8. Replace the fluorescent lighting.
9. Fix bad spots in ceiling tiles.
10. Add a laundry folding/ project space where the cedar closet is.
11. Spruce up my grandmother's vintage sewing machine table.
Oh and don't forget to check out my laundry room inspiration board on Pinterest! You should be able to get a good idea of how I want this room to evolve.
11. Spruce up my grandmother's vintage sewing machine table.
Oh and don't forget to check out my laundry room inspiration board on Pinterest! You should be able to get a good idea of how I want this room to evolve.
doesnt it feel good to get a space cleaned you have been putting off?? We have been working in the attic but it is not deemable of a blog post. haha. btw had no clue yall have a beagle??? dont you just love them?? our two howl in harmony wayyyy too often. haha
ReplyDeleteWow your cedar closet is HUGE!! We are actually installing one in our basement, but it's teeny. Isn't it fun to purge? I love getting rid of stuff, it's so gratifying. I can see your vision starting to come together!
ReplyDeleteFeels so good to get decluttered!
ReplyDeleteLooks great so far!! Love the dogs and their comments :)
ReplyDeleteThat closet is huge! It is going to be great when you finish. I love getting spaces like that decluttered. :) And you pups are too cute...:)
ReplyDeleteI'm just as impressed as your pups are :)
ReplyDeleteLooks great! I love a good cleaning/organizing/trashing spree! Make me feel all good inside! I think your pups should make an appearance more often! :)
ReplyDeleteOur garage is terrible, and we've been meaning to get around to cleaning it out too...ever since we moved in two and half years ago. We've just been adding to it as well and have tons of empty boxes in there also. You definitely have motivated me to get busy cleaning it out!!! We'll feel so much better when we do.
ReplyDeletewow! Its going to be so quick and easy to get things done now now tripping over everything. I cannot wait to see what you do.
ReplyDeleteYou've got some cleaning skillz! Doesn't everyone make their dogs talk in photos on their blog? - Is it weird that I like the cedar? I do - I'd leave it and just put up some white wood shelving. We had a cedar closet when we lived in Pittsburgh - not nearly as big as yours - but man did it smell soooo good!
ReplyDeleteWow, you sure have been busy! Its amazing what a little organizing will do, good job!
ReplyDeleteyay! its coming along! and totally cracking up at the dogs comments. too cute!!
ReplyDeleteOh yay! Clean slate!! Now you can get down to business in there!
ReplyDeleteThat is a serious clean out. I love it. I would have had to bribe myself throughout the whole thing. That's how I operate. Candy bar if I get this far. Cold beer if I get this far. Are you dancing around in circles in the open space {or is that just a me thing?}
ReplyDeleteWow great job!! You deserve a pat on the back for that! And I love the talking dogs! :0)
ReplyDeleteIt took me almost a year to actually clean the garage. I have so much more room now, so I feel your pain and excitement! On a side note, I am doing my first give away of 2012 on the blog and could love/appreciate your help in spreading the word. Folks have a chance to win a $50 gift card from Pier 1: https://courtneyoutloud.wordpress.com/2012/01/11/pier-1-imports-gift-card-give-away/
ReplyDeleteAnd I have to ask -- is that a lonely amp in the cedar closet?
Ooh, that door WAS sort of creepy and it does look 10x better without it - but I'm mostly impressed with the clean slate in the closet... I should perhaps take some notes from you. By the way, what IS a cedar closet? Are you just calling it that because there's cedar on the walls or is that an actual room term that perhaps doesn't exist here up in the frozen areas near Yellowstone and Jackson Hole? ;)
ReplyDeletePS If that really is cedar, does it smell like a {nice-n-clean} hamster cage? Ha. That's what I think of when I smell cedar.
WOW. What an improvement! It's amazing what cleaning alone can accomplish - you've totally inspired me!
ReplyDeleteYou impress me so much! I wonder why that door looked like that in first place. And dogs totally talk, so no biggie ;)
ReplyDeleteI like how one of your pups is pensive... and one is hungry. Mine just wants a tennis ball. Any time. Any day. Any situation.
ReplyDeleteGreat work - can't wait to see this develop and unfold :)
WOW! Cleaning up made such a huge difference!
ReplyDeleteyup, cleaning really made a nice change in there and taking down the door was great too!! You guys really rock the DIY!! You go girl and can't wait to see what else you do with it:)
ReplyDeleteyes it is totally flowy ;) And wow what a difference just by getting rid of the stuff! And your dogs are too stinkin' cute! And I think you are even cooler now that you put your "talking" dogs on your blog :)
ReplyDeleteWow! You guys have so much storage space in there! Lucky. =)
ReplyDeleteYou must feel better already!! I just cleaned out the closet under my basement stairs (following a lovely rat infestation-- gross!) and am evisioning a lovely craft closet now that all our SMACK is out of there! Gotta love possibilities!
ReplyDeleteWooHOOO! I bet that feels good to get it all cleaned up! It looks great! What a great storage room! Y'all have tons of space! Can't wait to see what you come up with :)
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a great project! Can't wait to see how it turns out.
ReplyDeleteYou are funny! I like your new word "flowy" and the basement is looking good!
ReplyDeleteWow! Great job! Look at all that amazing storage :) Lucky girl!
ReplyDeleteWhat a difference! Great job -- so not fun, but it looks so much better! And love that picture of the dogs!
ReplyDeleteYou inspire me :) My laundry is a hot mess... this just might give me the resolve to tackle it.
ReplyDeleteYeah, my basement pretty much looks like your before picture. Glad I'm not the only one that takes 2 years to get rid of moving boxes :)
ReplyDeleteOk right now I want to run down to my laundry room and de-clutter it like you have. SUCH an inspiration. Thanks for sharing - looking forward to the progress! :-)
ReplyDeletethese kinds of projects make me giddy!! nothing like taking a crazy bad room to amazing in a relatively short period of time! great investment in your house I think!
ReplyDeleteFantastic - I just cleaned out my basement after 16 years of accumulating and moving stuff from place to place. Funny since clearing out the clutter is so daunting to most (myself included). Would love you to link this up to our multi blog Imagine the Impossibilities Challenge tomorrow (Jan 31).
ReplyDeleteCheck out my basement and the info on the challenge. Hope to see you at our party!
http://www.eclecticallyvintage.com/4/post/2012/01/conquering-my-impossible-basement-reveal.html
Kelly
totally can't wait to see what it becomes! Sometimes cleaning out is the biggest challenge, but once it's done, you feel amazing!!! Congrats on the progress!
ReplyDeleteI just finished a laundry room overhaul too, and I'm still beaming over the results! Who knew a laundry room could be so exciting!