Laundry Room, Er Closet, Mini-Makeover

Valerie Suell
by Valerie Suell
Hey everyone! This is my 1st project post, so please bear with me. K, now, we have a laundry room/closet in our kitchen. This is a rental, but, seriously, anything done in here couldn't possibly be deemed negative! Plus, lets face it. I have impeccable taste!.... And a little bit of an ego problem, lol. My biggest issue is the shelving. Or, in this case, lack of shelving. Also, no character. Below is a before pic.
That shelf is like 4" wide!
By the time I thought it through, I had re-built the whole house! So, back to the real world I crashed down. Went to Lowes to buy a couple pieces of wood and some brackets for shelves.
Makeshift saw horses, he he he
Once I spent about $30 on a few supplies, I came home to sand and paint. The wood was already pretty smooth so not much sanding was required. I gave each board, 2 coats each side of Valspar's Cathedral Stone (gray) paint. Inspiration came to me while painting so I decided to get a lil crafty too. I wanted to add some sort of decor and had never considered a laundry room to be a high priority decoratively speaking. Now laughing, I just HAD to come up with something really cool.
PAINT STIR STICKS!
I have a hoarding problem when it comes to paint stir sticks. No joke. I even have my hubby corrupted. He now grabs a handful whenever at Lowes or Home Depot, which is daily. I have been itching to do something with them.
I ended up making some really cute signs using some of my stash and a few other items I had on hand.
Kinda look like pallets?
1st I painted my paint stir sticks and some popsicle sticks I had on hand. Instead of the same gray as the shelves I added a small amount of white for a lighter shade. Once both sides of each were painted and dry, I hot glued the paint stir sticks together, and the popsicle sticks on them. The popsicle sticks weren't just used to give them a pallet type style. They also helped give some support to help hold the sign together. Oh, and, just a little reminder. Hot glue really is HOT! OMG, a few blisters proving this statement. 🔥😕
Moving on, I then found some chip board letters in my scrap booking stuff to use for the "sign" part of my signs. After using my trusty "Ok Google" to look up images of laundry signs, I found a few funny, a few witty, etc to choose from. Then I found "the one". It not only made me laugh, I totally can relate to it! So then my phrase was decided. "Laundry today or naked tomorrow" I also cracked up at one which was in the form of a note. It said "Put away your laundry or I'll punch you in the face. Love, Mom" Bwahahaha! Priceless!
Im in therapy for my ad
In between painting the shelves and working on my signs I worked on the laundry room walls. Removing screws, filling holes, a little scraping.....Then I painted the walls with some antique white I found in the garage. Also decided that all the rudimentary stuff necessary to this project kinda sucked eggs! Examples being: removing screws-aka-flat head screws. They should be against the law. Im not joking! Only phillips head screws should exist. Period. Another would be the task of taping off trim for painting. Yea, thats just boring. Necessary, but boring, lol.
So, to recap...shelves, paint, craft. All thats left are a few what-nots, reassembly, and reveal! I had a few things around I was able to incorporate into my decor to bring the room together.
So, I got everything painted, installed, and hung. I wasn't able to do what I had in mind with the little valance I had from the house we just sold, so I decided to cut it up...
I modge podged it with a few pics from google and framed them. I just used an old picture that no longer fit my decor for the backing and distressed the frame. Ta Da! My mini makeover.
FYI, don't stand on your dryer! Dent
Proud of my sign
Old picture
Above is the old picture I took apart and used for my modge podge art piece. And below is the valance I had hanging in the window of my laundry room in the house we just sold.
Valance I cut up
Thank you all for allowing me this sharing opportunity. Hopefully I wasn't too long winded, uh worded, lol. Whatever. My next project? Maybe my whiskey barrel table or a fairy garden. Ideas?
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  2 questions
  • Maria T Ford Maria T Ford on May 14, 2017

    Valerie , you are so funny. I love this post you did an awesome job with the laundry room and your post. Don't worry about what people say, keep on posting

  • Janine Smith Janine Smith on Jul 16, 2017

    Question I work at home depot and get the paint stick alot. How did but them together to make your sign?

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  • Tob19053559 Tob19053559 on Apr 12, 2018

    YES! PLEASE DO A FAIRY GARDEN!!!!

    • Valerie Suell Valerie Suell on Apr 13, 2018

      I have been collecting some items for a while now. My hubby wants me to do an Alice In Wonderland themed one. Thinking of incorporating an old wire spool I've had laying around. Something different for the cable spool catagory!

  • Linda Sturgill Linda Sturgill on Jan 18, 2019

    I love your post. You did a great job and you gave me some ideas for my project.

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