Cottage Laundry Room Makeover

It has been forever since I have made a post, not because I haven't wanted to, but life has just been so busy. We have been working tirelessly on our home to make improvements and to make it guest worthy. My cousin and her family came to visit and before they arrived, a fresh look throughout my house was my goal.
This post however is in regards to my laundry room. When we first moved in I painted the beadboard in white which I liked, but at the time I was on a brown/blue kick and since those are not colors I normally used in my home, I thought the laundry room would be a great place for them. I never really liked the finished products, but other projects always took priority until now.

As you can see from the first 2 photos my laundry was a mess, however it did not always look like this. I failed to take "normal" photos of the room and only thought of it after I had already started moving things around. I had tried painting the ceiling when we first moved in, but the paper on the ceiling was old and so it started to peel and of course I just left it for "another day". Also the light broke when my husband walked right under it and I never replaced that either.

I like brown and blue, but it made this room too dark.

This is the other side of the room that we stored food on wire shelves and a small drawer freezer.

After clearing the room, I started by painting everything white-my favorite color!

More white paint-thankfully the weather was fabulous, so I could leave the window open for ventilation. Here is Scott starting to grout tile.

In between my painting, Scott regrouted the floors. The tile was still in great shape, so we save no need on spending the additional money for new tiles-but now it has a lightly, fresher look.
Instead of putting in an expensive ceiling, we bought foam squares that just glued to the ceiling-cheap, easy and nice fix. I also replaced the old light with a chandelier that I had stored in my closet. I have been replacing "cheaper" Ikea lights with ones that I pick up at flea markets so this light was one that had been replaced by an antique on in my dining room.

Instead of keeping the room all white, I painted inside the frames that I had in the old laundry room a warm sage color.
More sage
The previous owners did put up this "European beadboard", however there was always this 1.5" ledge all the way around, so we used 14" (not sure the exact size) wide boards all the way around the room for a decorating ledge. We just mounted them with brackets every few feet for stability. I also reused the same brown shelves that I had previously to display all my black toile trays that I have collected over the years.

The finished room. I was still able to display all my vintage laundry wares, such as an old washboard and sewing spools. I also searched many months to find glass jars for my powder detergent. Once I found in France for 6 euros (the large one) and the other in Tongeren, Belgium for 10 euros.

I also collect old apothecary/pharmacy jars, so I figured this ledge was a great place to display them.

I added a light for evening "work", I just like the glow it leaves!

One of my favorite things in my laundry room are those 2 jars of buttons. They were my grandmothers and I remember sitting for hours at her kitchen table just looking through them.

I still have work to do on the window side of the room, however I thought this was a great place to display this very old and heavy, green stained glass window that I picked up in France for 10 euros!

My old glass detergent jars, also the box that holds my yummy fabric softener was a gift from a friend. She found it for free, but to me it is priceless.

We moved our refrigerator into our work room to give us more storage space. I wish I had more time to find a vintage cupboard, but this one serves the purpose and make a wonderful cabinet for dry food storage. I also need to finish above the window, but all in due time!

We also purchased cabinets and a countertop for the other side of the room. I can now store all paper goods easily. I hope to get cabinets above real soon and use the countertop as a sewing area.

I wish I had a great way to hide the pipes, but for now, painting them sage kind or hides them.

Well there you have it, my remade laundry room. Aside from a few more storage cabinets and a window treatment, my cottage laundry room is complete and I actually enjoy doing laundry. I find myself putting away the clothes a lot soon b/c I don't want to see baskets just sitting around filled to the top. I hope you enjoyed my little tour!!

Happy 2010 Transformation!!!!

YEAH!! My 1st entry in Show and Tell Friday with Cindy over at My Romantic Home
Check it out!



I have been trying for months to make the arrangements in our home work to accommodate more people comfortably and I think I found a solution. I got a new camera for Christmas (yeah!), but my sweet husband deleted the pictures off the camera before I had a chance to make sure that they were all saved on my computer. I had a lot of "before" the move photos; but can't seem to find many of them, so I threw in some from Christmas so you can see how the house was set up before the move! I love the change; now I am just saving my euro for some white slip covered couches, which may take awhile thanks to Dave Ramsey!


Ok, so here is our wonderful German neighbor Ida who brought the kids presents on Christmas Eve. You can see she is standing in the old dining area that comes right off the kitchen

I was testing out my new camera and shot some photos in black and white. This too is the dining area and my lovely center piece with real red roses floating in water and my German Schwinboggen in the window

This is looking in the the dining area before the move

This was my tree this year; I threw the picture in b/c I knew I wouldn't have time to do an entire post just on Christmas since it is already 15 January, 2010
I did the tree with lots of mercury glass ornaments, and silver plates with friends and family photos on them. I put TONS of real roses and baby's breath in the tree with white lights of course! It just glistened!

Months back a friend and I bought these old chippy window panes for 10 euros a piece and so I used one this Christmas season as a backdrop on my buffet and for my manger scene

This is a very strange are in my house, our living area is long and somewhat narrow and the bookcase and fireplace are in the center of it. Once I save up enough a white loveseat will sit infront of it. I was excited to fill my dough bowl from Tongeren, Belgium with sparkling silver balls and some of my favorite silver pieces.

This is looking in the old "living area". I like the space but there is not a lot of room for seating

I threw this picture in b/c I did my cabinet with all things roses on top and I liked the way it turned out.

This is looking to the right of that "living" area. I always kept my 2 winged back chairs there, but I just needed more space.

Here is my last "before" picture and before all the Christmas decor was down

Here was have the after! I moved my living room to my dining area and vice versa! It literally came to me as I was sleeping! When I woke up, I had to call my husband about the change; he could hardly contain himself! Well he went along with it and helped me move. Just because it says "Essenzimmer" Eating area on the blueprint doesn't mean I have to abide by it. I am going to take that approach from now on.
My plan is again to get some white slipcovered couches and loveseats and to get a really old shabby table that is perfect for under the chandelier. I may try and find a piece that wasn't intended to a table at all; I guess I am going on a mission to France real soon.

I love the change! I still really want to paint the beams white; or better yet, take them out, but hubby is not on board AT ALL! He says we will most likely sell back to a German family and they LOVE these beams.

Still need more seating, but the area is so much bigger than the previous living area

When summer comes, out balcony will just become and extension of our indoor living space. See that odd area again in front of the white shelves? It is hard, even now to keep the conversation flow going with such a narrow set up; but we do the best we can.

Can you tell that I love roses? I took lots of them off my tree and put them everywhere. I found a new spot for my dough bowl; atleast for a few months

Don't get me started on the fireplace. When the house was built in 1970, the slanted fireplace was all the rage. Well it is 2010 and not so cool, but we are thinking of doing it all in the faux stone and for sure getting an insert so we can seriously put off some heat and make it worth while. I did paint it khaki right before Christmas, but not sure I like it now. Looking for some small table and wooden chairs for the kids because the yellow one has to go; it does work for the little people right now.

And now looking into my new dining room! Yes, I can actually say that I have a dining room and not a dining area. Would LOVE to put white french doors on, but only in my dreams, maybe I will find curtains to accent the area.

Still working on the camera functions, so I tried to capture the light.

Ahh, that's better. My walls are khaki and my accents are silver, black and brown and I love it!

Even with the baby grand in the corner, I still have space. I will have to rearrange eventually as the door goes out to the balcony; but for the winter months it is just fine.

One of my favorite pieces b/c it is unique is my singer sewing machine wash basin that I purchased at an antique's store in Louisiana. I put a piece of glass on top so I can use it as a table. I already changed out my candy for Valentine's Day; Conversation heart and red and pink M & M's.

So I found this old glass door on the side of the road about 1 1/2 years back. I painted it white and then just randomly used it to decorate.I needed something for this area so I quickly found some of the fabric that my sister bought me for Christmas (GREAT PRESENT by the way-yards of fabric!) and I put B & W and sepia family photos with double sided tape on top! I literally did it in 5 minutes and I love it! I just need to add more photos. Off the right hand side you can see my new silver tray with black chalkboard paint on it. I found the silver tray at the thrift store for $2 and now I am going to use it as an elegant way to present my menu.

Some of my favorite silver pieces and a few roses

My buffet with some of my silver pieces and a wedding photo. I love the new damask runner that my mom bought me for Christmas from a french store in Ohio!

Last one, more silver of course, would love to find some vintage jewelry and old wedding gloves to dangle on the small tiered stand that I bought in Dinkelsbuhl, Germany (love that place!)

So there you have it! My 1 day transformation. I have touch ups to do and furniture to by, but the new set up works so much better! I will be back soon! God bless and Happy 2010!