Mini Laundry Room Makeover

Laundry: The dreadful never ending cycle. I don't know about you, but I'm not very good at staying on top of my laundry. I'm more likely to let several loads build up and then spend hourrrss catching up. I've always wanted a laundry room I can actually do laundry in vs. hauling everything to my bed and folding it there. The laundry room in our current house is pretty small, and up until now, has been pretty unorganized and definitely not a place I could fold and organize laundry. I've been wanting to re-work my laundry routine to make it more manageable which meant getting my laundry room in order. So, this weekend I decided to do a Mini Laundry Room Makeover. Now it isn't super fancy, it's still not the laundry room of my dreams, but you gotta work with what you've got! And now I can actually do the laundry in my laundry room!! (gah, it really is the little things in life that get me excited 🤣). Here is the step by step instructions for how I managed to makeover my tiny little laundry room into a functional space all during nap time!!

Before:

So here it is, the not-so-lovely before scene. Unorganized and not functional.

Items needed for the faux-marble shelf:
     -wire shelf
     -tri-fold presentation poster board
     -marble contact paper
     -zip ties
     -hot glue gun

Step 1: Clean out!
Step 2: Hang shelf. I got this 3ft wire shelf for $12.
Step 3: Cut board to the length of the shelf. I used a tri-fold presentation poster board. The poster board that I used was the same length as the shelf (3 ft). To allow for a lip to cover the front of the shelf, I used the fold of the poster board at the edge and then cut about 2-3 inches down with a box cutter. The cut needs to be straight, but does not have to be perfect! You can see mine was a little jagged, but the contact paper smoothed it out.

Step 4: Cover board with contact paper (I used this faux-marble paper and I love it!). Cut your contact paper to the size of your board plus an additional inch all the way around. Then, lay your contact paper face size down (sticky side up) on a flat surface and peel backing off. Lay your poster board on the contact paper and fold the edges over, similar to wrapping a present. The underneath doesn't have to look great, it's more important that you make sure the top and sides are smooth.

Step 5: Add zip ties. Place your covered foam board on the shelf and mark on the underneath side where a few zip ties should go. I did 6 zip ties evenly spaced on the main part and 3 on the lip. Hot glue zip ties to the poster board, allow them to dry, the attach the board to the wire shelf. 

That's it! A faux-marble shelf for less than $20. To give me something pretty to look at while I fold clothes, I added this easy DIY picture holder. Simply take a frame and hot glue string or yarn across the back. Then clip pictures or cards up with mini clothes pins. 

I also changed out the cabinet knobs to add a pop of color

and added a painting to make the space feel more inviting. 

Now, hopefully this will motivate me to do a load of laundry every day! 

-Margaret

Spring Cleaning

Spring has sprung! Which means its time to deep clean. But let's get real, we are so not Martha Stewart. We don't have the time or energy to spend hours upon hours making our house precisely perfect ('cause Lord knows it would only stay that way for about 5 minutes!). But there is something very satisfying about having a thoroughly cleaned home. If your life is crazy and hectic like ours, try tackling your cleaning to-do list a little at a time. Here is a two week guide to get your spring cleaning done in an hour or less a day!

Happy Spring! - The ModernDayMargarets