Dah Dah Dah.... the laundry room - YIKES

I believe that every room in your home should reflect the personalities of the people that live there.  Whether it is items displayed from various travels to collections to the style of furniture itself, your home is a reflection of you.  I do believe this, but I also believe that everyone has that one room where you cringe when you go in it.  It is sad and uncomfortable. 

Well if all of this is true then my laundry room is the Little Shop of Horrors! 

First, it is small, I mean teensy weensy small.  Not much bigger than a closet but big enough to house the furnace and hot water heater as well as a washer and dryer.

Here is the door to the Little Shop of Horrors.  Be afraid, be very afraid! 

 

It must have this kind of beveled door because the furnace and hot water heater is in there.  Do you know what a pain in the arse it is to clean this door?  It is right in our game room, right near the pool table and downstairs refrigerator so people are down there quite a bit, so I have to keep the door clean of dust.  If you look at this above photo you will see the dust on the lower slats... I started cleaning the uppers again tonight.  It is a weekly job, yes my house gets that dusty.  I have no idea why.  To be honest though that build up of dust is probably 3 weeks.  I've been lazy. 

 

So let's open the door on the Little Shop of Horrors shall we? 

 



I was in the same position as when I took the door photo. Not much to look at - no ceiling, crappy wall to a bathroom that was put in by the prior owners.  A few years ago I tried to make it nicer by putting in shelves and some shell pictures... but come on YUCK! 

Odd angles and that useless space back there... Pipes showing... See I told you The Little Shop of Horrors!  (Don't ask about the curlers.  My husband read online that they would get rid of the dog hair - yeah no.... they stick to everything BUT the dog hair. But there they sit....still, cause you just never know!).  

 

So lets step in a bit.  It is a small room, again with odd angles and no ceiling - just pipes and the floorboards from the first floor. 

On the left, immediately behind the door is the large furnace and hot water.

 

 And crazy pipes for the outside sprinkler system and humidifier - I live in Colorado where the average humidity is 12% so in the winter we need to put water into the air or live with a lot of static electricity. 

I couldn't even get far enough away from the pipes to take a clear picture!  Oh and that white thing down there - that is a boot dryer. 

 

OK now I'll turn around and take some blurry pictures of my washer and dryer.

 

I need help here bad.  I don't like being in here.  There isn't enough room to fold clothes, I have to do that on my bed or the pool table or I set up a card table in the game room.  I can't even put my steamer in here, it goes in the closet next door - on the other side of the furnace we have an under the steps closet. 

I can't push the room out on the other side, behind the washer and dryer either as that is my husbands office and there is a 200+ gallon fish tank on that immediate wall.  I can't go directly back either as that is the small but full bathroom that the prior owners put in and I can't lose a bathroom. 

 

So I am stuck with this odd little space.  Now I just need to make it pretty.  Now this isn't an impossible job - close but not totally impossible.  Oh yeah and my budget is less than $100.00! 

 

First I need to paint the walls that I do have in there.  I was thinking colors and my husband said, "blue, I like blue."  Well, we have a lot of blue in the house right now and since I don't have a window I was thinking a chartreuse or lime/apple green. He made a face. 

 

Next I think I need storage.  I wonder if I could get a cabinet in that odd space in the back corner?

 

Not sure how I'd get to it but it would be a good place for some storage unit. 

 

I also think I need different/better shelves.  I like these..

 

I wish I could do a countertop but my washer isn't a front loader, so that is out but that would solve the folding station problems!  I'll just have to come up with something else.  I like the idea above of the bar to hang clothes on, I need one of those.  I also would like a place to lie things flat like this..



Just maybe I could fit something like this in that odd little nook? 

 

I like the idea here of the storage between the washer and dryer.

 

This is a nice idea... it folds up when not in use!  I just need wall space for it! 

 

So to recap... Little Shop of Horrors...  need storage and a place to hang clothes, maybe fold them as well.  Color on the walls - an apple green maybe?  New shelves that are nice and pretty and some baskets or bins for storage. 

 

I don't think I can do much about the furnace and hot water heaters, I can't enclose them otherwise the room would be even smaller, and it is against fire codes. 

 

Do you have any ideas for my Little Shop of Horrors?  I'd love to hear them. 

 

Thanks for stopping by.  I will keep everyone updated on the progress. 

 

I'll be back on Thursday, till then be safe!

Victoria

 

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