$23 Laundry Room Makeover Kelsey, November 12, 2023November 16, 2023 As one of my first blog posts, I’ve got to start by warning you that I am CHEAP. Maybe I’ll be nicer to myself and say I’m just a creative girl on a tight budget or that I am resourceful with my projects. Either way, no matter the project, you bet I am going to be doing the best I can to use what I have at home or find a good deal. And that is exactly what I did here with my very 60s basement laundry room. With $23 dollars I turned this: Into this: Before After What’s the catch? … Is what you may be asking, so let me tell you. The trick here is USING WHAT YOU ALREADY HAVE. I repeat, try to use what you already have at home. I joked above that I am cheap, but I really do think a better word to describe it is resourceful. You may not realize all the helpful tools and items you already have in the house that can be used for many projects. From paint, to old door hinges, to old used sandpaper (that’s right I keep used sand paper that isn’t worn out), you can save yourself so much money by being a bit creative. Now, what did I spend the $23 on? Read below to find out the cost breakdown and everything I did to update my laundry room. The Cabinets Okay would you have guessed this is where I spent the full $23? I didn’t feel like priming my cabinets so I purchased Rustoleum’s Linen White chalk paint for $23. I had never painted cabinets before (at this point in time), so I felt most comfortable using chalk paint, as I had used it for prior furniture flips. To paint the cabinets, I first cleaned them with a damp cloth and then scuff sanded them. I skipped priming because I was limited on time and had a lot to get done in one weekend. These cabinets don’t get too much use, so I wasn’t concerned. I used an angled brush first to get in the curved pieces of the doors and drawers then used a foam roller for the rest. Two coats provided great coverage, plus a coat of polyacrylic that I already had did the trick! It’s been over 6 months and I haven’t noticed any scratches or chipped paint The Countertop The orangey brown laminate granite just wasn’t doing it for me and certainly wasn’t giving me an airy, clean, modern vibe. I’ve always been obsessed with white marble, but can I afford that? Absolutely not. Epoxy is a frugal girl’s best friend. I’ll admit epoxy definitely can be pricey, but it is cheaper than real stone. Luckily for me, my dad had some spare epoxy that he brought over along with some paints to tint the epoxy. I used an assortment of grays, whites, and gold to create the marble veining. And from that, we created this faux marble countertop which was simply poured over the existing laminate. Stay tuned for a more in-depth tutorial on how to create your own countertops using epoxy. Countertop expenses = $0. The Walls Okay this original wall color could quite literally make me vomit. Can you believe it was all over my house, not just the laundry room? After A LOT of dusting, cleaning and patch work, the walls were ready to be painted. After painting almost every other room in my house just months prior, the last thing I wanted to do was spend more money on paint and supplies, so I made do with what we had. We had loads of different shades of whites between leftover cans and old samples. I also had a leftover olive green can of paint. I wanted the room to be bright and clean looking so I mixed a few whites with a dash of olive green to create this beautiful sage color for the accent wall. I used an assortment of white paints to paint the rest of the walls. With leftover paint supplies, that brought my paint expenses to $0. The Woodwork Have I mentioned yet that I was trying to do this all while my husband and 1 year old were visiting my in-laws for the weekend? Well, let me tell you, this is where the tricky part came in. Building and installing the shelf behind the washer and dryer was HARD with only one set of hands. To keep my expenses at $0 for this step of the laundry room overhaul, I used old lumber that we inherited when we purchased our house 6 months prior. The previous home owner decided to leave a good amount of lumber in our garage which made me VERY HAPPY. I put the shelf together first and then slid it in behind the washer and dryer machines. I then secured it to the wall and screwed on the one front board. Using door hinges from an old cabinet that was stored in our garage, I then created the flip up door so that we could access the dryer hose. I’m really starting to see a theme here… Again my expense here was $0. Lastly, the Backsplash I was not confident epoxying the backsplash, as that would involve cutting it off the counter, epoxying it separately, then reattaching it. SO instead, I created a backsplash by building a short shelf out of, again, the leftover lumber. I screwed it in place from the back of the counter and voila! A $0 backsplash. After all these projects, I simply decorated the room with items I already had including a washable rug we had in another room. Please ignore the still, salmon colored concrete floors hiding under the area rug. That project is a blog post for another time! So there you have it. A $23 room makeover, completed in one weekend. I hope this inspires you to get creative and use what you have to make a space that you once hated, into a room that is all your vision! Home DIYs Room Reveals budget friendly diyDIYepoxyhomehome decorhome improvementlaundry roomroom makeover
Furniture Flips 2-Step Beginner-Friendly Dining Table Makeover November 16, 2023November 16, 2023 Don’t you love Facebook Marketplace? I have been finding so many treasures on there lately, including this gem. This sturdy oak dining table was giving me antique farmhouse vibes – exactly what I had been looking for as a focal piece for our dining room. The best part, the table… Read More