Low-Cost Redo

Before

Redecorating does not have to be expensive. My laundry room re-do took very little more than fresh paint...and had quite an impact! First, the wallpaper was removed. From the photo, it appears there is only a border...that's what my husband and I originally thought. Once we started removing it we realized there was wallpaper on all the walls...it was just disguised by paint. What a disappointment, now we knew the job would take at least an extra day to remove the wallpaper. (We didn't want to just paint over it because when you paint wallpaper the seams are likely to show.) So, we moved forward full speed ahead knowing that removing the wallpaper was going to be twice as difficult. Thank goodness for the wonderful inventions of the steamer and the piranha (a tool you use to score the wall, allowing water/steam to get under the wallpaper, loosening it so you can scrape it off) -- these tools made the job a little less laborious.

Once we conquered the wallpaper, we painted the doors and moldings. Finally, it was time to paint the walls! I chose to use leftover green and turquiose paint from my master bedroom and family room. I wanted to do something fun since doing laundry isn't typically something we look forward to. I figured the bright colors and stripes would do just that.  Since the room is relatively small, I decided to do two walls in stripes and the others solid. This saved quite a bit of time and helped break things up a bit.

After

Another money-saving and environmentally conscious feature is the shelf over the washer/dryer. Since we had just replaced all the doors in our house we had a plain closet door just sitting around. I thought it was the perfect option for a shelf. I painted it white and purchased the brackets and rod at a home-improvement store. Now we have a place to hang laundry to dry and a shelf to display baskets and accessories!

Lastly, I accessorized with my mini washboard (shown in the "after" photo above), 3 decorative heat vent covers, and curtains. I  picked up the washboard several years ago at an antique store; found the vent covers recently at an antique sale; and made the cafe curtains from fabric I purchased at a craft store.

Inspired...

I found inspiration for this project while searching Etsy -- a site I browse often because of it's wonderful treasures. One day I saw a beautiful turquoise painted china cabinet with fabric on the inside back panel -- it was georgeous! You could tell the cabinet was an older piece, however it was given a modern look with paint and fabric. As I looked at it in awe, I thought, I can do something like that. The next few weeks I "stalked" Craigslist, watching for just the right cabinet to fit in my kitchen. Then one day the cabinet pictured here came up. I couldn't believe it because it looked nearly identical to my inspiration piece (without the cool paint job and fabric, of course.) To top it off...it was only $50! Needlesstosay, I was sold!

Once we got the treasure home, my husband and I started the project by removing the doors, hardware, glass and back panel from the cabinet. Then, I lightly sanded everything using a palm sander and a little elbow grease. My husband also put his carpentry skills to work by adding a wine rack inside. To do this, he removed the shelf inside and cut it. He also installed a divider between the wine rack area and the remainder of the inside so he could reinstall the shelf and use it to stabilize the wine rack. Then we purchased 4" PVC pipes to make the wine rack. They were cut to size and painted with Krylon Fusion plastic spray paint. Finally, we glued the pipes together and secured them inside the cabinet.

Although I loved the turquoise paint on the inspiration piece, the color combination didn't coordinate with the decor in my kitchen. So, I decided on a neutral satin black paint and fabric to coordinate with my window treatments, area rugs, and barstool seats.