Audrey Hepburn Laundry Rm

The laundry room is finally DONE!

You may be noticing my Audrey Hepburn/Breakfast at Tiffany's theme.  Our home in CA had a loft space that we dedicated to a movie themed room for our family.  It was a great space with arcade style skeet ball and basketball, movie posters, and other memorabilia.  We sold the arcade games when me moved, knowing it was unlikely we'd be moving into a 3200 sq. ft. home anytime soon, but I kept all the movie memorabilia that I had used to decorate the room, including a Breakfast at Tiffany's picture that I had gotten on clearance for a steal.  I admit, I don't have any place to put most of the decor these days, but I really love Breakfast at Tiffany's and wanted to find a way to incorporate this picture in my home.  The family room was out, as was the kitchen and my master bedroom.  And while I love Audrey Hepburn, I felt she didn't belong in the dining room either (where my desk and office space reside as well).  And so she's moved into my laundry room!

You may recall I wanted to do a built in laundry sorter that I had found on Anna White's site.  I really need a place to sort laundry because the cat box is in here too.  If you have a cat, you know the litter inevitably tracks outside the box.  But you may notice the silver hose behind this laundry sorter.  It's the dryer vent and there's no way of putting the built in's there without smashing it and have them fit properly at the same time.  The Builder and I were at Kohl's the other night when we came across this set in the clearance section.  $20!!  It fits perfectly under the counter, has a spot on top to do ironing if I need something quickly, and let's me sort a few loads at a time (with a family of six, it's never going to hold all our laundry, I know this!).  It was an ideal solution for our needs.  Best of all, look at the perfect fit!  You'd think we had designed it this way.  Nope, we just got lucky!

This is on the other side of the washer and dryer.  The Builder put up a leftover section of the counter on the other side so we could all easily reach the soap, as well as to have a space to store the cat litter.  The washer and dryer stacked is a great space saver.  However, if you're not tall, it can also be a challenge to get in and out of the dryer easily!  My kids can't.  I see a folding stool in our future so they can grab things out of the dryer as needed (I'm tall, and it's a bit of a stretch for me!  My kids are short...).  I knew the wire shelf wasn't going to work for the laundry soap, so this is a good alternative.  The cat box is below, so the solid shelf keeps anything from falling through to the bottom.  Enough said on that.

I think I'll get one more cloth bin for the top shelf to hold miscellaneous things, but other than that, this laundry room makeover is officially done!

Laundry Room Updates

Small Laundry Room Inspiration

It's been awhile since I last mentioned my laundry room.  You may recall that The Builder had to re-do a portion of he ceiling after a leak from the toilet upstairs was repaired.  And then I conned convinced him to paint the laundry room the same color as the powder room that's right next to it.  We even stacked the washer and dryer after I found some inspiration on another blog.  And then...nothing.

Source: homebyheidi.blogspot.com via Elona on Pinterest

Her built ins are fabulous!!  But I rent.  So not practical for us.  The goal has always been to put in a counter for folding.  Right now, clean laundry is dumped placed on the sofa and we attempt to fold it while we're watching TV.  Sometimes this works great.  Other times, we end up with a pile of laundry left on the end of the sofa.  Which then gets dumped on the floor. Which is then mixed with the clothes my kids strip change out of when they get home and leave heaped on the living room floor.  So really, I needed to make my small laundry room more functional to include a counter for folding laundry.  And storing hampers. We are a family of 6.  We have a lot of laundry and a lot of hampers.  Somehow it all has to work.  

Today we took the first step to that happening!!

Ikea Pragel counter top

Ikea has an affordable, white counter top, for $59.  I knew when I saw it that it was what was needed for my small laundry room.  So today The Builder and I made a trip to Ikea.  The counter top is called Pragel and online the price is the $59 listed in the catalog as well.  When we arrived today, it was on sale for $39!! I really love a good deal, and for a 6 foot counter, this is beyond ideal.  It looks like this -->
Nothing fancy, but it is exactly what I was wanting.  My local Big Box stores had all these funky colored and faux marbled laminate tops that were heavy and not at all what I was looking for.  It's a small room and simple goes a long way.

The Builder has assured me can get it installed TOMORROW.  Hooray!!  I'm going to use some of my existing Audrey Hepburn decor items to add some design.  I figure it's the one room I can go completely girly, and the boys in my house won't complain (because let's face it, I do most of the laundry!!).  The fact that it leads to the man cave just gives me a good chuckle.

Ideally, I would like The Builder to do build the laundry basket holders from Anna White to go under the counter.   But that isn't in the budget for now.  Maybe by summer!

Updates with everything to come tomorrow...