I moved out of my parent’s house in my early twenties. I was planning on renting an apartment, but my parents came to me with an offer I couldn’t refuse. They lent me the money to purchase my own home and I paid a mortgage to them.
I bought the house at an auction. It was built in the 1950s and was around 1,000 square feet of living space. It had a spacious laundry room, considering the house was fairly small overall. Unfortunately, it was filled with old appliances that didn’t always work.
And then there were the walls. They were painted gray with red hand prints decorating them. It looked like a scene out of a horror movie. I’m not sure what the previous owners were thinking, but it was creepy.
I actually liked having such a unique space. Then I met my wife. She wasn’t such a fan of doing laundry in a room that looked like it was part of a murder investigation.
I agreed to renovate the laundry room. I had a limited budget, though. Here’s what I did.
Added a light fixture. The room just had a light bulb hanging from the ceiling when I moved in. It was effective at lighting the room, but added no ambiance. In fact, it really upped the creepy factor. I installed a simple white light fixture I picked up for under $10.
Installed a utility sink. The laundry room had quite a bit of unused space. I found a utility sink at a garage sale and installed it in the room myself. I read tutorials online and found it to be a simple task.
Put up shelves. Like most small, old houses, ours didn’t offer much storage space. I put up shelves in the laundry room. I also installed hooks to hang coats, bags and the ironing board.
Bought new appliances. We first hit the scratch and dent store, but found their prices to be comparative to sales prices at some of the big box stores that sell appliances. We found a stackable washer and dryer set on clearance at sears for just over $300 for each piece.
Painted the walls. I’m a big horror movie fan and would have left the walls if I was going to continue living alone. However, when I asked my sweetheart to move in, I knew they had to go. I painted over them in white to give the room a fresh, clean look. It took several coats.
It’s been a few years, so the room has gotten a bit organized. It’s still very functional, though. The washer and dryer work great. The sink comes in handy. We have filled up the storage spaces. It also doubles as a bathroom for the cats. The project came in at just under $1,000.
