$150 Laundry Room Makeover

I’ve always said I want to make so much money that I never have to do laundry again. Not in the sense of hiring someone to do it for me either. I mean that I want to wear, donate and buy new. LOL

Small budget small laundry room makeover

I despise doing laundry. Always have, always will. My kiddos do their own, Mr. CG does his own and I do mine about 6 times a year. No lies.

I recently adopted the idea that if I have a Pinterest worthy laundry room then I might despise laundry a little less. You and I both know that’s a ridiculous idea, but I’m sticking to it.

My washer and dryer is housed in a closet size nook in a room that’s quite large. The problem is my husband had the idea of turning that room into an arcade before I had the idea of making my Pinterest worthy laundry room come to life.

I’ll show you a photo of “that” side in a bit. Meanwhile, I was so excited that I remembered to take photos before I got started because I always forget. When I was all finished with the project and ready to take photos I noticed I had the camera set to manual focus and I immediately remembered that I didn’t manually focus ANY of the before photos I got, so bear with me.

Manischewitz!

Here is the least blurry photo, and this is even trying to sharpen it in Lightroom. 

Small Laundry Room Budget Makeover BEFORE

You get the idea.

Mr. CG installed the drapes a while back to hide that area when him and his friends geek out in the arcade situated just on the other side of that before photo.

Shared laundry room and game room arcade

He loves it. It’s not my favorite. But after 20 years together we’ve mastered the art of compromise. His hobby is restoring arcade machines and my hobby is home décor and house projects. He keeps his arcade machines out of the main areas of the house and he doesn’t get too opinionated on how I decorate, so it works.

The other side of that compromise?

This. 

Small laundry room makeover with DIY platform pedestals

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I made my tiny laundry nook as stylish and functional as I could with a little elbow grease, paint and a lot of wood.

I saved these Ana White plans to my DIY board on Pinterest a while ago because we have wanted to build a platform to raise up the washer and dryer since we purchased them, but other projects (like my master bath remodel) took precedence.

DIY washer and dryer platform pedestal

As with most plans I use, I modified them. I didn’t want to move the cabinets so I didn’t have as much vertical room to work with as the plans suggested. I wanted a clean, built in type look anyway so I built a 14” platform and enclosed the front with a sheet of birch plywood and trim.

We’re tall people so it’s also nice not having to break our backs bending over to get everything out of the dryer. As you’ve seen, this room is filled with large machines that don’t leave a lot of space for laundry so a lot of bad words have been muttered from jamming a hip or elbow into the corner of an arcade machine. While that problem isn’t gone, maybe it won’t be as bad since we don’t have to do much bending now.

Painted cabinets in laundry room makeover

I also knew I wanted ample folding space because I’ve taught my boys to lay out and fold their laundry fresh from the dryer, so I installed another sheet of birch plywood on top of the washer and dryer that sit against the cabinet frame. I already got to use that space to fold a load of towels and I loooooooooved having the room!!

Typically when I paint cabinets I use Rustoleum’s Cabinet Transformations Kit, which is what I used in my Kitchen makeover, but I wanted these cabinets to be the same white that I was using on the rest of the area so I used Behr’s Premium Ultra White latex paint that we had on hand (which is also what I used on my recent fireplace update). One gallon completed the fireplace and this area.

This is the first time I’ve used latex paint on cabinets and I used the same prep method as I would have with the Rustoleum kit, which calls for their deglosser in lieu of sanding or priming. Once I deglossed them, I sprayed the doors outside and used a brush/roller for the cabinet frame.

I still have to seal them with my favorite sealer, but they should be fine once they are sealed as it’s not a super high traffic area like the kitchen. 

Small laundry room makeover decor

The best part is always decorating! Since this area is small I just shopped my house. The only money spent on décor was $3.70 at CVS to have those cute free laundry room printables printed that I found on Pinterest.

Since I used paint, décor and extra cabinet knobs that I had on hand, the total cost for the project came in at $150 for wood and trim. And anytime Mr. CG wants to have an arcade night he can just draw the drapes.

But I’m not even sure why he’d want to hide my masterpiece. ;)

Let me know if you have any questions in the comment section below and don’t forget to pin this idea to Pinterest for future reference!

XO,
Christina

Pinterest Image Small Laundry Room Makeover on a Budget

Comments

It turned out beautifully, Christina!

Thank you, Ashley!!

Christina- this is an amazing transformation. You nailed it girl!!!

A true compliment from the talented DIY queen herself. Thank you, Kristi!!

xoxo

What name brand and color are the walls? Also what paint finish did you use—--—semi gloss?

Hi Tammy, 

This is Creek Bend by Behr in Eggshell Enamel. :)

This is so adorable! What a great idea!

Thanks, Deanna!!

I loved reading this. What a great project. My washer and dryer are in a very similar space - it looks like a closet. You’ve inspiring me to give this a try.

Awesome, Cindy!! I hope we get to see it when you're done!!