The Laundry Room Thanks Me

You can tell by the state of our laundry room/ mud room that the two previous homeowners were older and without children. 

Before

I knew immediately that this room would needed to be more practical for us.  Pretty much the day... or within the first three days of moving in, I put my dad (and Chad) to work to install some cabinets. 

This is the way the laundry room has looked since we moved in a couple months ago.  Much more practical.  However, I still needed some organization.  I especially realized this need once the boys started school and started bringing papers home.  Add soccer schedules to that and I need a command station. 

Cabinets and shelf came from Lowes... though I did not assist in this project, it looked like they went up pretty easy. 

I used the same color paint that I used in the den/ hallway/ dining room (what I call the gut of the house)... I really like this Valspar color of Lamb's Ear... looks great with every color!  I also used some accent colors that I had purchased sample sizes of.  I don't have the color names but basically they are a mossy grey and a blueish grey.


A breakdown of the pieces I used.

Wahla...  After

Command Station

So much better... the rugs came from either TJ Maxx or Marshalls. 

I actually love to be in this room!  There is something about it that is feminine... which lets get real, I don't have a whole lot of that in my world. 

I snagged some really good finds/ deals in this space.

1- I already had the white board from homeschooling last year.  It got a face lift though.

Before

 

 After

I primed and painted the letter edge and then hung it with wire and wrapped a chevron burlap ribbon around it. (my first chevron I might add.... I am still not quite jumping on the chevron craze... in small doses perhaps).  I then created the calendar on the board.  If I like the layout of this, then I will used a permanent  marker next time. 

 

Finished white board... I also moved the tan Roman shade to the kitchen and brought this slatey blue one to the laundry room.

 2- Next find was this filing system thing.  Found it broken on the top, missing a chalkboard piece, and the other chalkboard piece not in securely.  It had already been marked down at TJ Maxx for this unfortunate set of events from $30 to $23.  However, I had a feeling that they could do better and wanted to probably get rid of this little eye sore.  And they did, got it for $15. :)

Before

After- 

A coat of primer and paint, some wood glue and hot glue, and another chalkboard that I had laying around (which fit perfect!) and it is such a pretty piece!  Love a bargain!

 3- A cork board.  I don't want all the kids school project and just general paper yack hanging on my fridge so again, found this broken piece at TJ Maxx.  The whole back was out when I bought.... normally $35, clearanced for $20.  It was actually much harder to get it in than they I thought it would be.  Crossing my fingers it stays glued in.

Before

After

Decided not to paint it, liked the black.  Also, look at the push pins.  So pretty.  Just canvas flowers from hobby lobby with normal push pins. 

4-Some of the wall art.
The top piece painted by Shepherd.  I hate I didn't take a before picture.  Nolan and I did some estate sales and saw this ugly little wood circle with two old fashioned painted children on it.  Normally I would have walked right by it but the quote on it caught both of our eyes. 
It says, "My house is Clean Enough to Be Healthy and Dirty Enough to Be Happy."  Yep, pretty much sums it up.
Anyway, I just spray painted the whole thing, retraced the saying and let Shepherd paint it. 

The laundry sign is from Hobby Lobby... didn't have a price tag, so she gave it to me for $10, but marked down 50%, so $5. 

 The football sign was a gift from my mom from 7 or so years ago.  It was faded and dingy, so it got some fresh paint as well.  It says "We interrupt this family ... for football season."  Again, sums up my life.

 5- The hooks for the backpacks were already in the laundry room.  The board they are on was painted white and painted to the wall... I definitely ripped some sheet rock off yanking that sucker down.

 

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And since I am talking bargains... let me just add two more awesome finds that I got my hands on.

Again, estate sale.
The last one we hit had this two ugly/ dirty little plastic tables sitting outside.  I picked them up and take them inside.  Nolan heard one of the workers say, "is she really bringing those in?"  haha, that speaks to their condition.

Before

After

You  may wonder why I need this?  When I show the finished den, you will see. ;)

The last awesome bargain was snagged at Pottery Barn Outlet!  Love PB Outlet!

I needed a cushion for this Ikea bench.  I tried to buy a couple different things but returned them because it wasn't right.  I looked to buy foam and fabric and make my own but that was going to be far more than I wanted to pay. Look at this!

 

 Guess how much?!?!
$1.97 a cushion... so basically $4!  They are called picnic bench cushions and they fit perfectly.  They have Velcro on the back to attach to the wood on a bench but I just used the Velcro to attach to each cushion! 

 

 

 Oh my gosh!  Another long winded post.  If you read this far, you are awesome!

 

Have a good weekend!