The Laundry Room Makeover: Shelves and Pegboard and Done!

Saturday, December 18, 2021

 
laundry room makeover

All righty, let's wrap up this DIY low-budget laundry room makeover, shall we?  What was left?  Some shelves, a replacement pegboard, and then it was done.  Well, and a little decorating too.

Considering this room is as diminutive as it is, in compressed time it was a quick flip from drab to fab.  I sound a cheeseball voice-over going into commercial break.

So yes, ok, last we left off on this fancy pants laundry room makeover, the wall stencil paint was complete and I installed a ceiling light fixture.

That stencil makes me oh-so-happy.  Like I'm rolling my eyes around so happy.

pine cone owl wall decor
Where next to use this stencil?!
And that light fixture?  It does bring me joy.

Next I needed some shelves.  Well, need is an embellishment as I didn't need them, I just reasoned they'd look spiffy.

Luckily one day I happened across a posting on one of those social media sites that a nearby furniture maker was moving shop.  They were giving away leftover wood they weren't moving, come n' get it.

Whoa.  Free wood from a furniture maker?              .......Right?!

So yeah I hustled my a** over there.  The hoards rapidly lined up behind me but I managed to grab some stuff.  Wish I had grabbed more but I uh, didn't want to become a wood hoarder.  It's merely a wee basement shop.

I snagged two boards of unknown type, not matching, both rough, bingo, shelves, done.

Back at home, I noticed one of the boards had those teeny little bug holes, those damn powderpost beetle wood boring bugs.  Bad news those are, baaaaad news.  They can spread and destroy your house.

Sooo I tried tricks I read online to kill them....leave the wood out in the sub-zero cold, out in scorching heat, use borax, use Timbor,* and literally nothing worked.  I had to part ways with that piece of wood, sadly.

Replacing it was old-growth reclaimed pine 2x4's from Great Lakes Yard.

In the meantime, I scraped Etsy for brackets, ending up with the ubiquitous bent steel with a lip type* but I was able to custom order the exact dimensions I needed.  Thumbs up!

But me, not one to leave well enough alone of course, I trekked out to the 'burbs to pick up some cheery yellow spray paint* (it's illegal to buy spray paint in the city of Chicago which is a huge pain in the a**, as if that deters graffiti [it does not]) and sprayed the snot out of the brackets for a nice bright accent.

Because yellow!  Favorite!

Also picked up a metal trash bin from HomeGoods and you guessed it, sprayed that yellow.  And some vases from Dollar Tree* too, yellow.  It's the perfect foil for the rich aqua, the white, and blonde wood.

Ok but the shelves…coated the wood in teak oil* and in the case of the gruff two-by’s, merely glued them together to get the width I needed and did nothing more. This was pre-planer but even still, I like the rough texture.

shelving process photos
Like fashion, rooms require color, texture, shine, and pattern.

Up went the brackets either into studs or with metal screw-in wall anchors* and thank goodness for that laser level,* then I hoisted the boards atop.  Screws into the wood underneath to prevent shifting and voila, shelves!  Check and mark.

laundry room shelving
Spray a big spray into a cup with the spray paint, use a Q-tip, and dab the screw heads to match up color-wise.
While the oversized pegboard did do its pegboard job, it was too weird even for me.  And while the Supernice vinyl wrap is well, super nice and a fabulous product, I went too weird.

But, sometimes you gotta explore just to see because sometimes weird does work out.  This is how we learn and learning is *mwah* good.

I pretty well followed the same assembly path as the previous one, based on the lessons I learned with the pegboard wine rack.  Drill holes, push pegs in, hang on wall.

Here I used a piece of scrap plywood, gave it a couple coats of primer, couple coats of white latex paint, then pooled some water atop and dabbled in some black acrylic paint* to create a sort of watercolor effect, using my heat gun* to blow it around/dry it up.

pegboard building and painting process
My mistake, I then splashed on some of the aqua in an effort to tie colors together but eh, bad choice.  Ah well.

I used some scrap trim from my voluminous wood stash to frame out the edges then hung it on the wall into studs* using those barn screws* from the back door awning adventure. 

The remaining decor came from Ikea (the jar, fake grasses stuffed in faux concrete pots, ceramic cacti, fabric bin) or my parents (the pine cone owl) or around our house. 

wood shelves in laundry room with yellow steel brackets

And it’s done!  The shelves, the pegboard, the DIY budget-friendly low-budget laundry room makeover is done!

finished laundry room view towards sink
It is so hard to take pictures of this room.
Or hahaha, done for now!

I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love this room.  Love.  Love love love.  I went from utterly abhorring the dysfunctional disaster to now thrilled to be in its presence. 

view towards sink in laundry room
Laundry gets folded in a timely manner thanks to the waterfall counter; the itty windowless room is finally functional plus it's happy to boot. 

view of waterfall counter and wood shelves in laundry
Love it.  Pleased as punch.  Tickled pink.

view into laundry room
A takeaway lesson here?  Even The Worst of spaces can be turned around both visually and functionally.  Planning, patience, thought, and study can fix any design dilemma. 

What were my expenditures on this DIY makeover?  Many supplies were on hand already but let’s see:

gas pipe trimming, $40
Wall stencil, $40
Spray primer, $8
Laundry utility sink tub cover, less than $25
Waterfall counter, $160
Shelf brackets, $61
Light fixture, $40
Yellow spray paint, $5
Old-growth 2x4 pine for one shelf, $6
Various decor, less than $40

Wow, well, that’s a low-budget DIY makeover, huh?!  About $425?  Wow.  See, so low-budget or budget-friendly does not equal bad.  Like I said, planning, patience, thought, and study.  Bam.

Yay, laundry room makeover!  I am so excited.  Yay!

laundry room makeover DIY

While I've peppered pretty much all the posts about the laundry room throughout this post, you can start from the very beginning here while I go nap.

*The Timbor, wall anchors, laser level, heat gun, stud finders, and barn screws are Amazon affiliate links while the shelf brackets are Etsy, the yellow spray paints and teak oil are Home Depot, Dollar Tree is well, Dollar Tree, and the acrylic paint is a general Michaels affiliate link.  Thanks!  Please see the "boring stuff" tab for more info.

7 comments

  1. The room is SO nice, you don't want to mess it up with laundry, am I right? You want to walk in, admire it, look up at the joyful light fixture and walk out. You don't want to line the shelves with detergent and pods and dryer sheets and stuff you mostly don't use but can't throw out so you keep it elsewhere...some closet somewhere and you bring it in any time you do laundry? Well, that would be me...maybe you're stronger.

    Great job all around. Love the stenciled wall, love the light fixture, love all that surface for folding...or serving a buffet style breakfast.

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    1. You make the most valid point ever, this room should not be disturbed with frivolous activities like laundry, pffft. I think I'll jaunt down there and do exactly that, take a look and turn around. Although you're right, I do need to start setting up the breakfast buffet spread.

      hahaha, thank you very much! Too funny! Sadly there is a tiny shelf unit hidden in the corner behind the counter next to the sink with those pesky laundry related items which I do need to go use right now but at least I'll be cheery.

      Thank you for the hilarity and nice compliments!

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  2. I'd never want to leave this fabulous room...especially if there's a breakfast buffet every day! Amazing job, Bec!

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    Replies
    1. Looks like I’ll be setting up a breakfast buffet here daily! Haha, thank you!

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  3. it looks awesome, the only other thing would be to trim out the front edge

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! I’m personally a fan of the edge as-is but it definitely can be. Thanks!

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  4. Some really interesting details you have written. Aided me a lot, just what I was looking for : D.

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