A Mini Makeover

I dream of a laundry room like this...

because I have a laundry room like this...

It's not a laundry room. It's a utility room. The washer/dryer are crammed in there, next to the furnace. I don't even have the heart to show you the other side of this tiny room. There's a water softening system AND a water heater over there. Sheesh.

This room's down in the basement, and the walls vary from concrete to "oh-so-chic" exposed 2x4's. Sometimes you can just tell the floor plan of a house is designed by a *man*, can't you? HGTV could not do anything with this room! It's a hopeless case. It's the only room in my cute house that makes me sad...

Every once in a while, somebody will talk about decorating their laundry room, and a little part of me just has to go pea-green with envy. All the space I have for seein' to our laundry needs (not counting the actual washer and dryer themselves) is against the wall as you walk into this utility room. The area I'm talking about is a whopping 55 X 25 ... *inches*. Um. Ya.

The previous owner installed some metal shelves that fit into this tiny space; screwing them into the wall for safety -- they're looking a little worse for the wear, but, hey -- they fit the space. 

What's a recessionista to do? She wants to improve her miniscule laundry space, and has no budget to speak of (DH still out of work) -- throw in the towel? No way! It's time for...

.

::: The Mini-est of Mini Makeovers :::

...mini-in-money and a tiny, mini room! First thing -- shopped the house. OK. Found some stuff I could use...for FREE. :-)

The ugly shelves stayed. Can't afford new ones, and these are the perfect size for this space. A little leftover liner from a kitchen project -- voila -- they're lookin' much better!

Then we installed heavy-duty hooks to hang the ironing board and wooden dryer rack up and out of the way. Wow -- that alone is a huge help! Okay, I'm lying. Hubby and I did this part last year. It was the Sweet Girl's idea. She rocks.

Now I needed some containers. I grabbed some old canning jars for clothespins and well...uh..."pocket money". You probably have this rule at your house, too -- if you don't empty your pockets of your change, the laundry lady gets it! I very nearly put a label on that jar that said "TIPS". LOL As you can see, I'm not doing too bad! ;-)

Oh -- and I'm so tired of reaching into my Oxyclean box and finding nothing but big ol' lumps in there. Something about the humidity in the room. My Borax did that, too. Bah! Frustrating. Solved it with two glass jars with lids I wasn't using from the pantry. Ta-da!

How many bottles do you have in your laundry room? I have a ton -- carpet cleaners, ironing supplies, stain removers, etc. Just corralling these babies would make the space look great! It's the one thing I spent money on. I got these babies on clearance: four for 10 bucks. Not bad! Look, they even had a space in front for labels. Love it!

Here is my nod to having a decorated laundry room. I know. It's silly, but it has to be there. It's that, or go off the deep end and move to a house with a real laundry room. I found this little saying on the internet, printed it, put it in a cheapo frame I had laying around somewhere. Check it out -- the words match the shelf liner. HGTV should give me my own show. ;-)

It lives on the top shelf with the ever-important laundry hint sheet.

OK -- there's the finished project. It's still not up for a magazine shoot, but I can stand to look at it, it functions well in an impossible location, and it was a $10 makeover! Only one thing still bothers me...

I hate that my detergent's still on the floor. If we have a flood, it's a goner. Got any ideas? How do you store your detergent?

Thanks for taking a look at my mini-makeover!