Before & After: My Laundry Room Makeover! ...and some other stuff.

Our laundry room was in sad sad shape.  It was just plain white and just plain boring.  Honestly, I hated being in there and since laundry has to be done, I decided I needed to make the space a little happier.  It is also the first room you see if entering the house from the garage...definitely time for a makeover, since first impressions are so important.  

Here are the depressing before shots:

Pretty dreadful, right?  Now for the after shots:

A few details:
1.  Paint:  Naturalist Gray, by The Freshaire choice (a Glidden brand) in semi-gloss (on sale for $14/gallon).
I agonized over painting the ceiling the same color.  After reading this article,  Why do Americans have a fascination with white ceilings?,
I was finally not feeling like I had to have a white ceiling.  I admit to doing it partly because it was so much easier, but also because I thought it would look great.  I am happy with the results.
2.  Rug:  HomeGoods $20  I needed a punch of color and also something to prevent our dog from ice skating out to the garage when we leave the house because he is deathly afraid of the vacuum.  It is a little more hidden now, but he knows it is there.  This rug makes his exit better for everyone.
3.  I added a hook (an extra one we have had for years from Pottery Barn) for his leash.  For some reason we never had a real home for it and always had to go on a hunt for it.  Now it has it's own place.
4.  The mirror by the door:  We have two.  One is here and the other one I decided to put in here with magnets for last minute messages I might need before running out.  Also not a bad idea to check your face before leaving the house.  :P
5.  The photos are from my son's first birthday photo shoot with my friend, Adrian of Canyon Photography.  Looking at his sweet face makes laundry a bit easier.
6.  Doesn't  everyone have a bowl of fake oranges in their laundry room?  ;)

It's really nothing spectacular, but I can honestly say I now love being in there and love leaving the laundry door open.  My son loves it too and likes to bring in a stack of books to look through on the rug, while I fold clothes.  :)

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When my husband goes out of town, I usually spend the time doing home projects.  While on his trip to New Orleans, I did this laundry room makeover.  He had to go out of town again the following weekend and this time, had he been spying on me, he would have thought I was a complete crazy person.  Each night after my son went to bed, I fluttered around the house re-arranging accessories, mentally making over rooms, enlarging a photo of a pillow I have fallen in love with and then placing the laptop on my bed to visualize what it will look like, since I have no desire to ever learn how to use Photoshop.  I watched all of my ridiculous, trashy tv and looked through countless magazines and catalogs, all while wearing a mud mask and giving my hair a deep conditioning treatment.  I also ate Indian food (which he doesn't really like) and wine one night, banana pancakes and wine the next night, and a sleeve of Thin Mints and wine for dinner the last night!  That bottle of wine (which he really would have hated) only cost $3.99, so I felt completely justified in purchasing that pillow I mentioned above.  I will share more about that next week.  :)

My son and I also tried getting photos of ourselves to send him while he was away.  Using a camera timer with a toddler is tricky, but we did manage to get these shots:

I hope you had a wonderful weekend and have a great week!