Mission

A good friend once said to me: "If a door opens in front of you - get off your ass and dance through it...laughing."

I'm trying, Nancy!

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Laundry room make-over

This is going to be my winter project.  I want to turn this nasty, cluttered mess into an organized, functional and NICE room.

This is the laundry/mechanical/utility/storage/junk room in Casa del Sol and it's desperately crying out for a make-over.




Hmm, how to hide this mess o' pipes?




Right now, I hate this room.  I want it to be pretty and tidy and organized.  I'd love to finish the walls by hanging gyproc, but until we get the terrace leak under control, that's not feasible.  This room tends to flood during rainstorms, so it'd be ruined in no time.  I was thinking maybe a cheaper alternative would be to use peg board to cover the metal studs??  I'd like to get rid of the open shelving, but I don't think cabinets are in the budget, so maybe some nice looking baskets to hide the clutter??  So far, my only real plan is to remove EVERYTHING, scrub it from top to bottom and slap a coat of paint on it.  I'm thinking something along the lines of:  Pacific Coast.


This little room gets stinkin' hot, so I'm hoping for the illusion of a cool ocean breeze.  I'm now accepting any and all ideas to transform this dingy little room into a pleasant space to do laundry.

Surfing the internet for ideas:  See?  Pegboard.  Very handy.


Seeing as cabinetry isn't in the budget, maybe I could hide crap behind curtains.  A tad cottage-y maybe, but in a nice bright ocean-y print, it could work.


I liked the boxes on the shelves in this one.


This one, of course, I just liked the colour!


Oh, for a front-load washer... this could actually work




10 comments:

Anonymous said...

OH, a project, I love work projects ! Peg board swells when it gets wet, not much different then gyproc. But the baskets are a good idea, they hide a myriad of evils. The color is good, but remember when paint dries it gets darker, it is hard to tell how big the room is. Just my opinion, but you did ask. !

Cheryl said...

Hi Deb, thanks for the input. I know the peg board is gonna be a problem when it gets wet, but I think it's cheaper and easier to install. (I'm just guessing here, I really have no idea) So, not so much time, effort and money invested if (when!) it gets wet. It's just a temporary fix anyway. The colours on the paint chip didn't translate well in the photo. The one I think I want is the one called Shoreline, but it just looked too wimpy in the photo. But I DO like bold & bright! I need to find some baskets that are tall enough to hide the bottles of cleaning stuff. Hmmm, I think I need a trip to Ikea.

Anonymous said...

WHy don't you use your creative powers and paint a mural in that laundry room ? you are so talented you could do something really fun. just look at those placemats(look at that entry!)or really, could I just visit for a week? In my dreams.I thought baskets here would be fun, they were till the mold got them. you probably won't have that problem there.Have Fun !

Cheryl said...

Ew, mold! Probably not a problem, but I may need to think about that some more. Paint a mural? Are you kidding me? Where am I gonna find a paint-by-numbers kit to do a mural???
And YES!!! You are MOST WELCOME to visit any time!!!

Anonymous said...

you don't need a paint by numbers, you could paint soemthing with your eyes closed and it would be wonderful. when do you plan on leaving calgary ?

Cheryl said...

Thanks. It's nice to have my very own cheerleader. I wish I had as much faith in me as you do.
Maybe I could stencil. Do they still make stencils? Or did they die with the 80's?
Anyway, not sure when we're leaving. Probably mid-November-ish.

Anonymous said...

I think you can buy boxes like the ones in the picture at Ikea. I bought fabric boxes they were flat and then poof, they became a box i got them from wal-mart and used them in my pantry, they worked really well. Bright colours but not blue. I think yo can still buy stencils, and for sure in teh states, and you do drive right through.

Cheryl said...

Oh, puhleease don't remind me of the driving part.

Mel150 said...

To hide the mess 'o pipes, how about a bamboo window shade? You could pull it up when you need to get in there.

Cheryl said...

Hey, that could work. I'm not sure what's up above to attach a shade to though. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to squeeze any extra storage in anywhere between the end of the washer and the door wall, so a screen of some kind to just hide all of the mechanical stuff would be great. That would still leave about a foot or so on the door wall to hang mops & brooms. (I think)