Spin Spin Sugar

The Sneaker Pimps are pretty much the soundtrack to me doing laundry.  Every time I look at the spin cycle on the dial, I can't help but bust out some awesome 90's club music

                             

As we were painting the kitchen, we decided to just go ahead and paint the mudroom the same color as well.  The mudroom is an addition right off the rear of the house, and can be clearly seen as you walk into the kitchen.  I really just wanted all of that hideous green gone from my life.

The only 'before' picture I have of this space is on our House Tour page, and it was before we picked up our washer and dry, but let me paint you a visual of this room:  there is a washer.  and a dryer.  And a bunch of shit (cleaning supplies, paper towels, trash bags) shoved between the wall and the washer.  Since it is the main thoroughfare to the backyard, I needed that stuff hidden.

We desperately needed more storage in this room, and I had this great idea of using Billy bookshelves on either side for storage with a shelf above.  I even spent time mocking something up in Photoshop to aid in my presentation

When I presented my idea, JEGs was all "We can't do that" and I was all "Says you, dream killer" and he was all "No, seriously, we can't do that.  The floors are so uneven that the bookshelves would tip in".

 ..and I was all "Dammit, we can't do that".

We decided that no matter what, we needed to level out the washer and dryer.  The center of the mudroom its its lowest point, so anytime I opened the dryer door, it would swing closed again.  It damn near gave me fits everytime I had to flip the laundry.  In order to level the washer and dryer, JEGs  had to adjust the four feet on the bottoms of the units.   He did that by simply screwing the feet to their highest point, and adjusting them from there until they were all level

 Since the feet are hard plastic and the tile is slippery, he cut out non-skid padding so that the dryer wouldn't walk with a heavy load in it. 

JEGs agreed that we needed to add some sort of storage in this room, so he made his own mock up.




..have I ever mentioned he is a draftsmen by trade?  Yeah.  A little nicer then my shoddy Photoshop picture.

Anyway, so JEGs sends me this picture and after some consideration, we decide that it would probably be better to have the lower cabinet between the washer and dryer.  Since we can't just verbally agree on something, JEGs made another mock up.

Show off.

We started stalking Craigslist and found some amazing deals.  First off, we got a bottom cabinet for $10 (similar new ones from Lowes are nearly $175!)  It was so cheap because it didn't have a top, and it didn't have any hardware, but we knew we could easily fix that.

                                    
We stopped at IKEA and looked around in the old faithful AS IS section and found a piece of wood that fit the width of the cabinet perfectly for $2.99.  It was too long, but we figured that the leftovers could be for the shelf next to the upper cabinets in the mock up.  Knowing there would be an unfinished edge after JEGs made the cuts, I snagged a sample size of Valspar's Dove White (an almost identical match to IKEA white) for any touch ups needed.

I desperately wanted upper cabinets that matched the beveled look of the bottom cabinet, but we couldn't find any that were A. affordable, or B. wasn't an entire kitchen set.  JEGs found a set on Craigslist for $45 that matched our needs perfectly, but were flat paneled.  I fought him hardcore because I didn't think they were pretty enough.

Yes, I am that vain.  I will balk at cabinets that are not pretty enough.

I eventually came to my senses and JEGs snagged them.

When it all came together, this is what we had:

You may notice there is an extra shelf above the washer and dryer that was not in the original plan.  This is because as JEGs was bringing the top to the lower cabinet up from the basement, he dropped it and it split.  So another run to the IKEA as is section and another $2.99, we had a new top and extra shelving to play with.  That, my friends, is lemonade from lemons.

JEGs was able to notch in the shelf so it sat flush with the wall and the window sill, and the cabinet didn't over hang-- unlike my brilliant Billy Bookshelf idea would have.

The shelf next to the upper cabinets holds laundry detergent, bleach and the basket holds all our winter gear (hats, gloves, scarves, etc).  Since we don't have a coat closet in the house, the hanging bar is a perfect place to hang our coats and store Hunter's stroller below.

                         
I would like to get some sort of hook to hang the ironing board and iron on the wall, but it just has happened yet.  Eventually.

The frame is hiding the washer and dryer hook ups because I thought they were ugly.  I haven't set on what I'm going to put in there yet, but I promise it won't be sideways ballerinas.  It will be something a little more laundry appropriate.

Remember all that shit that I said was sitting on the floor between the washer and the wall?  Well now it is stored away in cabinets.  And I love it.

In an attempt to bring the two set together (and to make the cabinets seems less garage-like), we replaced the hardware with 3 inch satin nickle pulls and the matching knob.

Total cost breakdown:
Wall paint-  Free (already had)
Curtains-  free (made from fabric I already had)
Shelving paint- $3
Upper cabinets- $45
Lower cabinets-$10
Selving- $6.33
Brackets (for shelves)- $3.88
Hanging bar- $8.98
Hardware- $12.82

Total: $90.01

For under $100 we transformed that horrid green box of hot mess, into a tidy and pretty laundry room that I am not ashamed to have people walk through.

Always & Forever,
  ME