Feb 9, 2010

Before & After: the laundry 'room'



Today I'm linking up to Kimba's DIY Day with a little facelift of our laundry closet. I dream of the day when we might have a laundry ROOM, but until then we make do with the closet at the top of our stairs. It's right behind a set of double doors across from our master bedroom:



Until recently the interior was painted sort of a creamy white, which was fine but it had really gotten banged up over the years. I wanted to freshen it up a little, and I kept seeing Green pop up all over the place, so I chose a mild green and went with it. Afterward, it looked like this:


Apparently paint can't cure all, though, because once we stacked everything back in there, it looked almost as bad as it had before!


It's not even that it was that MESSY in there, because honestly we could always find what we needed and nothing ever came tumbling down on our heads when we opened the doors. But it was just FULL and cluttered-looking. And we can't have THAT, now can we?
I had visions in my head of how the crisp green paint would look next to a whole set of dark baskets, similar to these sold by Pottery Barn:


But unfortunately those weren't in my budget. I had to look elsewhere ... and Target had some that were a similar color and the right size, but they were still too expensive in the quantity I needed. So I found these there instead, for about $7 less per basket than the dark ones:


Now don't get me wrong ... I plan to save up for and buy the baskets I originally had in mind one day. (THE VISION NEVER DIES, you know.) However, I wanted to spend just a little to make it look more pleasant each time I open those doors, and I was able to get all of these baskets and the rubber totes on the bottom shelf for under $70 (and I could only get a few of the PB baskets for that price).


I'm thinking of this as my "Spring is Coming!" color scheme, and perhaps as we enter the Fall of 2010 I'll have enough saved to buy the nicer baskets. These actually aren't quite as blindingly turquoise and lime as they look in the picture above ... they're closer to this:


But I wanted you to be able to see everything in the natural light (of my artificial light) ... you know what I mean.

And if you've seen those darker baskets anywhere for a steal, please let me know!

14 comments:

Thankfully Thrifty said...

So organized! Love that!

Mandi @ Sweetly Home said...

I love how you didn't just wait until you had "the perfect basket" to get your organizing done. I love the look - and I bet it feels so great to have everything in nice baskets. Corralled and looking good! I see that you are from Birmingham, AL....gosh, that's my favorite city in all of America. I often joke to my friends that I wish I lived in Birmingham, Alabama (always said with a bit of a drawl). :)

Amanda @ Serenity Now said...

I love your "Spring is Coming!" color scheme. :) The after shot is awesome...I love bins and baskets. :)

Thanks for the visit. I hope you might stop back by tomorrow for my "new look" Giveaway or for the Decorating Dilemmas party--this post is a great Solution! :)

Jane said...

I actually like the baskets you got. A lot. A pop of color.

Darcy said...

Very Cheery! Looks amazing! Thank you for stopping by and leaving nice comments on my blog!

Sarah T. said...

It looks SO good! It was a delight. It may be hard to have the short people keep it in order (maybe Gray, too), but it looks great!
Vast improvement!

Tonya said...

Looks great! I actually love the vibrant colors, but if you want the baskets darker, can't you just spray paint them?? I have seen others doing it, but I have never done it myself. Just a thought!

Definitely a GREAT makeover though!!! LOVE IT!

Amy said...

It looks great! Will you come do mine? :P

Kristi said...

You could always get some of that paint for plastics in a chocolate brown and paint them.

3XMom said...

I think it looks really cute and very organized. But if you want other baskets - go with IKEA!

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80164554

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10167320

Katherine @ Grass Stains said...

Thank you, all! Mandi, I've never heard anyone say that Birmingham is their favorite city in all of America, so that cracks me up. But I love it here!

Tonya and Kristi, I've thought about spray painting them but haven't decided about that yet. It's certainly an option, though!

3xMom, I'll check those out! Maybe I can afford them and I can drive over to Atlanta to buy some!

Jennifer Juniper said...

I love the color and coordination and the organization!! Love it all :)

Rachel said...

I love it! The biggest bummer about renting is not being able to paint.

Jessi @ Yankee Belle Home said...

We also only have a laundry closet at the top of our stairs. A "redo" has bene on my list for a while now. Love how you paitned the inside of the closet...I'm going to add that to my list!

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