Before & After: Laundry Room

I have to warn you that this is no grand before & after, but rather a "hey lets see that I can do for as little money as possible before & after". Here is my laundry room or rather laundry closet before....

First of I have to say that while this laundry facility may look sad, I loved it just because it was all mine. That's right folks, no more trips to the laundry mat or hoarding of quarters. For the first time in my adult life I had my very own washer & dryer. The novelty of its convenience, however soon wore off and I decided it was time for a face lift. As a renter and a girl on a budget, I couldn't do what I really wanted to do - replace the linoleum, buy front loading machines topped with marble counter tops, new overhead cabinets, and make it look a little something like this...

{martha stewart}

A girl can dream, right? So maybe I couldn't have Martha's laundry room, but I could make improvements. I cleared out all the junk and beefed up the bottom of shelf with some molding from home depot. This accomplished two things 1) concealed the sag in lower shelf and 2)covered up most of the ugly MDF support brackets. I painted out the red shelving and the new molding in high-gloss white left over from another project. By the way, that lovely shade of red was also the living room wall color when I moved in. You can imagine how long that lasted. Finally, I accessorised...

The cubbies now just hold towels and bath mats. I moved my glass vases out of the pantry and put them on the upper shelf for display.

Using fishing wire, I hung my two seascapes (a thrift store find) from the bottom of the shelf. I love that they cover up the ugly plumbing.

I repurposed a black wicker tray I had, for holding, laundry supplies like detergent. The brass jug holds my Tide Stain-Release Booster pouches. A little vase holds some green berries I snipped from a shrub outside. But the piéce de résistance is my chinoiserie lamp. I picked her up from Consignment Classics (one of my favorite local shops) for a song. I love everything about her...

She is so graceful, even with her messed up nose...

She reminds me that you don't have to be perfect to be beautiful. Ok, I know that sounds really sappy, but its true. We can't all be perfect like Martha Stewart, but we can appreciate her motto, which is to be creative with the mundane and find beauty in the everyday.