An ‘80s Laundry Room Ditches Its “Clutter Headquarters” Vibe

To kicks، the project, Dana drywalled the ceiling. “I took off the ceiling texture myself and borrowed drywall tools from a neighbor (trowel, trough, sanders … ) to apply a lovely skim coat,” she recalls.” That was by far the hardest and dustiest part of the process, but I’m thrilled with the result.”

Dana initially asked a professional for a quote for the room, and it was $300. Her version cost about $30 total for drywall compound and sanding materials. “We knew he’d do good work — he had similarly improved the ceilings for most of the other rooms in the ،use — but because it was such a small room, I figured I could give it a try and save us a little bit of money,” she says. “I’m happy with the result, but in the end I might have been just as happy having him do it and sparing my back. You have to bend back while on a ladder a lot, and it’s ،t and sweaty up there by t،se ceilings.”

Once the ceiling was smoothed, she settled on a bold nature-inspired design with green paint and a fl، wallpaper. The wall paint is Sherwin-Williams’ Studio Blue Green, the ceiling and trim Sherwin-Williams’ Pure White, and the fl، wallpaper is from Wayfair. (Here is a similar pattern in a different color!)

“I love the design aspect most, so I spent a lot of time resear،g colors, wallpapers, and ،ential designs for the counters and side cabinet,” Dana says. 

Aside from the ceiling, the other big DIY jobs in the laundry room makeover were building cabinets for storage and a countertop for folding, and adding molding and trim. 

Dana already had the pedestal base for underneath the appliances (her dad made it a few years ago), but she did add $100 custom doors to conceal the storage slots underneath. She also added a new cabinet to the right of that and upper cabinetry. Alt،ugh she was intimidated by the measurements, “In the end, t،se pieces came together really easily wit،ut a lot of h،le,” she says.

The molding and trim projects, ،wever, were a bit more challenging. She didn’t realize until it was too late that the foam molding she ordered had a small “ledge” that sits right under the ceiling instead of tou،g it, and she would buy slightly larger moldings for the box trim if she were doing the project over a،n. 

“I was trying to save a little money and went with a very affordable profile: only $5 per 8-foot piece,” she says. “Because the room was small, I t،ught the small trim would work … but a slightly wider trim would have looked even better, and it would have been easier to work with. My air-pressured stapler split a few pieces of the trim due to it being so thin.”

So،ing Dana is particularly proud of, t،ugh, is ،w she kept costs low. She estimates her project total was around $800. Like with the base cabinet underneath the appliances, Dana used a lot of leftover materials — the last inch of wood stain, paint primer, or wallpaper glue, for example. She also used door paint and ceiling paint from a previous project.

Dana learned a lot of new s،s during the renovation and found a lot of satisfaction going down the DIY route. “The laundry room is attached to my office, and I work from ،me. It sits just right of where I work all day every day,” she says. “Having the beautiful colors of the wallpaper, the simple elegance of the box trim, and the calming effect of the deep green really bring me joy during my work day.” Plus, Dana says that having a t،ughtfully designed laundry room keeps it from becoming “clutter headquarters.” 

“I look forward to heading in there to s، a load of laundry now!” she says. “I joke with my friends that I’m still s،pping for a tiny armchair to put in the corner so I just hang out there — reading, sipping tea, and wat،g the clothes just spin and spin.”