Year of Change Challenge {February Reveal}

It's time for our February Year of Change Reveals! We each be addressing organziational ideas, tackling specific areas of our homes that are stumbling blocks to staying organzied. I know that I personally, spend so much time on the decor in my home, but sometimes struggle to keep things thoughtfully organized. 
I'm sharing how I turned my laundry room from 

CHAOTIC to CALM, COOL AND COLLECTED.

PLUS: Some solutions for every day clutter.

Be sure to visit my gang of gals and their organizational projects this month:

Life on Virginia Street

Suburban Bitches

Rosa Beltran Design

and this month's Guest Blogger: Christina Williams

Chris is sharing her SUPER COOL Laundry Room Makeover 
and FREE Organizational Printables!!

I really couldn't wait to tackle my laudry room. I'm not someone who loves chores, but they're a necessary thing, aren't they. I had been putting off addressing this room for quite some time and let's just say it really needed an infusion of fresh and happy...it was seriously so dreary, disorganized, and a very un-utilitarian Utility Room. When we moved into the house it  became a sort of catch-all room. 

I always put off organizing it and needed to find space for all of the cleaning supplies, clutter, etc. 

I  set out to accomplish 3 things in my tiny laundry room:

1. Make it brighter, and more functional

2. Use a shot of bold color, but keep in mind re-sale 

3. Frugality. Accomplish this entire make over with the stencil + $20 + things I already had that I could re-furbish to work in this space

Ready to see?

Here is the before. Yup, I'm a real person.
With real kids(4). And a real dog.
And a really small, junk in the trunk laundry room.

Total craziness describes the before of this room. 

I was ready for a BIG CHANGE.

I knew I wanted to lighten and brighten but keep things functional. That meant getting rid of the pale blue wainscotting and changing it to a darker shade of gray. I used  "Urbane Bronze" by Sherwin Williams. I've had a client use this color before and have seen amazing results with painting woodwork this dark, warm charcoal color. {Have you seen Life on Virginia Street's Office Makeover with "Urbane Bronze"?}

So I went for it!

Like I said, originally, the beadboard was painted a very pale, baby blue. It showed everything. Every scuff, knick, smudge. Did I mention I have 4 kids and a dog? And that this was where all the dirt and doggieness ends up?
This was going to go dark.

I was a little nervous at first but knew that this would be practical as well as add balance to the space.

Painting the beadboard: It needed 3 coats, you really need to get in those grooves. B ut I was able to accomplish this plus paint a faux window casing with a small sample size (29.5 fl ounce) from Sherwin Williams. 

SW URBANE BRONZE  | SW SNOWBOUND  | SW ENVY 

I then painted out the rest of the room with "SnowBound".

It was a HUGE change to brighten up the space. I also taped off and added that faux window casing with "Urbane Bronze". I didn't want to block out any of the limited natural light coming in from the window, so instead of adding a window treatment, I left the sort of crummy/basic blinds in place and added the painted window casing to see if it enlarged that wall. I think it did. I will probably follow up with building in a real wood window casing and usuing a brightly patterend fabric for a roman blind.

Next up was a stenciled floor mat. I used a $5.99 painter's canvas from Home Depot. Cutting it in half length wise gave me the perfect runner for the space. I then used my hot glue gun to run a bead of glue down the edge to for a seam. {Pardon the UGGS, it was snowing}.

And then, I began painting AGAIN. I taped off a border and then I used a roller to paint the white background and sort of Gesso or prime the canvas. 

 

I loved the sort of free-form shapes of the stencil, reinforcing the handmade/handcrafted feel that is indicative of Otomi. So for my striped border, I sort of just went for it and didn't measure or worry about anything lining up. As if I was an artisan or something ;)

Once complete and dry, I took the tape off and then added 3 coats of MODGE PODGE to seal the runner. This will give me a good, sturdy mat that is waterproof and that I can wipe down. 

So now that you've seen the projects, see how the light, bright and clean feel  it inspired the rest of the room!

I added baskets to conceal/house the everyday cleaning items as well as a few plants and decorative items. This made the room a happy place that is orderly and pretty. 

You also may be wondering where all junky stuff went. I relocated all of the paper goods that were lurking behind the shelving curtain, moved all of the cleaning products to the baskets and small cabinet under the counter that is to the right of the doorway, put mops/brooms/etc. hanging on hooks in the garage. This was such a small space that it is so much more functional now as a laundry room to just keep things off of the floor space. 

XXXOOO,