HOW TO… Do a Cheap Laundry Room Up-Date

I have a very small laundry room (8′ x 10′) that also houses the hot water heater, the furnace, and what once was the electronic air cleaner (and now holds a 5″ air filter,) my washing machine and a large storage unit I (and friends) built a number of years ago. This room has also become a bit of a junk room.

Two years ago I started to work on this room. I tore out a closet (see before pic below) and began painting the room. It has been half painted for these two years.

Some friends and I built a large storage unit that is supposed to act as a folding/air drying table as well. It houses paint and other items that one normally finds in a utility room. The top never got tiled, and became another place to put junk.

To top it all off, the two layers of flooring have been coming up – some places just one layer, and in other places both layers.

So, I cleared the room and started painting. I decided to paint everything – wall, ceiling, pipes and ductwork – the same color so this small room wouldn’t look so busy. Cost for paint and painting supplies – $45.

Then, I began to peel up the linoleum and scrap off the floor tiles. Thankfully, these both came up pretty easy. The black substance is the glue.

Then I tiled the floor. Check out HOW TO… Tile a Floor for this tiling project. Cost for tile $0 (They were extras given to me by a friend – she got them for 25 cents a tile which would make the cost of the tiles I needed $50. You can probably find very inexpensive tiles for a small space off of Craig’s List or a salvage yard.) Cost for tiling supplies – $47. I could have probably gotten these cheaper on Craig’s list if I had thought about it.

Ta da…

I did some additional painting of pipes and behind things I didn’t think could be seen – but I discovered that they were visible.

I found some white gloss paint leftover from a previous project. I used that to paint the baseboards.

I then repaired the hole in the back wall, and placed wainscoting over the top as a decorative touch. I added molding to the top. I painting this the same color as the baseboards. The wainscoting and molding was a little over $26.

I also purchased inexpensive wall and shelf brackets. I already had shelves – given to me by a friend a few years ago. Cost of the shelf unit – $27.

Done. Total cost of the project was $145.

• paint and painting supplies $45
• tiling supplies $47 – and about half of that cost was for tools that can be reused.
• wall repair $26
• Shelf $27

I still need to tile the top of the storage unit, but I have the thin-set, grout and tools needed. I just don’t have enough floor tiles left, but I have lots of different colored single tiles and I may do a mosaic – or I may just go buy some basic white tiles to finish the project.

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

Yes, I am pleased!

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