Laundry Room: Let's Get Started

We got a good start on the Laundry Room yesterday. I took "before" pictures but have to figure out how to upload them...that's what teenagers are for....but of course I will have to wait till sometime this afternoon when then get their behinds out of bed to ask for help. Trust me, until I post them, it's an ugly room and the re-do is long over due. This photo at the right is my inspiration and what I hope I can come close to accomplishing. There are more beautiful photos to check out at at the website I have highlighted below. We cleared most of the clutter out and cleaned up the lint. My God the lint! It was everywhere. My husband and I hit Home Depot and picked up the paint. It is made by Behr and the color name is "Grasscloth". And I found some very nice oiled bronze door knobs for the cabinets and switch plate and plug covers.

Inspiration hit me as I was staring into my Laundry Room abyss right before I convinced my husband that we had some shopping to do. I have always wanted a place to keep my favorite cookbooks handy. So I thought what if we took the doors off of the middle set of cabinets? Could we do that and not tear them up in the process? Yes! We borrowed a reciprocating saw from a friend and between the screw driver and that saw, my husband was able to remove them with minimal damage. So now we will have two cabinet on each side with the center open with two shelves. A little bit of putty to fill in the holes and a bit of touch up paint is all I need.

Next stop was Lowe's for the moulding for the cabinet doors and a Mitre box. Who knew a Mitre box could be so fun and so easy?!! We came out with three pieces of narrow trim moulding with the plan to paint them white, cut them to frame the inside of each cabinet door, and attach them with "Liquid Nails". We got the pieces cut but need to go back and get two more pieces to finish the cabinet doors under the sink. I sanded the ends before I went to bed last night. Hopefully I can get them painted later today and then start painting the walls.

If you look at the photos of the room that has inspired me at this link: http://southernhospitality-rhoda.blogspot.com/2008/07/happy-green-laundry-room.html you will see a beautiful black and white floor. I want this floor. Rhoda the decorator who designed this room and shared her photos did it with peel and stick vinyl tiles and put it right over top of her existing vinyl. We shopped at both Home Depot and Lowe's yesterday and neither one had black or white tiles! Seems like such a basic product to have on hand. So anyway, the floor will take a bit more effort but in the meantime we have plenty to keep us busy.