The Combined Laundry Room Mudroom Project

Juliette DellaviaDIY, Interiors 0

It’s Week One of the Fall 2024 One Room Challenge! I am going to tackle the current laundry room/mudroom combination. This is a bit of a last minute scramble because until two weeks ago, I was going to do our primary bedroom. But, what fun would it be if I didn’t make last minute decisions?!?!

The Current Laundry Room

I’m calling this a laundry room/mudroom combo, but as it is right now, it’s a laundry room–and not a very functional one at that. In addition, the room is an eyesore. Not that I think laundry rooms need to be beautiful, but this is one of the entryways to my home, so it’s a high traffic area that gets seen a lot by–and everyone who comes to visit. So, it needs a makeover.

laundry room before makeover

What Do We Need?

Storage. I want things behind closed doors. I would like to be able to put away laundry baskets, whether they are empty or full of dirty clothes. We also need shoe storage for our family of 5 and the multitude of children that are circulating through on a regular basis. Of course, there needs to be storage for cleaning supplies and laundry cleaning agents. I would like to have convenient access to towels for the pool–we go through so many of them daily, May through September. I’m going to create a narrow, but long, hanging area for snow clothes, coats and wet towels. (We do have coat hanging in two other spots for the kids, so this doesn’t need to hold a lot.)

What Can We Get Rid Of?

The utility sink has got to go. Hear me out–I love the option of the utility sink, but this is prime real estate. It would be nice to have a utility sink in the basement–where we keep all of our paint supplies and such. I don’t need it front and center. The current cabinets and open shelving will be replaced. They are small and shallow, making it hard to store much of anything. The shoe shelf has been a good spot to keep shoes somewhat organized, but it was never meant to be a permanent solution.

mudroom laundry combo entrance to house before makeover

What Have We Done?

Since we moved in a year ago, we replaced the massive fluorescent light that only worked when it wanted to. Hubs painted the ceiling because he couldn’t stand to look at the outline of where the light used to be. There were random bright yellow cables just entering the house through a hole cut in the drywall…I think they were originally for speakers? Anyway, those have been patched. We installed a new interior door from the hallway into the room, since the previous one was in rough shape. Basically…the makeover should be easy. I mean…how hard can it be?

My Plan…So Far

I drew out the plans for the cabinet wall. We will be able to install 36″ of pantry cabinets (tall) where the current sink is. Then, I will install two cabinets in the center of where the washer and dryer are, with open shelving on either side, connecting the entire thing. Technically, my washer is not a front loading washer…why did I draw it like that? Now, it just looks like a pair of eyes on a robot who is planning its escape. I can’t unsee it.

drawing of cabinet wall plan for laundry room mudroom renovation

Stay Tuned!

Hop on over to Instagram if you want to keep up with daily and weekly progress. I can assure you ONE thing. The room is going to look better in 8 weeks than it does right now. Let’s get to it!