Basement Update: Easy Solution for Hiding an Ugly Washer and Dryer

After we drywalled and painted (including painting the floor a bright turquoise), the laundry room still had some unattractive elements: a really old washer and dryer, water tank, slop sink and mess of pipes.

I needed a cheap solution to help make the space look nice, especially from the adjacent room.  I had to think long and hard about a solution that would work for us because so many inspiring laundry room makeovers involve a new washer and dryer!  In the end, we came up with something easy and inexpensive: curtains!  We installed Ikea curtain rods as close to the ceiling as possible (although we originally priced out DIY rods, the whole shebang, including the drapery rings, was only sbout $30.00 at Ikea so we ditched the DIY plans).

Once the bar was installed, my Mom was roped in to do some sewing.  Anyone recognize the fabric???

It's our old duvet cover!  I loved the pattern but never really liked it with the DIY'd headboard.  When we replaced the bedding with crisp white linens, I didn't want to just get rid of the old stuff, so I hoarded it in the linen closet.  When my basement inspiration featured DIY stamped fabric with a faded black pattern, I knew I had just the fabric to achieve the look.  Mom cut open the duvet cover and simply hemmed the edges.  One problem: they were a bit floody.

I like my curtains to just touch the ground, puddling a tiny bit, so we used the old black bedskirt to add a border.  We opted for a thick border so it looks intentional and adds a bit of weight.  And we may or may not be using the rest of the fabric to lengthen a super-short dress to cover my skull-crushers.

Now the ugliness is hidden but easily accessed.  Peekaboo! 

Plus, I can access one side while keeping the other hidden.  Although both sides look much better closed!  I thought curtains might be a hassle, but I just push them aside with my bum when my arms are occupied carrying a laundry basket. They slide really easily on the rings. A door on the laundry room would be a solution too, but it's a sub-standard size plus blocking off the room right at the doorway made the basement seem closed off and weird.  Also, opening a door with a laundry basket is much less convenient.  I can still toss things in the hamper or take things off the dry line without touching the curtains.  It works for us!  When I show photos of the rest of basement, you'll see how sharp the laundry room looks now from the rest of the basement.

It's so hard to take a good photo in the laundry with NO natural light, but I'll take a stab at better shots for a full "after" tour!

P.S. I've had a few people, over the years, ask me where we got the black and white tree bedding.  It was purchased from HomeSense and I long threw away the packaging, but I happened to find a very similar bedding set on Amazon for anyone trying to track it down.

Basement Update: How to Paint a Concrete Laundry Room Floor Turquoise

Nothing like a looming MLS listing to light a suitably sized fire under our butts when it comes to projects.  We prioritized our to-do list and because the rest of the house has been updated over the years and looks quite spiffy, we tackled the dragged-on-for-eighteen-months basement makeover first.  People have built houses in the time it has taken to paint and tidy our basement!  Our house is to be listed as a partially finished basement because about one third of it is taken up by a walled off, unfinished storage room with a door, but a "partially finished basement" doesn't mean we can literally leave our projects partially finished (darn).  We started on the floor right away, knowing it would take a week to fully cure.

Here's how we painted our concrete laundry room floor a cheery shade of aqua!

The secret is in the right supplies:

We used Sherwin Williams Porch and Floor enamel in satin, which I bought un-tinted during a sweet 50% off sale.  After we narrowed down floor colours, I combed through my hoard of turquoise paint chips to find a shade that looked right in the window-less laundry room and Valspar's "Dive in"(CI 249) took the cake.  It's vibrant and not too green but not too blue - the perfect turquoise.  In the photos it looks pale, but in reality it's richer than even my turquoise chair makeover. 



How to apply porch and floor enamel: 

First we vacuumed and washed the poured concrete floor (the old carpet that was there wasn't glued down at all - whew).  We let the wet floors dry overnight.  Then we moved the washer and dryer to the middle of the room and painted behind them.  The enamel cured quickly, so we pushed them back and then did the rest.

A paintbrush was needed for the edges, but then a roller made for concrete floors made light work of the rest of the room.  Although we walked on it later that day, we planned to wait a full week to return the laundry hampers and other stuff to the room.  A few days later though, I noticed one coat wasn't enough (some patches of the original grey peeked through) so we swept it quickly and applied another coat.  We had to start the clock again and wait another full week, so it was a good thing we started as soon as we bought the lake house!

This was a smelly job but only took an hour or so to apply the first application and only twenty minutes for the second coat.  So far, it still looks perfect!  This isn't meant for garage floors (shame) but it works well for our purposes.  The gallon we bought was twice what we needed.

Handy Hubby was such a cutie during the painting process.  We painted the walls together but then he painted the floor while I worked on making the rest of the basement livable.  I tried to snag a few good photos of him, but he likes to remain as anonymous as possible.  He jumped out of most photos, or looked really, really pained.

The fruits of his labor are what you're here to see anyway!  With the walls freshly painted the same colour as the rest of the basement (including the stairwell), the new floors make a formerly grungy space look fresh and cheery. 

The walls, floor and light fixtures are all looking sharp but let's be honest: our washing machine and dryer are work horses, not show ponies, and the paintbrush-rinsing-sink (it serves no other purpose), water heater and mess of plumbing and wires really seem to pop out now.  I asked Hubs to paint the rusty legs of the old sink and that was a super quick fix that made it look less sad, but there's a bigger, better, beautiful solution my Mom and I cooked up . . .

UPDATE: See how we hid the unsightly washer, dryer and hot water tank with a pretty set of curtains made from old bedding by clicking here.  You can also see more of the basement here and here.

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Basement Update: A Reveal!

I'm looking forward to finishing the basement and offering up some fabulous after shots of the whole kit & caboodle.  It's a tall order, though, because the lone window is the size of a (small) baking pan, so natural light is scant.  Our budget was equally small.  But still, it's beginning to look pretty cute and awfully cozy.  Here's a peek of the one, somewhat finished corner:

The before (well, it's an in-progress shot, with the left wall and ceiling painted) & after difference: 

What's different?

I painted the mismatched walls, and even painted the ceilings (plus the stairwell!) the same warm greige, to keep the old carpet from standing out in any way.  Because "bright and airy" wasn't on the menu, I aimed for "cute and cozy".  In this corner specifically, I removed the peeling wall paper (catch a glimpse in the right of the photo below or see here for more).  A little textured paint hid the paneling lurking beneath. 



I tidied, cleaned, de-cluttered, and even gave some furniture away to make the space more liveable.  The chairs, teak table and lamp had been languishing in the basement after becoming obsolete upstairs.  I tried my best to make this ragtag group of furniture look intentionally chosen for the space. Accessorizing and adding art in the same colour palette (pinks, turquoises, greens, black and white) helped the nook look planned.



The silk pillows are the only truly new addition, thanks to my sewing maven Mom who whipped them up.  I almost saved them for the living room, but the greige walls, greige carpet and greige chair combo need a pop of colour.  The silk shines in the basement and lends such life to the room.

The gallery wall:

We laid everything on the floor and then hung it up.  No newspaper cut outs like with the silhouette wall, because our options were a little limited.  I would have liked something a bit "fuller" but the light switch and outlet are pretty high and pretty random and inhibited our art placement a bit.  I also need to replace them with some paint-able covers.

Maybe I'll add more paintings some day.  The art was pretty thrifty because each piece was either gathering dust somewhere or a DIY project: 

• The Rothko-inspired art cost pennies.
• The other abstracts were DIY's (see the making of one here).
• The two black and white vacation photos haven't seen the light of day since we moved to the townhouse, so it felt good to give those a home.  
• The etching above the larger cardboard painting was replaced with the DIY stenciled/antiqued mirror.

I think I captured some of the feel of my inspiration photo.  I just couldn't stick to the pale aqua and pink - I tossed in some other colours via the artwork.

Prudent Baby

What's next?

The rest of the basement will be keeping with this feel (see more of the inspiration here).  Greige with pops of black, white, pale pink and turquoise.  If you remember, the stairwell has black and white and turquoise art, too.  The turquoise chair and black chair will live here eventually.  But first: a few more furniture makeovers, some more painting, a DIY curtain rod, some more art work, some sewing of curtains from you'll never guess what, and more.  We'll get there.

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