Welcome back to a space that, mere weeks ago, existed only in our blueprints and wildest design dreams. The transformation of our home’s newest addition, a dedicated laundry room, has been an exhilarating journey, filled with anticipation and creative decisions at every turn. It’s the kind of project that keeps us dreaming – literally – about all things home decor. We’re thrilled to share the latest progress, detailing how this utilitarian corner is blossoming into a stylish and highly functional hub.
Setting the Stage: Priming and Preparation for Our Dream Laundry Space
Our last update left you with a glimpse of our new laundry room, freshly primed and patiently awaiting its vibrant new identity. We chose VOC-free Kilz Premium primer from Home Depot, a conscious decision to ensure optimal indoor air quality and a solid foundation for the paint. For any renovation, especially in an enclosed space like a laundry room, the importance of proper priming cannot be overstated. It seals the drywall, prevents issues like moisture absorption, and ensures a smooth, even application of paint.
This room, thoughtfully designed to be efficient yet charming, measures approximately 7 feet wide by 8 feet deep. Its compact footprint meant that preparatory steps, such as priming, moved along quite swiftly. Witnessing the transformation from bare drywall to a clean, ready-for-paint canvas is always a rewarding milestone in any DIY project. Here’s a look at the room, perfectly poised for the next exciting phase:
Selecting the Foundation: Our Modern Laundry Room Floor Tile
Before we even thought about wall colors, the floor tile demanded our attention. The flooring choice is foundational, dictating much of the room’s aesthetic and practical feel. After careful consideration, we selected “Blast Anthracite” from The Tile Shop. Priced at $6.59 per square foot, the entire floor cost approximately $350, a savvy investment made even better with our YHL10 discount code. This tile immediately captivated us because of its nuanced visual appeal and its practical attributes.
We specifically sought a tile that wasn’t too light, as laundry rooms are notorious for collecting lint, dust, and stray hairs. A darker, variegated surface helps to camouflage everyday debris, making the space feel cleaner for longer. Equally important was how the tile would transition with the existing hardwoods in the adjacent hallway. Maintaining visual harmony between connecting spaces creates a cohesive and thoughtful home design. But the true selling point of the Blast Anthracite tile lies in its striking striations and beautiful natural veins. These subtle variations add depth and character, elevating the floor from a mere surface to a design feature. It’s a testament to how practical choices can also be incredibly elegant.
Crafting the Vision: A Detailed Laundry Room Mood Board
With the floor tile chosen, it was time to envision the complete picture. Creating a mood board is an essential step in our design process; it allows us to gather and visualize all the elements together, ensuring they complement each other harmoniously. This crucial exercise helps in making informed decisions about colors, textures, and finishes. While some elements, like the appliances and tile, were firm choices, the mood board provided a flexible framework for exploring wall colors and decorative accents. It serves as our guiding light, even as minor details might evolve during the renovation.
- Warm Wood Elements: To balance the cool gray of the tile and the sleekness of modern appliances, we plan to incorporate warm wood tones. A butcher block countertop for the cabinet next to the washer and dryer will add natural texture and functional workspace, softening the industrial edges of the room.
- Efficient Appliances: Our chosen washer and dryer are central to this room’s function. You can find more details about their features and our selection process here.
- Statement Lighting: This cozy laundry room presents a perfect opportunity to introduce a distinctive light fixture. We’re excited to feature one of the newer designs from our Shades of Light collection, which will serve as a stylish focal point.
- Charming Storage Basket: A colored woven basket combines practicality with aesthetic appeal. Its vibrant yet natural hues will add a touch of “coltural” charm – a blend of color and natural texture.
- Personalized Art Prints: We’ve been admiring a specific collection of prints for some time, and the laundry room feels like the ideal spot to finally display them, injecting personality and visual interest into this often-overlooked space.
- Unique Wall Display: A sweet wood letterpress drawer, mounted on the wall, offers a charming way to showcase small collectibles that Clara and I have gathered over the years, adding a personal and nostalgic touch.
- Crisp White Cabinetry: White cabinets will create a bright, airy feel, tying in seamlessly with our white appliances. This choice also ensures that the warm butcher block countertop will truly “pop” against a clean backdrop.
- Playful Hardware: Complementing our lighting choice, these fun cabinet knobs will add a subtle touch of whimsy and cohesion to the room’s design.
- Accent Wall Tile: This is the accent tile we previously selected, destined for the wall space above the washer and dryer and below the upper cabinets, creating a stylish backsplash.
- Floor Tile: Our chosen Blast Anthracite floor tile, providing the durable and stylish foundation for the room.
- Textural Rug: A Dash & Albert rug will introduce an additional layer of texture and a subtle hint of color, enhancing the room’s comfort and design depth.
The Art of Color Selection: Bringing Our In-Person Mood Board to Life
After carefully curating our mood board and visualizing how the various elements—from the rich floor tile and warm wood tones to the colorful art—would interact, we were ready to tackle the wall color. This decision is paramount, as paint can dramatically alter the perception of a space. Given the laundry room’s modest size and lack of natural light from windows, we knew we needed a light hue. However, we intentionally steered clear of stark white. Our goal was for the trim and cabinets to read as architectural features, standing out gracefully from the wall color rather than blending in. Finding that perfect “light-but-not-white” shade can be surprisingly challenging; staring at 167 swatches felt like an exercise in arbitrary selection.
To overcome this design dilemma, we adopted a more immersive approach: an “in-person mood board” directly within the room. This highly effective method allowed us to see how actual materials and colors would react in the room’s unique lighting conditions.
We gathered various items from around the house that loosely represented the textures, colors, and patterns we envisioned for the laundry room. A shiny white drum stool mimicked the color of our new appliances, providing a tangible reference. Tile samples, pieces of warm wood, and other finishes were brought in. Even a terrarium served a purpose, representing the light fixture with its similar coloring and clean lines. This hands-on method proved invaluable.
By bringing all these elements directly into the space, the task of choosing a paint color felt less daunting and far more informed. We could hold swatches directly against the floor tile, the wood tones, and the appliance finishes, observing how they harmonized. To our delightful surprise, our favorite swatch turned out to be “Going To The Chapel” by Benjamin Moore – a color we had previously used in Teddy’s room! This discovery was particularly exciting, as we are proponents of a cohesive whole-house palette, often repeating a few beloved colors throughout our home to create a sense of flow and continuity. So, “Going To The Chapel” it was! We opted for an eggshell finish from Benjamin Moore’s VOC-free Natura line, further emphasizing our commitment to healthy, sustainable living spaces.
The Painted Reveal: A New Sense of Polish and Purpose
The transformation that a fresh coat of paint brings is truly remarkable. While a photograph might not fully capture the subtle nuances, in person, the room shifted from feeling stark, raw, and unfinished to exuding a polished, inviting, and truly “room-like” ambiance. The soft hue of “Going To The Chapel” now graces the walls, adding warmth without sacrificing brightness.
This phase also included extending the fresh paint into the new end of the hallway, seamlessly blending it with the existing walls. The result is a fluid, continuous look that makes the new laundry room feel as if it has always been an integral part of our home’s original structure. Apart from the anticipation of new doorways and the final flooring, the space now feels remarkably complete, showcasing the power of a well-chosen paint color to define and elevate a room.
It’s incredible to reflect on how far we’ve come. Just a month ago, we were simply sketching ideas on paper, dreaming of these new rooms and doorways. Now, they are tangible realities, physical spaces ready to be filled with life and purpose. This journey underscores the magic of envisioning a space and bringing it to fruition through dedicated effort.
Designing the Entrance: Our Choice for the Bunk Room Door
As the laundry room progresses, our thoughts also turn to the adjacent spaces, particularly the future bunk room. We’re eagerly anticipating the installation of its special glass door. After exploring various options – including frosted glass, single-pane designs, and more – we made a decision that prioritized both aesthetics and architectural consistency. We settled on the same style of 15-paned glass door that currently leads out to the deck downstairs. This choice ensures a cohesive feel throughout the house, contributing to a harmonious interior design narrative.
Our long-term vision includes adding similar glass-paned French doors to the office someday, mirroring inspirational designs like this one. Therefore, selecting the same style for the upstairs bunk room felt like a strategic move, contributing to an overall impression of timeless design. The goal is for these doors to appear original to the house, lending an authentic, classic charm. Furthermore, we opted for clear glass rather than frosted. This choice provides invaluable flexibility, allowing us the option to add frosting or a stylish shade from behind the door (similar to this example) in the future, should privacy or light control needs change, without being permanently committed to a frosted finish.
The practical benefits of this choice are equally appealing: it’s an in-stock door at Home Depot, making it readily available and affordably priced at just $149. Of course, this is a DIY project, meaning we’ll be handling the painting, framing, hinge installation, and knob selection ourselves. However, these are the details that truly personalize a space, and we anticipate this door becoming one of our favorite elements in the finished project.
The Road Ahead: Our Updated Renovation Checklist
Our comprehensive to-do list for this major renovation has seen considerable progress, with many critical steps now complete. This systematic approach ensures every detail is addressed, transforming a complex project into manageable phases. Here’s an updated look at what remains:
Move washer & dryer and remove cabinetry(more on that here)Demo cased opening, side wall, back wall, part of the floor and the attic stepFrame new walls & doorwaysMove laundry plumbing hook-ups & drainsMove laundry electrical(plus other lights, switches, and outlets) (more on those last four bullets here)Move dryer vent & HVAC duct(more on that here)Hang drywall(more on that here)Add insulation(more on thathere)Mud, tape, and sand all the drywall seams in the new room(more on that here)Prime & paint laundry room and hallway walls- Tile & grout new laundry floor
- Add baseboards and door casings
- Rehang laundry door
- Add new glass door to future bunk-room
- Add upper cabinetry and crown molding
- Add lower cabinet next to washer & dryer with countertop
- Tile & grout laundry room backsplash
- Reinstall washer & dryer
- Add ceiling light fixture
- Hang art, ironing board, and bring in other laundry room items
- Finishing touches and repairs (drywall in garage, step in attic, etc)
Our immediate focus is on installing and grouting the laundry room floor tile, a step we hope to complete by Monday. This milestone is immensely significant; seeing the floor laid will truly solidify the room’s identity and bring us one crucial step closer to reinstalling the washer and dryer. While doing laundry might not be everyone’s favorite activity, the thought of having our machines back home and a fully functional, beautifully designed laundry room is incredibly captivating right now. We predict many happy dance moments as those machines hum back to life, marking the joyful culmination of this extensive renovation project.