Wallpapered Laundry Room

Today, I’m sharing a small (but mighty) room in our house – the laundry room. In hindsight, I should have installed a wine fridge in here because I basically live in here :)  Between the lake and the pool this summer, there is always a mountain of towels to wash, and in fact, I realize looking back at these photos, my washing machine has a full load of towels in it that I didn’t mean to catch on camera…I’m just trying to give you an authentic laundry vibe…

This room also doubles as my command center. Clutter drives me nuts, especially on my kitchen countertops. So, I need somewhere to go with all the millions of papers that come home from school plus mail etc. More on that later.

First, let’s talk design in here. I knew I wanted counters that went over my washer and dryer in this house because I love having a folding/sorting surface in the laundry room. Also, it really cuts down on rogue socks behind the dryer. We went with this simple soapstone looking laminate counter in here due to me being as the Mr. states it, “a zillion dollars over budget” everywhere else. The guys did a great job of making all the built-ins.

We went with the same white walls in here that are in most of our house, so I went with a soft grey color on the cabinets and the shelves.

I had originally planned on adding a tile backsplash later down the road, until by happy accident I had extra wallpaper leftover from our little powder room (it’s just down the hall from here, and I haven’t shared it on the blog yet). I had the extra installed just on this back wall which actually most people think is tile from far away. It adds just enough texture and fun in this room.

The flooring in here is the same slate flooring from BuildDirect that we used in our entryway just in a large brick pattern. I love the blue/grey color and it continues down throughout our mudroom (I will blog more on this room soon too).

 

We put a pocket door in here so that I can close it off easily and hide the mess.

Another must have in this room was a sink with a pull down sprayer faucet – a.k.a. our dog Charlie’s bathtub. If there is a dead fish, or any sort of nasty something washed up on the beach, you can guarantee Charlie is going to roll in it, so he pretty much gets a dunk in the tub almost daily.

Ok back to the clutter. I have finally developed a method that works for us. My kids take any papers out of their folders and stick them on that basket on the counter. I also stick any mail in there too. Basically, any paper of any kind gets jammed in this basket appropriately labeled “Miscellaneous Stuff.”

Then I go through it every day or two and either file it away in these hanging baskets on the wall or recycle it. I put separate striped folders in it to keep it looking neat, but also to have different file options. I have one for receipts, tax stuff etc. It keeps everything all in one spot, off my counters and my sanity in tact.

Oh, and I also have a pretty nice lake view out this little window, which makes laundry not so bad. I’m telling you that wine fridge is not such a far fetched idea ;)

SOURCE LIST – (contains affiliate links)

Wallpaper – Serena and Lily

Cabinet color – Light French Grey by Sherwin Williams

Wall color – Extra White by Sherwin Williams

Mudroom wall color – Boothbay Gray by Benjamin Moore

Faucet – Signature Hardware

Flooring – BuildDirect Janeiro Slate Tile in Montauk Blue

Baskets – Target from a few years ago

Wire Organizer – HomeGoods, but here is a similar one

Light – Wayfair see all our light choices here