This year, we’re focused on all things home design. Our first renovation? Our primary home’s laundry room. Today, I’m excited to share our new design along with some laundry room ideas in case you’re planning to refresh your space.
Listen, a laundry room tends to be overlooked when it comes to style, look, and feel. But it’s also an important space – especially since spend a lot of time in it. Bob and I are constantly doing laundry (and we don’t have kids). In fact, it always seems like our dirty clothes pile always seems to add up too quickly.
Thankfully, more and more consumers are investing in stylish and chic laundry room spaces. As city dwellers, our laundry room is pretty small compared to sprawling spaces you find in the suburbs or other markets. But even with a small space, we wanted to take our bland room and transform it into something timeless.
What are the overlooked spaces in your home? After all, design projects often start with the largest and most impactful rooms. But what about the small corners that can also make a stylish statement? For us, it was our laundry room. Therefore, I wanted to dive in to share my experience and also some laundry room ideas.
Laundry Room Ideas
Hopefully these tips help you take your small rooms to the next level. After all, square footage doesn’t matter if you find ways to infuse the space with a healthy dose of style.
After buying our home many years ago, I was astounded by the square footage of the laundry room. Sure, we still need a stacked washer and dryer, but we had more room than our previous apartments.
Of all the rooms in our home, the laundry room became an afterthought. We started our redesign projects on the main level of our house (e.g., kitchen, powder room, and living room). Those rooms give the first impression to house guests. Very few, if any people will ever see our laundry room.
But thankfully, after our first floor was finished, we started eyeing other home projects. As such, we moved to our upstairs guest bedroom and laundry room.
Here’s the catch – the previous owner chose to paint it a lacquer navy blue. Why, oh why did they do that? Quite a choice, lol. Oh, and they space had this dreaded light fixture (seen here). UGH, I can’t stand that style, haha. In fact, we’ve changed three of them in our home to other fixtures. But more on that later!
The room gets a lot of natural light, but the darker paint made the room always feel dreary. Plus, you probably can’t see it in the photo, but the paint was SHINY. Listen, many people like lacquer paint. However, the navy blue lacquer style just didn’t work in this room (nor complement the other areas of our home).
MegMade
To start our complete makeover of the space, we tapped the brilliant team at MegMade to help us. To be transparent, Meg and Joe were friends first, and then we had the chance to work together for a short period for my full-time job. Since then, we’ve had the pleasure of spending more time with them as friends and also to work on this first project.
They were SO fast with the transformation, and we even did a fun video tutorial for their YouTube page (coming soon). Meg taught me how to apply wallpaper to the room, and it was easier than I thought. Granted, Meg and Joe are fantastic teachers!
If you’ve been looking for an interior design team, check out their services and site. They do projects nationwide, and truly incredible at what they do!
Wallpaper
Wallpaper is a fantastic way to add bold style to a small space. From placing it on the walls or even your ceiling (as seen in my closet), wallpaper just take things to the next level. In fact, I think 50% of our home is wallpapered with the exception of a few spaces.
But which style should you select? It’s a deeply personal choice, but start by narrowing down 6-8 selections and get small samples of each pattern and print. Once they arrive, use painters tape to place them on the wall. Live with the swatches for a few weeks and every time you walk into the room, ask yourself – which patterns sparks joy? Which colors feel like they liven up the space?
Other questions include what paint colors would pair well with the wallpaper? Keep in mind, you’ll likely want to repaint the ceiling and/or wall space if you do molding.
After living with the lacquer navy blue for years, we desperately wanted something brighter and lighter. After reviewing MegMade’s amazing selection of wallpaper, we opted for Thibault’s Hayworth Wallpaper in Sea Glass. I also loved the 30000W wallpaper and Jordan wallpaper in gold/white.
But ultimately, we chose Hayworth thanks to the unique pattern of the lines with the bright sea glass hue.
Laundry Room Ideas – Functional Shelving
Meg also suggested changing up the shelving in the space. Originally, the previous owner opted for a single Container Store Elfa shelf. Frankly, it didn’t give us a lot of space for storage of Tide laundry detergent (authentically a fan), bleach, Oxiclean, powder stain remover, etc.
Therefore, she recommended this white metal ladder shelf from Wayfair that costs under $120. We LOVE it. Easy to install, fits all of our essentials and then some.
Washer and Dryer
We also had the pleasure of working with GE Appliances to outfit our laundry room with a new system. Fashion and function are important to me, and I loved the options that GE had for us to review. The end, we chose to go with the GE® 4.8 cu. ft. Capacity Smart Front Load ENERGY STAR® Steam Washer and Smart Front Load Dryer.
Friends, I am obsessed with both. Listen, as someone who balances a full-time job and this blog, I’m always looking for ways to be more efficient in life. Time is money, and I love the fact these appliances go the extra mile for me.
First, both appliances come with WiFi powered by SmartHQ. Basically, you can start, stop, and monitor laundry from anywhere with real time updates. Love that. The GE Smart Front Load Washer is the first UltraFresh Vent System with OdorBlock which eliminates excess moisture. As such, it helps prevent odors to keep your washer clean and fabulous. Another aspect I love? It has an intelligent dispenser that holds up to 32 loads of detergent and automatically dispenses the right amount each time.
The GE Smart Front Load Dryer also quickly dries items, sterilizes apparel, reduces static, prevents wrinkles, and even has a Dampe Alert which tells you when delicate clothes reach the ideal dampness level for ironing or final air drying. C’mon!
If you’ve been on the hunt for new appliances, I highly recommend going with GE Appliances. You won’t be disappointed.
Light Fixture
While our home has decently high ceilings, we chose to go with a flush mount fixture since we needed to stack our GE Smart Front Load Washer and Dryer. In collaboration with Capitol Lighting and Crystorama Broche Semi Flush Mount in white. Gah! I love this floral light fixture.
It’s the perfect blend of a slightly feminine feel and sleek modern design. Also, the price is fantastic (only $500).
I love the way it adds dimension and texture to the space. Originally, we thought about painting the ceiling, but I like the way the light blends into the white paint.
Rug
Instead of changing out the tile, we chose to include a small rug from Dash & Albert from Annie Selke. I adore Annie Selke’s brand and offerings. Whether you’re seeking something more bold and colorful or more neutral styles, there’s truly something for everyone. Plus, the quality, durability, and caliber of the products are just incredible.
Specifically, we chose the Diamond Platinum rug (2×3). In addition to the beautiful design, I love the fact it’s fade resistant, washable, bleachable, the list goes on and on. In fact, we love this style and brand so much that we’ll be using the Diamond Platinum rugs for a stair runner (more coming on that project soon!).
Accessories
One of the best lessons we’ve learned from our interior designers, including MegMade and Amelia Canham Eaton, is to accessorize. Moreover, they’ve taught us to change up the materials and textures to add visual interest to the space – think bronze, metallics, pottery, marble, woven fabrics, etc.
Accessories are always a great way to add a big dash of style to a space. As such, we added some small accessories to the shelf to add more warmth and texture to the space. First, we headed to MegMade’s store to buy this ceramic pot and bea metal bunny. We also went to Target to get some faux greenery to enliven the room, including this faux terrarium and faux leaf arrangement.
I especially love these baskets, which store all of our laundry room essentials.
Laundry Room Ideas – In Closing
What room in your home are you planning to refresh next? Drop a comment below and let me know! Also, please share any of your favorite tips and tricks for laundry room spaces.
