DIY Diary: Including Closing Touches and Making ready for Set up

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Hi, I’m digital design writer Zoë Sessums. Follow along each week as I try my hand at a DIY project in and around my house. I’ll cover the inspiration, expert advice, and step-by-step plans of everything from challenging builds to simple renovations. This month’s undertaking: A laundry room makeover!

After gathering all my inspo imagery and chatting with an organizational pro, I was finally ready to prepare my laundry room for the big moment: The new washer and dryer install. As with all other home improvement projects, it’s always ideal to get the renovation site as stripped down as possible before making the final upgrades. This meant removing the old washer and dryer, taking down the shelving, removing stray nails, and sanding bumps in the walls. I also took inventory of all the stuff in the room (taking out items that I realized didn’t need to be in the space) and purchased a variety of containers to keep things functional and highly organized. Each step of the way made the room primed and ready for my new LG WashTower, so that once the washer went in, the final touches would be a breeze.

Invest in storage

Since my laundry room also serves as a pantry and linen closet, there are a lot of odds and ends coexisting together. Maximizing the storage element was one of the main components of the project. When I spoke to organizer Shira Gill, she helped emphasize the point that my bags of chips and piles of pillowcases need some structure if I wanted to improve my experience of the space. It ended up being quite fun to stock up on a bunch of new bins and baskets to corral my snacks and soaps—such a simple upgrade makes a huge difference.

I decided to combine old and new shelves in the room, which relates to the mix-and-match decor in the rest of the house. Think: White and wood, modern and vintage. Repurposing pieces from other parts of the home helped make the renovation a little more economical. Where I splurged on new containers, I saved by revitalizing old bookcases.

Add some pizzazz

One of the main takeaways from searching for inspiration images was that I wanted my laundry room to be a big pop of fun when I opened the door. The rest of my house is painted white and full of soothing natural materials, but this small room could benefit from an unexpected dose of color. It’s easy to experiment with color and pattern in a small space since you don’t have to buy as much paint or wallpaper, and in my case, the laundry room is only really visible if you’re doing a load of laundry or grabbing a can of tomatoes. So I was able to get a little more experimental in my design decisions. 

After visiting some relatives in Canada’s Prince Edward Island that live in an incredibly beautiful farmhouse, I couldn’t stop thinking about the lovely green color I saw in their bathroom. Green never seems like a bad idea, so I went to Lowe’s to pick out a shade inspired by the Farrow & Ball Sap Green I had been pining over for the grand statement. Once I had the paint in the room, it felt like the whole DIY project jumped up a notch!

Check in soon for the shopping list and the final project reveal.