my beautiful launderette finished

My laundry room is finally finished.  (To be honest.....95% finished.  I want to find an indoor/outdoor rug to soften the concrete floor, and there is some black wiring on one wall that needs to be hidden somehow---but I'm not too worried about either issue)

 

I started planning this project about seven months ago (first post here ), but got bogged down my work, lack of funds, lack of focus etc.  And since the laundry room is in a lean-to addition outside that is non-climate controlled except for a ceiling fan, working on it during a New Orleans summer was not a good idea.

Here's where I started, a laundry room that had become a junked up mess, with a non-working dryer and a temperamental washer:

I did struggle and flounder a little with how to finish the laundry room, especially since I had no money to work with.  But then two things happened.  Number one, I decided to embrace the challange, and to see if I could do a no money makeover using only things that I had.  Leftover from jobs, I had plenty of paint and supplies, and a great graphic trellis stencil.  I also had furniture left over from various moves and projects, so I decided to see how close I could come to my original inspirational pics---bright, bold, happy, with graphic pattern and vintage appeal.  Second, a fairy godmother gifted us with a brand new washer/dryer set as a "wedding" present, and I was determined to honor the gift with as nice a room as possible.  I think I succeeded.  All I know, is since the appliances arrived Thursday, I've actually been enjoying doing laundry!

After:

The trellis stencil was used on a client project.  The old green painted china cabinet (antique purists should now that it was only painted after being damaged in a flood) was picked up at a moving sale, and had been being used in my studio.  However, it wasn't in a convenient location, and I realized that switching it and the shutter screen would work better.  Having the smaller footprint, really opened up the room.  The chairs and slips are World Market finds used in a long ago apartment.  They are so useful, I held on to them, and drag them outside for parties.  The tray table was a steal (the mirrored top was broken) that has been moved around quite a bit.  The tile that replaced the mirror was left over from a friend's project. 

I originally had put blinds up, but wasn't happy with how they looked.  This is one danger of trying to make what you already have fit when it just doesn't.  I sewed the tie on shade out of an old sheet (the rest of the set eventually shredded in the wash), trimmed with vintage trim.  The trim is left from the vintage cafe curtains that originally hung in the laundry room.  The fabric was too damaged from Katrina flooding to save, but the trim, once washed, was salvagable.  I had saved it, just in case.  The treatement is based on one in Mary Emmerling's Quick Decorating, and is designed so that the full panel can be let down like a Roman shade for complete privacy, tie at 2/3 height like a cafe curtain, tied all up like a valance, or at half mast, as shown, again like a soft Roman Shade.

I moved the wine box shelves to over the appliances, and tried to stage them attractively, but reasonably.

I painted the back wall to look like aged subway tile.  The three mirrors were a gift from a friend, and I rigged up a scone from a clip on lamp and curtain hardware.  I wrapped the cord in jute for a more finished look.  The black wall boxes were from Big Lots and had been part of a gallery wall in the living room a while back.  Again, I saved them for future use.

On one wall, I did a small gallery display, using a window I turned into a chalkboard and some vintage numbers.

I used large jars (which formerly housed pickles) to store left over Mardi  Gras beads, curtain rings, and other drapery hardware.  I corralled them in gifted wooden box.  The Beatles keep watch.

Looking back at some inspiration pics, I really feel I was able to capture the look and fell I was going for:

 

 

submitted to mod mix monday at Mod Vintage Life 
submitted to Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch