My Laundry Room "Wall"

My New Laundry Room!

Laundry Room?  Mudroom?  Craft room?  It doesn't matter what you

Laundry/Mudroom BEFORE

call it, I have this awesome room in my house that could serve many purposes. In fact, this is the room that really sold me on this house the minute we walked through the door.  I don't know the real history behind this space, but I would venture to guess that it was originally a bedroom, then an office, and finally a laundry room.  It is quite large at 10x15, and is also open to my back door entry.  Because of this, it is essentially a giant mudroom/laundry room combo.  Who wouldn't love that?!  The black and cream checkered floors are from the previous owners and I really kind of like them, so for now, they stay.  As for the walls, I don't mind blue, but this existing blue needs to go (put that on the to-do list!).

Laundry Room BEFORE

So why the new "wall"?  Many reasons, actually.  As KalamazooKitty has grown over the years, so has the need for a home office.  Yes, I could make a huge office in the basement, but I just don't think I would really use it down there.  And anyone who lives in a Cape Cod like me, knows that we just don't have extra rooms sitting around unused!  In addition to my need for a home office, my husband essentially works from home and needs a space as well (he is a Realtor with Jaqua Realtors in Kalamazoo, Michigan).  I also didn't have a great spot to organize bills, school papers or anything else to do with our

Office "wall" AFTER

home or businesses.  After pondering this for quite some time, I came up with one room as my only option: my laundry room!  Do I move the laundry downstairs where it probably originally was?  Do we divide the space by building a wall and creating two separate rooms?  Do we just set up the office within the laundry room and live with it?  Quite honestly, I didn't love any of those options.  I did not want to permanently change the room that sold me this house originally, in the event that we decide to sell at some point ourselves.  I also didn't want to move the laundry downstairs because it would be inconvenient, and again, not a great selling point in the future.  So in order to achieve my office, keep the laundry upstairs and maintain the mudroom, I decided to build a temporary wall to divide this large room into two smaller, more functional rooms.

Laundry Room BEFORE

So off to my stores I went!  I already had the tall multi-drawer cabinet and the black filing cabinet (both came from KalamazooKitty!), but I needed more "pieces" to create a two-sided wall that was functional, yet super cool!  I picked up some old milk crates that had actually been consigned twice (I love it when cool things come back!), some wood crates, metal locker bins, an organizer, a couple chicken feeders (what?!), some metal file bins, an old Steelcase desk, a burlap memo board, a time card slot, and even a metal dog!  Wait....there's more: a plug-in vintage hanging clock, a huge metal bell, an old darkroom timer, some hooks for drying clothes, a desk lamp, an egg basket, a bottle-drying rack, some old windows, a SLOW sign and an old-school pencil sharpener!  Who knew you could build a wall shopping only at KalamazooKitty?!  

Office "wall" AFTER

After collecting a few more things around my house that I already

Office "wall AFTER

had purchased at my stores, I started assembling my "wall".  In reality, I had no idea how I was going to take this pile of awesome stuff and turn it into a two-sided functional wall, but I knew what I wanted it to look like in the end.  So I started out with the tall drawer unit and the filing cabinet, then continued building off of those.  Much to my surprise, the boxes and bins fit together perfectly and took up the exact amount of space I had!  I faced some open-side to the "office" and others open-side

to the "laundry room".  I then, BY MYSELF, moved the Steelcase desk into the "room" that would now be my new office.  I just love that desk!  It is old, imperfect and full of storage.  I next added the accessories to my wall and desk, hung a window, filing bin and time card slot, and my office was complete!  For now, I left the original wall of cubbies that store our shoes, mittens, and office supplies.  In the future, I want to replace it with wall to wall, floor to ceiling, butcherblock shelves to hold some more old bins or crates.  Remember, this office is also part of the "mudroom", so I need to keep shoe and boot storage for sure...this is Michigan, afterall!

Laundry Room "wall" AFTER

Onto the "laundry room" side...I hung my ironing board on the backside of the tall drawer cabinet, hung accordion metal hooks across the milk crates for drying clothes, stacked wood bins above my existing cabinets, then added a houndstooth rug!  I love this room!  It isn't too small, it's super cute and it somehow makes the chore of doing laundry a tiny bit better (maybe)!  The "wall" holds a waste basket, my cowboy boots and hand towels.  I can sort my kids' clothes into the bins to get them off the top of the washer and dryer. Yes, I would like to stack my washer and dryer someday and add a butcherblock countertop, but for now...this works!

The best part of this renovation is that it is all temporary.  I didn't even screw the bins together, but if you have small children who like to climb, I would recommend attaching them together and to the walls on either side!  I managed to gain a much-needed office for myself and my husband, a laundry room that is functional and fun, all while maintaining my mudroom and storage areas.  And because it can all be removed in a matter of minutes, I didn't change the footprint of the house, or take away any great selling features in the process.  This is what I call a WIN-WIN!

This is from Kalamazoo...to you!