Before and After - Laundry Room

We've been busy around here (still). I've been very excited about our most recent project - the laundry room. We knew exactly what we wanted to do in this room, even before I saw the house for the first time. (as you remember, Sam did all the house hunting on his own and I only saw photos until we moved out here)

Most important: the "mud" part of the laundry room. We don't wear shoes in the house and since the laundry room connects directly to the garage, all the shoes end up on the floor all over the place. And the coat closet wasn't working either. The kids can't reach the hangers so their coats and backpacks end up on the floor there (when they even make it that far). So we took this space:and Sam worked his carpentry magic with a bench that has shoe cubbies underneath.

(Kaitlyn made these name tags and put them in the cubbies the first night. We didn't keep the tags but we did make sure everyone is now using the cubbies she assigned us)

We added a little interest with some board and batten and, of course, coat hooks. I used the brown paint we had left over from the kids bedrooms (can't let an entire can go to waste can we?!) for the walls.

The bench got stained and covered with about 4 coats of polyurethane (so hopefully it will stand up well to the kids climbing on it).

And there you have it! Oooooo :)I used the old rugs we had been using for the shoes, cut them in half and covered the cut side with duct tape to prevent them from unravelling, and they fit perfectly in the cubbies to catch any dirt the shoes may have.
Here is the final product!And for the laundry side of the room...

Before: the wire shelving (that half the stuff tries to fall through) that was way too high for me to reach well. And of course all the clutter that piles up - it's real life after all.

We found this unfinished cabinet at Home Depot - for $50! The finished ones were closer to $180 each (yikes) but these were on sale. And with the military discount on top of it, I consider that a real bargain. So this guy got a couple coats of white and one coat of poly.We installed it above the washer. Now it's all nice and functional and we're loving the whole room! There are just a few finishing touches I have in the works and this room will be FINISHED! (oh how wonderful it will be to have one room entirely done instead of part of the work in progress)

Oh, and that coat closet I mentioned -
This isn't staged. The hangers really were hanging off the rack for 3 whole days before I untangled them. And see the coats and backpack on the floor?
Well, now it just holds the big cleaning things and a small basket of hats and gloves. I like it minimalist like this - I don't have to fight anything to get the vacuum out.

Next up? Painting the kitchen...

Linking to:
Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Design
Link it up party at Sisters Stuff
Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge