Laundry Closet Makeover (My Favorite “Room” in the House)

As all makeovers do, let’s start with the “before”. When we moved into Hailey Home 2 years ago, the first thing we did was replace all the appliances, including the washer and dryers. All the units were 13 years old and I wanted a front loader after years of rental top loaders ripping my clothes. What we didn’t realize is that the extra little front bulge of the front loaders meant that the doors of this former laundry closet could no longer close. AWESOME. Thankfully this turned out to be a blessing in disguise because after removing the doors it pushed me to design the space into something I would actually enjoy looking at every night when we prep dinner. (the laundry closet is in our kitchen, you can see the edge of our island in the “After” image.)

The Plan
1. Folding countertop. No more socks dropping between the units, no more folding on the kitchen island. A real, dedicated space so we have no excuses to avoid folding.

2. Cover the water lines without losing access. There’s a paint sample covering it up in the before shot, but imagine a big ole black hole and a lovely pipe sticking over the dryer.

3. Goodbye, wire shelf. It was convenient for hanging, but putting in a wood shelf is easy and looks so much better.

4. Storage but make it pretty. If I need to look at this every day, I wanted it to be modern and neutral (but not boring) without sacrificing functionality.

I’ll break out the specific materials per piece but putting the core tool list here for a more accurate cost. Any repeat materials (like paint, sealer, etc.) will be counted in the section they first appear but won’t be double-counted. If that doesn’t make sense, the total cost and time will be near the end. The estimated times could be cut down if you have the space to tackle multiple parts simultaneously. We only had our small back patio which made this drag out for 2 months.

Tools
stud finder
laser level
circular saw
jigsaw
clothes iron

Folding Countertop
2, 1″ 4×8 plywood sheets
1, 2″x4″x10′ lumber
wood glue
wood screws
edge banding
paint + paint supplies

Estimated Cost: $155
Estimated Time: 2 days (including dry time)

Let’s get right into the meat of this. The bane of my existence. Well, not the countertop, but whoever built our home. If you’ve been following my Stories, you already know none of the walls in this closet are plumb. There are no 90 degree angles; every dimension from top to bottom, left to right are different. Imagine a rectangular prism that’s been slightly twisted and thinned towards the top. That’s our closet shape.

All that said, the actual construction was pretty easy. We first drilled the 2″x4″ support braces straight into the studs along each side of the closet. A laser level will make getting those up a breeze. Make sure you measure so that your countertop sits at least 1 inch about your washer and dryer! Your washer and dryer move when running, so you want to make sure there is no top pressure.

With the framing in place, we glued and clamped the two pieces of plywood and let dry. Following Vintage Revivals’s lead, we saved money by layering a more finished piece over a cheaper piece since you’ll only see the top anyway. Then we took the wonky measurements of the closet, mapped it out on the wood, and cut. And then trimmed the sides because the true width wouldn’t fit in the top part of the closet for the drop in. (In the unlikely event your closet is as messed up as ours, you can either pop the trimmed pieces in the gaps after the main piece is in place, or you can ignore it! The braces won’t let any clothes slip through and I honestly don’t notice the gaps since painting the pattern on the ledge shelf👍)

Since this is a closet, we were going to have to drop the countertop in. Cue the jigsaw. We used a jigsaw to cut out reliefs for the water line box and return pipe. We could have attempted to move the water lines, but from my research, it’s not recommended to drop the waterlines below counter height for front loaders. To finish it off, I ironed on plywood edging to match the shelves.

So why use a finished plywood piece if I was just going to paint it? Well, The original plan was to keep the wood natural, but I didn’t realize I had grabbed oak instead of pine. The color was so radically different than the ledge shelf and wall shelf I had to pick which to paint. Another accidental blessing though because our island has a wood top and once we tested the piece in the space, it was way too much wood. I just used leftover wall paint, Floetrol to eliminate bubbles (essential for large pieces!), and a foam roller for 3 coats, making sure to sand in between. It’s held up beautifully and if there’s a scuff, it comes right out with a magic eraser.

Hiding Waterlines with a Functional Ledge Shelf
1, 4’x8′ finished plywood (use this for the ledge shelf and wall shelf)
1, 2″x4″x10′ lumber
1, 3/8″ dowel
wood glue
edge banding
pre-stain wood conditioner
white stain
water-based poly coat (satin finish)
high flow acrylic paint
size 20 paintbrush
paint + paint supplies

Estimated Cost: $150
Estimated Time: 3 days (including dry time)

Ok, that was a lot for something as simple as a glorified board. Luckily the ledge shelf gave us much less trouble.
Similarly to the countertop, install your support braces. I like doing this first so you can adjust the height of your shelf ledge before cutting.

Cut your 2 main pieces the length of your closet. I knew I wanted the height to cover the water lines with an inch breathing room and enough depth to fit our detergent bottle plus a little lip.

To attach the 2 pieces, we used the dowel joinery method and reinforced with wood glue. Wood glue alone is not strong enough to support weight. We went the cheap route and just hand drilled the holes. It worked fabulously. No drill press needed! Let dry completely.

For the top part of the ledge, I edge banded and used the faux white oak method from our DIY floating shelf. Almost any finish type will work except matte. Matte is much harder to clean and detergent could stain a matte finish. Once that was set, I taped it off and painted the bottom white with the same process I used for the countertop. Once that was dry as well, we lowered it into place. Now we could have screwed the ledge shelf into the brackets, but it’s pretty secure without it. 3 months of use and it hasn’t budged at all. We also wanted to make sure that if there ever was an emergency with the water line we could quickly pop the shelf off without having to frantically unscrew.

With the ledge shelf in place, it was detail time! I’ve been inspired by line patterns and originally thought I’d use wallpaper. Ultimately it seemed wasteful since rolls only come in big widths. I loved the effect and cost-friendliness of painted brushstrokes in the powder bathroom, so I decided to paint again. Use a GIANT brush and high flow acrylic paint for a beautifully saturated, flowy black. You could paint it before installing (that’s probably easier) but I liked seeing how the pattern worked in the space. If you decide you don’t like it, its just paint! Go over spots with your base color. I definitely touched up places that looked too thick. Just be sure to blend out paint lines.

Easy Wood Shelves
finished plywood
brackets
wall anchors

Estimated Cost: $35
Estimated Time: 2 days (including dry time)

The easiest DIY of this whole project. I cut a piece to match the depth of the brackets and length of the closet, used the faux white oak treatment, and installed. The only slight hiccup was only one of the brackets aligned with a stud (this closet cannot have been built to code…). It’s an easy fix with wall anchors and we can load up to 75 lbs up there now!

Beautiful Storage and Hidden Clothesline

Now the fun part! I love incorporating functional and beautiful ways of keeping our essentials close by. I shopped our house to keep the budget low and minimize leaving the house. #flattenthecurve. When we had the wire shelf and space on the side of the washer, we could easily hang clothes to dry. To get the same effect, I was going to use a bracket with a clothing rod but discovered that to have the shelf at reachable height, the clothing rod would be too low to be useful. So we installed this retractable clothesline just inside the closet doorway instead. I LOVE this thing. The directions barely made sense, but once it was up, it was UP. It keeps tension with a lock option and has a slow retract so you never whip yourself putting it away. It’s high and close enough to the closet opening to dry even my longest jumpsuits.

The basket up top holds all our lesser used items like grease remover, a scrub brush, lingerie bag, and extra clothespins & dryer balls.

From left to right on the ledge shelf, I repainted a vase from an old Anthropologie hack and paired it with a catchall planter for loose change or earrings.

On the other side are our dryer balls in a wood bowl I got ages ago. (similar bowl options here, here, and here) These help dry our clothes more efficiently and you can always scent them with essential oils.

Right next to the dryer ball display are our clothespins in a small planter. They’re easy to quickly grab and just as easy to put away.

The only thing I decanted was our spot spray (on a “normal day”, our detergent and iron sit in a basket on the folding counter to keep them tidy). I like this cheapy one from Ikea because it’s light, consistent, and the perfect height.

One day I might DIY a wool ironing mat and hang it where the yellow fabric is, but I’m more than happy with the laundry closet as is for now 🙂

Estimated Total Cost: $340
Estimated Total Time: 7 days (including dry time)

   

2 years, 2 rooms done. It feels weird to say that our powder bath and laundry room are my favorite parts of our home but that’s the power of makeovers. I’m hoping to finish off the upstairs bathrooms, dining room, living room, and stair landing before quarantine is over too. They’re so close! Have you been tackling any quarantine home projects?