A European Inspired Laundry Room

Today is the big day, friends! The reveal of my laundry room, for the New Year, New Room Refresh Challenge. I’d like to start off by thanking Stephanie of Casa Watkins Living, for hosting and organizing this event. It’s not an easy job to manage a bunch of design bloggers, but she does it with grace, and always comes through for us. I’d also like to thank Spoonflower, who sponsored this post by providing me with fabric to use in my space. I’m really excited for you to see the must-have laundry room item I made using some of the fabric they provided me! Finally, of course, my husband. I couldn’t do it without him, and honestly it’s become more fun working on home projects with him, so I look forward to the many more to come.

If you’re finding my blog via the challenge, welcome! I’m so happy to connect with you! I’d love it if you were to look around the blog after viewing this post. You can also catch up on the progress of this challenge from week one to now, here.

Last week, I shared a list of laundry room essentials, and today, you can see how I use them in my space. Have I told you all that that I sew now? After sewing the slipcover for our family room sectional last year, I found I really enjoy it. I’ve been working on random projects ever since, and though I don’t think I’m an expert, I’d say I’ve managed to become pretty reliable when being tasked to sew textiles for my home. I’m currently working on curtains, another slipcover, and I just sewed the pleated curtain you see here, and a little bag to hold wool balls for our laundry room. Keep an eye out for it below. It’s the Spoonflower project I mentioned above. I’ll be sharing more projects as time goes on, an hopefully a tutorial for the bag will be coming your way very soon.

Let’s start the reveal, shall we!

European country design has always captured my heart. There’s something so special about the utilitarian way of the designs. With so much of the design style being multifunctional, how could I not love it for my own home! I grew up in this way as well. We didn’t have a lot, but what we did have was well loved and identifiable by most of the family it was used to much. I can honestly remember the wooden spoon we used to cook with each day, which is more than I can say for the number of wooden spoons I have since purchased for my own home. I want to get back to a place where I appreciate the things I have, more than the superficial way where acknowledge that I’m grateful to have said item, and then never use it, store it away, or replace it because something “better” has come along. I’m going off on a tangent, and I’ll get back to the laundry room, but to clarify, I want to get back to the simpler life I used to live.

I had to consider our current way of living as well as our intentions for our future, when designing this space, so that it is even more functional. The closed storage has functioned as a tool box of sorts over the years, but I’m ready for it to be a designated space for cleaning supplies going forward. Many of the liquids are being stored in the glass bottles that I shared in last weeks post, so that frees up more space inside the cabinets. The open shelving rack also functions as a drying rack, and the “s” hooks are going to come in handy, I just know it.

As decoration, I chose a vintage art print in a gold frame to display on the top shelf. It shows a lady hanging laundry on an outdoor clothesline. Something we did all the time when I was younger. If you don’t know, I’m nostalgic like no one else when it comes to the times I spent at home with my grandparents. I hold those memories fondly, and I wanted to honor that time with this art.

In addition the the bag I sewed, we are going to store some of our wool dryer balls in a woven round basket with a lid on the counter. Easy access, and easily cleaned up with the lid on top.

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Instead of spending time and money on relocating the hookup for the washer and dryer, we chose to hide them with a wooden shelf that matches the countertop. To add a little flare, I sewed this pinch pleat curtain to hang in front of it. Oh, and I finally made a purchase I had been wanting to make for years! I bought a brass café curtain rod from Rejuvenation to hang the curtain from. I’m honestly so happy with how it all turned out!

Did I mention that I designed and we, my husband and I, built the countertop, open shelving rack, and lower shelving? Because we had the option to, I designed the “drawer” to be a pull out drying rack. We used to have a drawer in our old cabinet and it was such a waste. The drying rack is more appropriate for our needs. The open shelving below the drying rack is so deep that two of these baskets can be held on each shelf, providing even more storage. Having a countertop is at the top of the list in my design for this laundry room It provides a dedicated space to fold laundry, though over the years we’ve managed to clutter it up with junk and folded laundry on the couch instead. Ha! It was designed with the best of intentions, and I hope going forward, now that the refresh is done, we will move back to the laundry room for our future folding sessions.

The peg rack on the opposite wall hold brushes, brooms, and the bag I sewed. What do you think? I hope you like it! The Spoonflower fabric I chose goes so well with the curtain fabric that I already had. I have some left over, and have plans to sew a tea towel, or maybe some other utility room textiles. I’ll share those on social media when I do.

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I hope you enjoyed this look into our laundry room! Check back with the blog in the near future to follow along with even more room makeovers, and of course I’ll be sharing styling ideas, other projects, and products with you all in the meantime.

One more look, so you can see how well the Studio McGee/Threshold rug looks in this space. It covers most of the tile, and is so cushy! I’m glad I changed my mind and ended up with this one!

Enjoy my fellow NYNR Refresh participants’ space reveals via the links below!

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