As a mom of two little kids, my laundry basket is always full. Even once I see the bottom of the basket, later that day it is magically full again. For this reason I really wanted the laundry room (or utility room as they call it here in Scotland!) to be a well designed space.
I wanted to use fun colours and patterns in this room. I started by picking out what colour cabinets we were going to use. This room needed to be done as cheaply as possible so I looked at Homebase, B&Q. and Ikea for cabinet options. Ikea ended up being one of the cheapest options and also had cabinets in a lovely sage green colour. I went for the shaker style doors as this seemed more in keeping with the cottage style of our house. Personally I've always loved pink and green as a colour combination as they are nearly complimentary colours on the colour wheel, but they also remind me of a watermelon. A watermelon is light and fresh, which is exactly the feeling I wanted to achieve in my laundry room. We went with pink patterned hexagonal tiles.
It's crazy to think that this space used to be our kitchen. By reorganising the layout of the ground floor and moving the stairs, we were able to transform our old kitchen into a functional laundry room. It seems like in the UK it is really common to have your washing machine in the kitchen - I like having it in a separate room as it can be noisy. The only thing we actually kept from the old kitchen was the pulley - I love how functional and timeless the pulley is. During the build we lost the original wheel for it but we managed to find a replacement from Pulley Maid.
We ended up having extra worktop that we fitted under the stairs. The space under the stairs was calling out to be used as storage. Here we keep back stock of oil, cereal, oats, etc., as well as my sewing supplies. I made a coordinating floral curtain skirt for underneath the worktop which is very English country cottage style that seems to be trending again. With the extra material, I also put together a matching bulletin board where we can keep appointment letters and invitations we receive. I am thinking that I might buy more of that material to make a Roman blind for the window, too!
I wanted the laundry room to be a place I want to spend time in. I hung up some paintings I made while we were in lockdown in 2020, added photographs of the dogs and other keepsakes that I've collected over the years to decorate like it was any other important room in the house. I'd like to add a backsplash as well - we have extra tiles from our upstairs family bathroom that I think will work well in here. It would also be nice to add some shelving above the sink and to neaten up around the laundry chute. Some of these jobs are on the back burner for now while we tackle some other DIY, but we'll get there...eventually!
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