Laundry Room Re-Do

I have always dreamed of having a gorgeous mudroom.  A room with a bench for taking off shoes and pretty baskets for storing all of life's odds and ends. A place where we could showcase some one of a kind art and a place to check our "look" before heading out into the world.  So when we ended up with quite a bit of molding left over from our basement project, we decided to turn our laundry room into the mudroom we've always wanted.

I have seen so many great mudrooms floating around out there in blog land, but our space is a bit unique.  The room is quite small and with the positioning of the washer and dryer, we only had one wall to work with.  We used to have a bench in this space with baskets underneath for storing shoes and a peg rack over top for hanging backpacks and coats. The problem with this set up was, the bench took up a lot of room, we had no storage for hats, scarves and gloves and the pegs did not hold a backpack and coat very well at all.  (sorry no before shots!)

Since our space was a bit unique, we had to make custom plans.  {we did visit Ana-White.com , formerly Knock-Off Wood, for some great inspiration though} Dave started by making the bench out of MDF. We knew we wanted it to be narrow so it wouldn't take up much space in the room and we needed 8 cubbies...a space for shoes and a space for  baskets to hold hats, scarves and mittens.  {The only shoes that actually come into the mudroom are the girls school shoes and church shoes. We keep their flip-flops, Crocs and soccer shoes in the garage.}  After the bench was primed and painted we did the same to the wall and all of the molding pieces.  

I only had one tiny before shot of the backpacks hanging on the pegs.

Next, we added the hooks and baskets.

Ta-Da!!

It's actually quite difficult to take good pictures of a teeny tiny laundry room. :) It was tough to get a good angle and to see the whole space at once.  Don't Jen's baskets fit perfectly??:)  I can't decide about the carpet.  It was a really inexpensive one from Target.  I think in a way it grounds the space... but still deciding on that one.   When hanging the hooks we made sure to measure the longest winter coat in the house (mine) to make sure it would clear the bench.  The girls can reach the hooks quite easily by just putting one knee up on the bench.  

My future plans are to frame some of their art work, or  maybe even have them paint a self-portrait on a canvas to prop up over their area.  I would also love to find a cool mirror for the small wall on the other side of the built-in area.

I couldn't be happier with the way this project came out.  Since we had so many materials left-over, it really was quite inexpensive to complete.  I think my poor sweet honey is a bit "projected" out bless his heart!  I have promised  this is the end of our adventures... till winter...when things slow down a bit. :)  Now that he has mastered his carpentry skills, I think we are ready for some big time shelves and bookcases in the basement.  What do ya think??  

Enjoy the day,

Cindy

Disclaimer

I used the word "we" a lot...it was 95% my wonderful husband who completed this project.  I was just there to keep the girls happy, slop on some paint, wipe some caulking and tell if the hooks were level. :)  

Thanks again baby...I love you!