You'd think after the disastrous shower pan re-do that we would never tackle another home remodel project again. That's what you'd think. (That's what I thought).... Silly rabbit.
Turns out that, after the bathroom re-do, both the kitchen and laundry room were a mess. Awash, if you will, with all of my tools and detritus from the shower pan project.
Thinking that the laundry room would be a nice, easy, contained space to revamp. I set my sights on it. I mean the room is only 81 inches square— bigger than the shower enclosure, but I wouldn't be tearing up the floor (or tiling) this time, so... easy peasy! (right?)
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The Catch-All Utility Room
Before, my laundry room was a dumping ground. In a slightly-smaller-than-45-square-foot space, it had to work as a:
- Laundry Room, housing the washer & dryer, laundry detergents, et al.
- Place for our stand-up freezer
- Utility room, housing the water heater and the circuit breaker
- Place for tool storage
- Spot for cat litter box
- Catch-all—for all the other extra junk we couldn't fit elsewhere
This is what it looked like (forgive the poorly stitched together panorama & the fact that I forgot to take a picture before I dove in and started clearing the shelves):
So, yeah, stuff is literally piled everywhere (including on the floor).
And, at some point, the former owner had some hellacious detergent explosion, because the walls (plural) and floor were covered with stains and drips. The walls are a light purple & everywhere the detergent hit, it's pink. Yeah, good times.
I need this small space to pack some heavy duty storage without breaking the bank.
The Goals
- More efficient shelf storage
- A safer, less cluttered, and generally better system for storing my tools
- A better way to contain the things that I use but are perceived as clutter (like the attachments to my steam mop)
The Budget
Ideally I'd like to get this done for zero dollars, but given the lack of workable materials on hand, I'd really like to get it done for less than $250.
Where to Start
Because it's a small space, and I have a penchant for hurting my back, I decided to pretty much leave the washer & dryer in place and just work around them as best I could.
Step 1: Clear Out the Clutter. The first thing I did was to clear out all the piles of stuff and take down the wire shelving. This meant, for several days, there were plastic tubs filled with "stuff" stacked in our kitchen.
Step 2: Remove Stuff From the Walls, Clean, and Patch. All of the pink spots on the wall still had a layer of detergent on them, so this took longer than I liked.
Step 3: Tape and Paint. While the walls were drying (from where I scrubbed the detergent off), I visited Lowe's "used paint" section. I always check here first for deals.
Of course, this time I didn't find any gems on that shelf, but did discover that one of their Olympic lines of paint was on clearance for $10 / gallon. I found a color I liked, and bought it. I also bought a few tester pots of lighter grey paint on sale for $2(ish) each.
I decided to go with a darker accent wall, and use the lighter grey for the other three walls. I used a roller with an extension handle to paint behind the washer & dryer (although when we eventually move, I'll have to repaint that section—or just leave the washer and dryer for the next folks).
The back wall is painted Regatta Bay by Olympic, and the other walls are painted a light grey, called Gravity (also by Olympic). Amazingly, the laundry room is so small, that it only took 2 1/2 tester pots to paint the other three walls.
Step 4: Prepare Walls to Hang Cabinet. I marked my studs with light adhesion Frog tape (so it wouldn't pull any paint off when removed), and put up a piece of quarter round ledge to help me while hanging the cabinet.
The cabinet was so heavy that I had to remove the door before lifting it in place. I used the quarter round ledge to help keep it up while I drilled screws through the back into the studs. Once that was done and the cabinet was secure, I put the door back on.
I have to be honest with you, I had to take a break after that because my arms were like rubber.
Step 5: Putting Up the Shelves. Then it was time to start getting the shelves up. I'd originally thought that I'd just go all utilitarian and put up white melamine shelves to match the cabinet, but opted for solid wood instead.
I chose cedar over pine, because I liked the look, but I probably could've cut costs a little by making the shelf bottoms out of pine, and the shelf fronts out of cedar. Live and learn.
I started by putting up the bottom shelf so it would line up with the bottom of the cabinet. I screwed 1x2 supports into the side of the cabinet, the back wall, and the side wall. Then fit the shelf over the supports. Again, I discovered that the wall was not completely flat, so I had to do a little shimming to make sure the face of the shelf fit snuggly behind the cabinet face frame.
Once the three shelves were up on one side, I moved over to the other side and got those installed.
I also put in a shelf over the back of the washer & dryer, to both utilize that space, and (hopefully) prevent anything else from falling behind the machines.
That shelf alone, was a godsend—although admittedly a bit of a pain to put in, as I'd decided not to pull out the washer and dryer. So I mounted 6 inch "L" brackets to a 1x8 pine board and screwed that board into the studs. I then put the 1x8 cedar shelf over the brackets and screwed it into the pine board (from the top) to secure it.
In addition to that, I had the brilliant idea of buying a retractable valet rod and installing that (through a hole) to the underside of the middle shelf—making it easy to pull out and hang clothes that need to be air dried.
Here's a better view of that valet rod (and the underside of the shelves). To make the shelves the right depth, I had to glue & screw two pieces of the cedar together, using a Kreg pocket screw jig:
Along with the shelves, I also put up a new, framed peg board for (some of) my tools. This is a stop-gap measure until I can figure out a better system—but that's a project for another time.
Oh, AND, I found a $1 can of Rustoleum white enamel spray paint, so I painted over that ugly looking rust stain on the dryer:
(Looks like I need to touch up a few more spots, but voila! the rust is gone!)
Step 6: Utilize Space Behind the Door for Tool Storage. There was only about a 4 inch gap behind the laundry room door, but that was enough to build a low profile shelf and a small pegboard cabinet.
For both projects, I used materials I already had on hand.
For the pegboard cabinet, I made two frames and inserted (& secured) the pegboard in each of them. They're built with a 1x2 pine frame, the left-over quarter round, and pieces of pegboard cut down from a larger scrap piece. It's hinged on one side with a scrap piece of piano hinge (that I also had to cut down). Initially, I wanted it to have a magnet closure. However, I found out when I mounted it to my wall, that the wall wasn't perfectly smooth, so I had to dig through my hardware to find a small hook-clasp to use instead.
I sized it to match the height of window frame (mainly because that's how much scrap 1x2 I had). The frames are put together with wood glue and pocket screws.
Below the circuit breaker box and my pegboard cabinet, I built a simple 1x4 shelf to keep my drills, batteries, and cans of spray paint, etc. Again, I used scrap wood I had on hand.
When the door is open, which is all of the time, this is out of sight.
I also bought adhesive hangers for my mop and broom & hung them on the back of the door to get them out of the way. (They were on clearance at Home Depot, so I got 3 for 99¢!)
Cost Breakdown:
- 1 gallon Olympic paint (on clearance): $11
- 3 tester pots of Gravity (grey): $8
- Wood for cedar shelves (4-1x4x8 + 3-1x8x8): $70
- Quarter round (8 ft): $5 — I thought I'd need this to cover gaps, but I didn't really end up using it.
- 2-1x2x8 pine (for large peg board frame): $4
- 3-1x2x8 furring strips: $4
- 5- 6 inch "L" brackets: $19
- 100 ct. 1 inch pocket screws: $4
- Retractable valet rod: $18
- 4 new baskets (top shelf): $44
- 1 new hanging hamper: $11
- 1 can Rustoleum white enamel spray paint: $1
- 3 Broom hangers $1
Total: $200 (+ tax)
Reused or already had:
- Center white cabinet
- Peg board and hardware
- 1x8 Pine batten board (supporting 'L' brackets)
- Scrap 1x2 (for the pegboard cabinet)
- Cabinet door clasp (for the pegboard cabinet)
- Scrap 1x4 (for the behind-the-door shelf)
- Wood glue
- Kreg jig
- Clamps
- Drill
- Sander & sanding pads
- Paint brushes & rollers
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