Vibe Check! Here we go, my second ORC. Where we going this time, what vibe are we going for? Come on down to find out. I've learned A LOT since the Fall ORC where instead of 8 weeks to finish a custom closet remodel I took 6 months, but it's a clean slate and onto new adventures!
Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4| Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8
See what other participants are up to on the ORC Blog!
If you missed it... this will be my second time in the One Room Challenge and let's hope this time I can complete it sooner than 6 months. Make sure to check out other participants at the ORC Blog!
What room could I possibly want to overhaul this time around? Well, the answer is many of them. But after that insane closet build, I want something smaller, quicker, cheaper... we'll see if I accomplish all 3.
But Before Getting Into It...
Let's talk about The Vibe
I live in Florida (but I'm from New England and will forever call myself a New Englander...)
I grew up going to visit my grandparents in Tampa every February, and I loved how the house felt so light, airy, and I just remember being happy every time I walked into that house. The Florida colors and prints have always been what my mom refers to as "my colors" lots of bright blues, teals, turquoise, you name it! Now. Until this last ORC, I always thought my decor colors would be white and Navy, shoutout Penn State, we are!
Surpise! That's not the case
Last summer, I redid my guest room. I found this Lilly Pulitzer duvet, and that was just the inspiration I needed to determine how this whole house would one day come together. I have hit some missteps on colors... but I'm learning and redoing, and over the next few ORCs, watch it all come together.
So the TL;DR version: Teal and White. It gives Florida Vacation Vibes for my 20 minute from the beach house. Onto the project!
The Laundry Room
My laundry room is small. It's merely a pass through between the garage and kitchen, and what I wouldn't give for a larger laundry room. But I need to work with what I have, which means, more storage and finding a way to maximize the space in this room.
The Current Setup
Builder grade galore-ish. Sherwin Williams Extra White walls, wire shelves, HVAC closet, and a wifi wall cabinet. This time I'm focusing on the half of the laundry room with the washer and dryer. There isn't much I can do with the other side, it's white, it'll stay white that's fine.
Sidenote, does anyone else have stuff that fell behind their washer and they just give up trying to get it back because you can't reach? Yeah, that's why my mini ironing board has been missing for at least 6 months. Anyways onto the initial design.... initial because we all know how much I change my mind.
For those who have seen some of my projects so far, you'll recognize a common theme... blue and white. Why deviate from what I like? I'm trying to make my house a little more cohesive instead of a billion shades of blue which I was slowly getting to. So here we go!
**Note this area is a disaster and has become my drop zone when walking in, but I'm showing you the real deal how it looks before tidying up...
The Vision
White Shaker Cabients, rolling laundry carts, sea foam/teal/mint backsplash. Shoo all the interior designers saying teal is too bright. I live 20 minutes from the beach and I finally have a house that I can decorate myself!
Cabinets
I plan on removing the wire shelf, no judgement to anyone that enjoys these, they do their job, but for me it's time from a change! I'm planning on 2 wall cabinets with shelving in between. I haven't decided if they're floating or if I find some brackets, we'll see. Either way, the top shelves will be the same depth as the cabinets, about 12 inches. Currently I'm leaning towards White Shaker
Cabinets, there's a company I've seen over on Tiktok that makes dove tail cabinets for the price of hardware store ones...but shipping man! I haven't decided which I'm going for just yet.
In addition to the wall cabinets, I want to make use of all the wasted space above the cabinets like I did in the closet. I think I may have enough leftover MDF from the closet to build these without purchasing any additional material except for trim... as much as I'd like to use plywood, I'll take the MDF if it doesn't cost more money.
Backsplash
I don't know if this area is considered a "backsplash" but that's what I'm calling it. Below the cabinets, and behind the shelves, I plan on either doing a tile or a shiplap with an accent color. I have a billion samples, but so far I haven't found something where I immediately go "Yes. That's it!" So... in classic Kenz fashion, I'm undecided and it will be a game time decision in a week. I'll showcase some of the tile samples on my instagram @kenzzdiy since the last one arrives today!
Shallow Shelf
Shallow shelf over the washer/dryer... I have a top load washer, so I plan on putting a shallow 6-8" deep shelf above the washer/dryer. I haven't determined exactly what will go on this, but it will at least hide the connections behind and keep more items from falling behind. Shelving color wise, I really want to learn to do a proper whitewash, or a really light grey wash. "But K grey is out!" Shoo. My floors are a distressed cottage tile and I'm working with the color scheme I picked out 2 years ago.
Laundry Cart
I have wasted space between my washer/dryer, enough that I can build a skinny laundry cart to store detergent, softener, etc. This can be build from plywood and painted to match the cabinet color with some fixed casters and a drawer pull, easy enough. Or so I think... we'll find out soon enough.
Schedule
In classic One Room Challenge style, we have 8 weeks to complete out projects. Granted, you can go over/under, there's just 8 official posting weeks. So, here's the idea for my weekly schedule, we'll see how much I stick to this
Week 1 - Design
Week 2 - Demo
Week 3 - Cabinets
Week 4 - Shelves/Uppers
Week 5 - Backsplash
Week 6 - Storage Cart
Week 7 - Paint and Finish Work
Week 8 - Reveal
Let's Talk Budget
I don't have a final cost for everything in my closet, but that is coming, and I think it may be a little bit of sticker shock, especially if you count all the tools I bought. So this project will not be anywhere near as expensive, and I'm hoping to stick to it!
I'm not sure what people consider small/large budgets, I can only speak from my experience. With that in mind, I want to keep this laundry DIY under $1000. The cabinets will take up at a chunk of that budget, probably more. But I have some materials left over from previous projects. So I'm hoping just some extra trim, some wood, brackets, casters for the shelves and cart, and tile... I think it's manageable... but only time will tell.
In the end...
I'm tired after this closet build. But I'm hoping I've had enough of a break and this next One Room Challenge is a nice ease into another bigger project I have planned for sometime in 2023... but that'd a much bigger build, and more money needed for that one. So I'll tackle this room that's been driving me crazy since I moved in.
TOODLES!
- K
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