Blue i Style

Creating an Organized & Pretty, Happy Home

Decorating Tips & Tutorials· One Room Challenge· Organizing· Room Makeovers & Design Plans

Laundry Closet Makeover

One Room Challenge reveal day always makes me want to jump for joy, and this time around, it also makes me want to do laundry… and I never thought I’d say those words! I am seriously giddy to show you guys the total transformation of our laundry closet, and the improvements to the adjacent linen closet!

Laundry closet makeover

I am so in love with our brand new light and bright laundry space that I could seriously stare at it all day {and, let’s be real…I might}!

I owe a huge thank you to all three of my sponsors for this project – IKEA Centennial, Minted, and Tempaper Designs! This project would not be what it is without the support of these companies and their awesome products, and I’ll point out their contributions throughout this post. Additionally, this post contains some affiliate links, so if you buy something I recommend you’ll pay the same price, but I may receive a small commission.

To fully appreciate the beauty of our update space, you need to see what it looked like just five weeks ago! It was so red, dark and shadowy, and totally didn’t fit the style of our home. It was the first space I completed when we moved in seven years ago, and while I know some of my readers love it, for me personally, it was ready for a makeover.

Thanks to the kick in the pants motivation that is the One Room Challenge, I now have the laundry closet of my dreams. Well, let’s be honest… in my dreams it’s actually a big room instead of a closet. But it would still look just like this! 

Ok, before we get back to the pretty pictures, let me give you some context. Our laundry closet and linen closet and linen closet are accessed by two separate sets of double doors in our second floor hallway, but internally it is one open closet space.  

As you might suspect, photographing closets is a bit of a challenge, both in terms of light and angles, but I’ll do my best to show you all the pretty details, and of course, all of the stylish function and organization!

I’ve been wanting to find a place in our house to incorporate some gorgeous Kelly green, and this was the perfect spot!

If you saw just the photo above, you might not realize this was a laundry closet instead of a room – and that was exactly my goal! I wanted to design it to both look like, and function like, a larger more luxurious space … a space I’d want to actually spend time in.  

But nonetheless, the closet doors are actually a vital part of the overall design, because they now pack a ton of storage and function!

The concept for this design really started with the wallpaper. I met the folks from Tempaper Designs at a trade show in New York this summer, and I immediately fell in love with their textured Brick White temporary wallpaper. By the time I was on the plane home to Denver, I was already mentally redesigning the laundry room! Read the full tutorial on how to install temporary wallpaper here.

In order to balance out all that white, I wanted to add a bright pop of Kelly green – but I didn’t want it to be overwhelming, so I chose SEKTION cabinets from IKEA with glass front BJORKET doors, then I painted just the birch door surrounds in Sherwin Williams Kilkenny.

And then there is the light! I had my eye on it for months, but when I went to by it at World Market, I discovered that it had been discontinued. A few phone calls and a road trip later, I was able to buy the last remaining floor model in Colorado, but it was totally worth the effort, because, it’s PERFECT for the space!

Laundry closet DIY counter top

My original design plans anticipated us purchasing a laminate countertop in with a black-grey plank wood appearance, but when the quote came back at over $600, it was a no go!

We had previously been using a simple white melamine board as a “counter,” so we got creative and found a way to cover that existing white board using vinyl flooring to create a plank wood countertop look very similar to the laminate version we had our eye on – but for a fraction of the cost. Read the full DIY laundry room countertop tutorial here.

I am a firm believer that art has a place anywhere and everywhere – including in a closet! I always drool over the Minted catalog full of gorgeous works from independent artists, and this laundry room makeover was the perfect spot for some of my very favorite pieces! From left to right: Dash by Katy Craig; Life In Color – Connections by Aimee Siberon; Splendid Spring II by Makewells; and The Meadow by Melanie Severin. All four prints are 8×10 in size are were custom framed by Minted in their distressed charcoal stained frames.

Laundry Room Art from Minted

One of my biggest gripes about our old laundry room set up was that there was too much stuff on the countertop, which didn’t leave enough space for folding laundry – so keeping the counter in the new space wide open was one of my biggest goals. But that also provided a new challenge…

In the old laundry room, I used a large hat box to hide the faucets and hoses, but in the new design plan, in order to even space the art above the countertop, one on the frames needed needed to overlap the faucet inset. In order to make that workable, I wanted to find a way to make the laundry plumbing visually disappear. Here’s an in process shot from last week to remind you what I’m talking about…

Need to find a way to hide laundry hoses

Now you see it, and now you don’t…

Laundry closet counter top

It turns out that hiding the faucets and hoses was actually a super quick and easy project. I shared the tutorial for how to hide laundry room plumbing here.

Laundry detergent in canisters

To keep the countertop open and free for laundry folding, I limited the items on the counter to two canisters that store laundry detergent pods and OxiClean powder, as well as an adorable little black and white striped basket. There is no room for a trash can in the laundry closet, so I used to create a pile of lint on the counter before finally carrying it all to a trash can elsewhere in the house – but now I can stash all of that lint away in this basket, and then just empty it when it fills up. Sometime it’s the little things!

Laundry room lint basket

I love the look of the glass front cabinets, but they could quickly become an overwhelming and distracting element in the room if I filled them full of all of our laundry detergents and various cleaning supplies. Instead, I decided to fill them with all of the extra toilet paper and paper towels that used to take up so much space on the linen closet shelves. Now I can store much more than before, and toilet paper has never looked so pretty!  

Laundry closet with Ikea cabinets and white brick wallpaper

Of course, that meant that all the laundry supplies had to be stored somewhere else, and that’s where the closet doors come in!  

Laundry closet with doors open

The left door now has three baskets that contain everything that was previously stored in various boxes on the countertop.

Laundry Closet Back of Door Storage

The top basket {far out of the kids’ reach} holds all of our various sprays and stain removers.

And the two lower baskets hold eight matching jars {that I dressed up with a little washi tape}. The jars hold everything from replacement buttons and sewing supplies, to bleach pens and lint rollers. Check back next week for all the organizing details!

Laundry Room Sewing Kit in Jars

On the opposite door, we installed a four rail towel hanger that functions for hanging clothes as they come out of the dryer, as well as for clothes that need to hang to dry.  

side by side laundry and linen closets

Below the hanging rack, I created a guide to laundry symbols that I mounted behind a glass memo board. I left a space for laundry notes.

laundry symbol print dry erase board

Now that you’ve gotten a few little peeks into the linen closet side of the space, let me show it to you in all of it’s organized glory. Of course, you know I like to make all my organized spaces pretty as well, so in addition to the matching storage boxes from IKEA, I also added some black and white striped washi tape to the edges of the shelves. Grab the quick, five minute shelf edging tutorial here.

Linen closet shelves

Here’s a reminder of what the linen closet looked like five short weeks ago. It was organized(ish), but within the bins it was a mess, and it was feeling overwhelmingly red.

Red linen closet walls and red linen closet baskets

And now, it looks more streamlined, but it actually stores so much more! The rows of matching baskets and boxes on the linen closet shelves provide the perfect combination of open and closed storage, and the color makes me happy every time I open the doors!

Linen Closet with Matching Baskets on Shelves

The doors are doing double duty here as well – providing storage for extra blankets and all my table runners!

Hang extra blankets and table linens on back of linen closet door
hang table linens and extra blankets on back of linen closet door

I’ll share a full post about the linen closet organization in a couple of weeks, so be sure to check back in for all the details!  

Before I call it a wrap, I want to show you this space in action. I mean, what good is a pretty laundry room if it doesn’t work hard, right?  

Laundry closet with black and white striped laundry basket
Laundry closets with countertop and space for hanging clothes
Space for folding and hanging clothes in a small laundry room

With two little boys in the house, laundry seems to be a constant, so the doors to the laundry room are open more often than not. But when we want to hide it away, we can simply close the doors and call it a night.

When we installed the baskets on the back of the left door, we positioned them so that the bottom basket would sit just above the top edge of the washing machine when the the door is closed.

Inside laundry closet with doors closed - storage on back of door

You can see that even when the doors are closed, there is room for clothes to hang on the back of the door! When installing the rack on the back of the door, we were very careful to position it high enough that my husband’s dress shirts would hang just above the top of the countertop when the doors were closed.

Fit hanging space and cabinets in a small laundry closet

And with that, I’m calling it a wrap on the One Room Challenge!

Laundry Closet Makeover Plans Before After

I’ll leave you with the before and after comparisons! I’d say the final spaces look pretty darn close the plans I dreamed up.

Linen closet makeover before and after

Comments

  2. I can't believe how much you were able to pack into one little laundry closet. I have the same sort of laundry nook and I actually really like the functionality of it. Your colour palate is sublime and I adore the brick wallpaper. I think my favourite element though is the washi tape shelf liner…I'm stealing that idea- love, love and will definitely be back to read up on your diy for that. Wonderful job!!!!

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  3. It turned out so bright and light! The green cabinets really are so fun, glad you went with those bright pops of color! I would want to do laundry in here! Great job!

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  5. Wow! It looks amazing, Angela! There's no way that's wallpaper! So cool. I love all the pops of green and am drooling over all of the organization! Your stained trim and doors are absolutely gorgeous, too. Nice job!

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  8. Oh Angela, it is awesome! I love the pop of color with the green and that light fixture really is the star of the show! Such a pleasant place to do laundry now! And, I can't wait to hear more about the linen closet! I so love cute organized spaces!

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  9. Yay…what great spaces:) Love how organized it is and you kept the goal in mind. Everything is functional in a good and pretty way! Loving those black and white baskets! Have to remember to check back for that source!

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  11. Haha! I was thinking Holy cow, wow when I saw it. Looks like Kristi had a similar thought. This is wonderful friend! The amount of function and style in this space has me in awe. Congratulations!!!

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  13. Love, love the green you chose with the black and white in the laundry. So important to have a good space for laundry since we spend so much time there. 🙂

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  18. Angela you rocked it again this ORC round! What a cool and beautiful laundry room! I have a laundry room closet too, but it looks nothing like this, ha! You've given me lots of inspiration and your always so creative, like with the faux brick wallpaper! I might just have to try that in my laundry room closet or somewhere in my home now! BRAVO on a job well done my friend! XOXO, Sarah

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  19. Angela you did an amazing job!! It makes me want to do Laundry too! Ha ha! I love all the details and the colors! The table top looks awesome, can't wait to see how you did it, and you linen closet is what dreams are made of, so perfectly neat and tidy! Storing things on the doors was a perfect solution!

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  21. I was so excited to see how this turned out! The green cabinets are amazing and perfect pops of color. This small space functions so well now and looks stunning! Great job! I also did the one room challenge and am so happy I did it but so happy it is over 😉

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  22. So many wonderful things going on in this space! First, I love the white brick paper you used on the walls. Never would have known that was not real brick. I love how you used the doors for storage. Great idea! The pops of green are perfect… and I love the light fixture. Oh… and the counter looks great (just as if you'd spent $600). Beautiful job!

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  23. Attractive design aside, this space is packed with clever DIY (counter, washi tape, faux brick ) and organizational ideas. The use of storage racks and hangers on the backs of the doors is genius!

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  38. Wow Angela! Your closets both look like something out of a magazine! I love the kelly green, black and white and all that delicious organization!! Totally inspiring, you have me thinking about tearing apart my laundry room this weekend after seeing this!! Functional and so pretty!

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  39. Yep – you've done it! I'm swooning over your laundry room/closet! What a transformation. I just love the kelly green in the space, and I love your story about searching down the light – way to find the last one!!

    Reply

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