One Room Challenge: Week Six

Nuvole Storm wallpaper // wicker basket

We've reached the grand finale of the One Room Challenge, otherwise known as the big reveal, otherwise known as the best part!  As a quick review, I chose to zhush our laundry room-this is what it looked like six short weeks ago (this was the week 2, week 3 week 4 and week 5 progress) and today I'm so excited to show off the finished project-all beautifully photographed by Nicole Cohen.

In a perfect world, I'd have replaced the floors with a clean white penny tile, and maybe even spelled out "wash me" or something cute like that! I also would've had a counter top over the washer dryer and ideally cabinets that reached the ceiling...can you tell I spent too much time on Pinterest looking for inspiration and briefly lost my way? 

Once I stopped looking for inspiration and got down to the task at hand, my love for this large upstairs laundry room with tons of storage returned. The drab beige counters have been replaced with clean white Ceasarstone, the outdated faucet was replaced with this functional sprayer faucet and a clean and classic subway tile backsplash was added.

 rolling hamper // chair // wallpaper // baskets // towel

Stealing the show of course is the fabulous Cole and Sons Fornessti Nuvole Cloud wallpaper! I was a little concerned about all the deep angles in this narrow space but decided to channel my inner Lisa Rinna and just "own it, baby!" Bravo Real Housewives jokes aside, I'm really digging our laundry room now. It's so clean and inviting. 

 A big part of this project was just getting organized. Once I decided to fix up this space I knew I had to buckle down and stop using the laundry room as a catch all for miscellaneous odds and ends. Now, in addition to cleaning products and linens, the laundry room cabinets hold all our extra light bulbs and the drawers have everything needed for wrapping gifts. 

I moved some things around and then purchased these baskets to use on the open shelves (right after it was determined that having a carpenter come in and build cabinet doors was cost prohibitive) The baskets not only look pretty,  they completely hide the various sponges and cleaning rags inside.

 ironing board / towel / baskets / chair

faucet / wood hangers / turkish towels / soap set 

De-cluttering the laundry room and leaving the counters open and clean for folding laundry, wrapping gifts and even flower arranging is not only practical but gives the room a nice calm vibe. Which is ironic since the wallpaper is a cloud storm...

rolling hamper / wicker basket

A few final tips on laundry rooms in general. One of the reasons it was so costly to re tile the floor, was the built up area surrounding the washer and dryer. Even though I don't love the aesthetics of this, I do appreciate the practicality of it. Years ago we had a big leak with a washing machine at our old house. We quickly understood the value of having this type of built up lip to stop the water flow. Also, what you can't see in this photo is a little water sensor alarm on the floor near the washer- can't recommend this gadget enough. So, if you're thinking about re-doing or designing a laundry room my advice is to get the water sensors and build up something around the machine with tile as well. Those floor pans the dealers recommend don't always get the job done.

Also, going back to past issues with washers and dryers. We had a machine that was constantly breaking and needing repairs. This former washer (and dryer) had the counter built in above. But, since we also had that shallow tile wall built in to stop leaks, moving the washer out from under the built in was a big challenge. So, even though I love the look of a counter space above the appliances, I do appreciate how much easier it is to move the machines around in the event of an unforeseen issue. Had we gone ahead with a counter on top, I think I might've added a hinge to allow the whole thing to lift up.  Just another thing to consider if your designing a laundry room.

And, finally, the washer is closed here, but only because it looks better for the photos. The reality is that we leave that door open whenever the machine is not in use because that's the only way to make sure we never have a smelly mildew issue again. Live and learn- no one ever told me that and wish someone had!

So that's it! HUGE thanks to Linda of Calling It Home for including me and giving me the much needed motivation for getting this room done. If it weren't for this six week challenge, I'd still be looking at beige builder grade counters with a mismatched washer and dryer. 

See below for the links to all the other big reveals!

Claire Brody | The Curated House | Design Manifest | Driven by Decor | Honey We’re Home | Hunted Interior | The Makerista | Making it Lovely | My Sweet Savannah | Pencil and Paper Co. | The Pink Clutch | Simplified Bee | Sketch 42 | Jill Sorensen | Orlando Soria | Thou Swell | The Vault Files | Waiting on Martha | The Zhush | Media Partner House Beautiful | TM by CIH

*Special thanks to Decorator's Best, an official sponsor here for  providing ORC participants with a special discount .
**This post may contain affiliate links.