We replaced the industrial shelves with two pantries and a lower drawer cabinet between them. I bought the assembled cabinets online through Home Depot. I had considered lining the entire wall with pantries for more storage, but I really wanted a counter for the laundry baskets since the room is so small. We have a top loading washer so a counter over that was out. It would also have made the room feel even smaller, plus I wanted to make it pretty with shelving.
My initial plan was to get unfinished cabinets and then paint them a blue-gray color, but I really didn't trust myself with a sprayer for a smooth finish. It's also a process, and that's the reason it can be expensive to hire someone. So, I decided to get the pre-finished white and add color to the walls instead.
The icing on top of this makeover is the blue hydrangea wallpaper from Schumacher. This was the last item to go in the room, and it went from nice to amazing just like that. It's fairly inexpensive wallpaper for Schumacher. I did spend extra on having it installed professionally because I'm not that great at it. FYI, the installer uses a liner first since we have textured walls. It prevents us from having to get them sanded first. The wallpaper wasn't so inexpensive that I could do the whole room so I matched up the lightest background color to my paint swatches and painted the walls a pale blue color myself.
**Similar wallpaper linked**
There isn't a mudroom in the house, which doesn't bother me since the kids keep their things in their rooms now. We had one in the last house and it was always a mess with a dirty sock smell. However, I know it will most likely be important when we sell since they have become so popular. I added the vertical shiplap and hooks for a quasi-mudroom. It's also a good place to hang clothes that need drying. I like it because the wood keeps the walls from getting scuffed. I also extended it under the cabinets for a more finished look.
I added this shelf above the washer and dryer. It's an easy and low cost L-shape to hide the water and vent lines. I like that it gives me a space to add a little bit of decor.
The cabinets over the washer and dryer were existing. Thankfully, the color matches the new cabinets so I didn't have to paint them. They are also an almost exact match to the new paneled cabinets.
This side of the room turned out pretty amazing too! All but one tiny drawer in our kitchen is now a junk drawer. Everything else got organized into the new base cabinet, which frees up a lot of kitchen space. I still need to organize the pantries, but they are stuffed full already. They mostly hold our large appliances like air fryers and slow cookers.
Here's a closer look at the shelves I ordered on Etsy. It would have been about the same price to make them ourselves. I also wanted to be done with this project! I had planned on tiling the backsplash but we had extra shiplap so this was an inexpensive and easy option. We don't need tile anyway since there isn't a sink in here.
I considered making this area into a butler's pantry with my wine or a coffee bar. I tried both, but didn't like having to walk the extra 10 feet in here. I'm glad I tried it before buying any new accessories. Most everything on the shelves are from Target or things I already had. I mixed and matched the hardware style, but it's all the same brass finish.
Also, I replaced the fluorescent light with this new brass quatrefoil flush mount. I cannot tell you how happy I was to see the fluorescent light go. We asked for recessed lights in here when we built, but the builder made a mistake and refused to fix it. I think I got mad again every single time I walked in here!
Now I can leave the laundry room door open with this pretty view!
You can really see how well it goes with the kitchen now.
It also goes great with the breakfast room. More blue hydrangeas!
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