Saturday Snapshot (07.14.12) - Laundry Room Re-do (In Progress)

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky at Alyce's blog, At Home With Books.

As promised, I'm posting a few pictures of the laundry room "refresh" I've been working on. The vast majority is done -- painting, putting up some extra shelves & the ironing board holder along with a wall-mounted drying rack. However, I am still working on hiding the ugly water heater so it won't detract from all the changes I've made. I'm also putting together a scrapbook paper display that I got the idea for on Pinterest. Sadly, my pages are nowhere near as cool as those, but they DO go with the new paint color, so that's what matters, right? :-)

Anyway, here are some pictures for you! I'll start with a few BEFORE pictures:

The one shelf is loaded with toilet paper, detergent, fabric softener, etc., as well as our paper towel supply.

A closer look at the shelves. I like to buy in bulk :-)

Here's the gosh-awful water heater.

I had to include this picture. Someone wasn't happy about being on the other side of that gate while I painted around trim and other edges.

And here are the AFTER pictures:

Ta-da! The almost-finished product. I installed some small shelves over the washer/dryer to hold detergent, etc. I also put up a heavy-duty tension rod to hold our extra hangers and provide some extra drying space. And we finally a good place to store the ironing board! On the wall to the right, I have since installed a wall-mounted telescoping drying rack (no picture yet, sorry), and above that is where I plan to hang my scrapbook paper display.

A close-up of the shelves. I have since stocked up on paper towels to fill that top shelf ;-) And I have to admit, I had no idea just how much I was going to love this new wall color!

I am in LOVE with having these shelves -- finally the detergent, etc. is in a more convenient location for me. I'm not short, but it was difficult to reach up to the other shelves to get this stuff. So, I bought some nice jars for the detergent (homemade on the left, Tide we are still working through on the right) and some cute baskets to hold other items like stain remover, fabric softener, etc.

Yep, the water heater is still there...

This is the fabric I picked out to make curtains to cover the water heater. I am going to install (with help) ceiling mounted flexible curtain tracks to hang these down to the base of the water heater. Y'all don't realize what a big deal this is -- I don't sew. At all. Hopefully I won't screw this up -- I've got some help in the form of my aunt, who is very talented with a sewing machine, so I should be okay.

So, there you have it! I am enjoying having a more functional laundry room and I can't wait to have it truly finished.  I'll post the pictures of the finishing touches once they're finally complete -- hoping to have it done within the next week or two, but we'll see if I can squeeze in the time.