$100 Laundry Closet-Before Pics

Hi there, friends! So glad to be back with you for a new year! 2018 sure snuck up on me! I feel like I was just getting used to 2017 and here we are with that year already over! We’ve been battling a yucky bug for the past 2+ weeks. It has been NO fun, but when my brain has been coherent enough to actually think straight, I have been looking forward to ONE thing! 

It’s that time again! The $100 Room Challenge is back!! This is SUCH fun! Erin over at Lemons, Lavender, & Laundry hosts this twice a year. (Check here for the background story of how and why she put this together. )

This past June, I put on my bargain-loving thinking cap and transformed our sunroom/playroom for the same challenge.

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New curtains, slipcover, pillows, art, and painted furniture totally gave the room a look that was more “us” and we have been enjoying it immensely!

I went back and forth on what area I should do. I really thought I would either do my dining room. or master bedroom, but after brainstorming, decided the laundry closet would be a great project.

Why?

1. I enter this room at least 2-3 times a DAY.
2. It’s January….we’ve had a cold spell with temperatures down in the single digits (pretty unheard of for Virginia), so whatever projects we do need to be able to be done inside. Some of the ideas I had for other rooms in our house would involved paint and being outside, so they were a “no-go” for right now. (But stay tuned! When the weather gets warmer, I have lots of things I want to work on!) 
3. Remember #1? I enter this room 2-3 times a day. I am beginning to think I might need to have a call button in there in case I can’t make it back out! It’s getting bad, people! 

You know the saying about “skeletons in your closet”? Well, I don’t have a literal skeleton in this closet (Halloween decor is stored up in the attic, thank you very much), but this IS definitely a space in my house I wouldn’t want anyone to see or know about….

Soooo let’s just take pictures of it and publish it on a blog post….how’s that for ripping the bandaid off? (Ha!) I think I might go hide under the covers until next week’s blog post…. It’s THAT embarrassing and humbling. But I always strive to be real with y’all, so…here’s my laundry closet in ALL it’s “glory.” 

Hopefully you can see that I try to be an organized person. Some things are labeled. Some things are in drawers or bins. But there is just so.much.stuff! 

Clearly these are First World issues…..”My laundry closet is too small for all of my stuff to fit in it.” Oh the HORROR! (Sarcasm implied.)

See, I have a TON of craft things. I also have a sewing machine, a laminator, a glue gun, a paper cutter, and about 7 cans of spray paint and multiple gallons and quarts of paint stored in here. (We used to store them in our shed, but discovered when I went to use one that they had frozen one winter and gotten ruined, so in an effort to be able to reuse leftover paint, they now reside here….sigh.)

In addition to all of my craft items, this is also the place where the cleaning items, detergents, iron, light bulbs, extension chords, ant traps, mop, cooler bags, Play Doh, easel, all the kids’ art materials, and our homeschool science supplies are…. So pretty much all.the.things. live here. 

No wonder my semi-claustrophobic self starts to sweat when I go in there! 

Let’s start with the positives:

1. I have an extra space for my washer and dryer. (They aren’t sitting in the middle of my kitchen or hallway….)
2. There is space in this closet for a few shelves. Yay for storage!
3. It also provides a spot for my cat’s litter box. (Hey, I’m looking for any positives I can think of!)
4. I have a place where I can put the craft and art supplies that is out of the way (until I need to do laundry-minor issue! Ha!) 

Things I would like to make better:

1. Better storage for all of the paint. (It is taking up a good bit of “real estate” in this room.
2. Go through my craft supplies as ruthlessly as possible and try to pare down??
3. Relocate things to other places if possible.
4. Make it less crowded. 
5. Better shelving. Those metal shelves are MUCH better than nothing, but they are not my favorite. Things don’t sit correctly, or even fall through the bars. 

The plan:

1. Build a base for the washer and dryer to sit on that the paint can be stored in. 
2. Build some better shelves. (No more wire shelving! Hollah!) 
3. Paint all of the walls. (To save money, we will probably just do the same white color for the walls and shelves.)
4. Use something to create some hidden storage. (Currently I have a shower curtain hanging to block the upper shelving. Surely we can improve upon this!)
5. Have a place to hang clothes that need to be hung up to dry. 
6. Create some sort of area for my cat’s litter box to go. (That is still easy to get to.)
7. Try to get everything I need in this space without being totally overwhelmed in it! (Time for the keep, trash, and donate piles, my friend!)

So, it’s going to be a busy few weekends around here for sure! Wish me luck! I can’t wait to get started and get this closet looking better. It would be so nice if I didn’t practically start hyperventilating when I was in there! 

 I see gorgeous laundry rooms, but wonder where I could put all the stuff that lives in mine! Where do you keep your craft and DIY supplies? Be sure to scroll below to see some of the rooms my blogging buddies are working on! 

 

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