A Frugal Redo-From guest bedroom to a much needed upper level laundry room

Another chapter in the "we don't need to do anything to this house but move in!"
We moved just 11 houses down the street from our rambler to our "new to us" two story home. We love it-we love everything about it..but I guess I like to have projects to do-much to Tim's dismay. Who knew that going from a laundry room one flight of stairs away to a laundry room two flights of stairs away would be such as hassle? Well, needless to say it only took one year to convince Tim that it was much needed in the upper level where all the bedrooms are. I would have been ok with it on the main floor too, but just couldn't find a space for it that didn't require a major renovation.

This is what it looked like as the Guest Bedroom-sorry the picture isn't that great-I am not good at taking "before and after" shots so this was just a quick shot before we started moving furniture.

Money was a major factor in this redo as with most of my projects. The largest cost was with the plumbing. Luckly we had a bathroom right on the other side of the wall, and the utility room was directly below two stories. All told I think we spent around $600 for the plumber, plumbing supplies, and install. I have about $100 in the wood for the pedistal that the washer and dryer are sitting on. Other than that it was just 1 gallon  2 gallons of paint. I already had the white paint for the cabinets.

This is what used to be the closet. We left part open behind the washer so that if we needed to reach the plumbing we still could (not that I ever plan on having to climb back there!) The plumber put a full size shower drain and pipe under the washer so that if we ever did have an overflow it should just go right down the drain.

Here you can see the opening that we left above the washer (see the kid in there?) we thought we could use it for storage if needed. Here is where the second gallon of paint came in. I thought I wanted to venture out of my green comfort zone and try for a sea glass blue. WRONG. When I painted the small patch it was very baby blue-not at all what I wanted. Back to the color charts and I picked a lovely shade of green. I am very happy that I decided against the blue.

Getting the upper cabinet in place and ready for the lower.

Here is the same view from the door as the one above with the bed. Amazing difference isn't it? The upper and lower cabinets came from the basement laundry room. They were originally painted a deep mustard yellow so I did a coat of primer and two coats of white. I added the crown moulding to the top to finish it off. I have to say that I am getting pretty good with miter cuts by now!

Finished storage area. I have baskets below the counter and I dream of a day when the kids will actually put their laundry in the CORRECTLY LABELED basket, but I don't know if that day will ever come.

The countertops are actually vintage doors out of a local convent that I purchased at a garage sale for $30 for the pair. My husband HATES them, but I love the look. I used a stairway newell post for the legs-just cut off the ball and turned them upside down.

My solution to cover the storage hole above the washer was this vintage window I had hanging around in the garage. Tim tried to throw it away several times but I convinced him that I would have a use for it. I used an old Ralph Lauren stencil that I have had for years and painted the pattern white on the back of the window, then painted over that with the green wall color. I think it fits perfectly. The pedistal works wonderfully-I had no idea that lifting the washer and dryer made it so much easier to load and unload.

Isn't this sink cute? I knew I wanted something different and I wanted it to look more like furniture. I stopped at a garage sale down the street and they had this sink. I didn't buy it because I didn't think I could find a base for it-so right after I left the sale I went to the Salvation Army and found this old sewing machine cabinet for $8. Needless to say I ran right back to the garage sale and picked up the sink for $10. I did have to spend more on the faucet than I would have liked, but it was on sale at Menards for around $60. I had the vintage mirror floating around the house waiting for the perfect home.

All in all we spent under $900 to make this guest bedroom into my dream laundry room. Now I just have to figure out how the laundry can do itself.