DIY | Operation Home

Alright guys, you ready for a quick, inexpensive makeover that we did to the teeniest, tiniest space in our home?? It’s one of those “why didn’t I do this sooner?” tweaks that, seriously, I should’ve done many, many moons ago. I became especially antsy about wanting to get this done while I was nesting during my pregnancy, but alas… I feared that my belly was too big to actually fit in the space to reach all the nooks and crannies. Haha. Better late than never, though.

The space in question? The toilet room. (applause! applause!)

If you’ve followed me for a while, you know that this is a space that lives up to its name….

It’s a toilet.

In a room.

And that’s it.

Literally.

When we moved in, it was a purple blank slate. Observe….

See what I mean?? No baby bump could safely fit next to that toilet. 😉

Back when we took possession of the house, this space had nothing, and I mean, NOTHING in it but a toilet. And copious amounts of purple paint. We.mustn’t.discount.the.purple.paint. It looks greyish here, but no… it was purple. And it made me cranky. Not joking. I know that color can affect mood, and I’ve never heard of purple inducing anger, but seriously guys… It made me ornery. It needed to be gone. Big time.

In addition to the color, there was no function, no storage, etc. It had nothing but a *well loved* over-the-tank TP dispenser left by the previous owners. #no

So, a while back, I painted the room a bright color, built a pipe shelf and industrial toilet paper dispenser, and hung some art, which brought us here…

To be honest, I’m not really sure what I was thinking with this space. I was going for “fun pool bath” and, I mean, it was cute-ish, but not really our style at all. Plus, every time I looked at it, I felt like there was something lacking. It was seriously falling flat in some way. This became blatantly obvious as the rest of our home started coming together in a way that DID feel like us. More neutral. More simple. A mix of old with new. Warmth and coziness is key in our home, and this space felt just… cold.

So, on a whim, during one of Henry’s naps, I busted out the paint roller and some leftover paint and toned down the space with my FAVORITE grey tone ever (Driftwood Grey by Glidden).

Oh look, here she is now…

Isn’t this color the Sophia Loren of greys?? Sophisticated and rich. For real.

This tone is also in the guest bath (stay tuned for that update) as well as the master bedroom and Lucas’s room. It looks slightly different in each space, but just as lovely. The power of paint, guys. It never ceases to amaze me how just changing the color of a space can actually make it look more expensive… that’s my impression of this color. It somehow makes the room look higher quality.

After painting the walls, I sanded and restained the shelf I built with Varathane’s Early American stain to match the wood tones throughout the rest of the house, and then I decorated it more simply with practicality in mind. TP = necessary. A simple faux rosemary (from Target) and white plate (to hold jewelry and such while swimming) completed the look.

As for art, I kept the New York print (from Urban Outfitters), and found this vintage painting at a thrift store a while ago. I love the mix of bold and modern with subtle and old-school. The entire space flows now, both in itself and with the rest of the house.

I still want to do something with the ceiling in this space, whether it be simply adding crown moulding, or possibly something more architectural. Plus, wainscoting or some sort of board and batten would be nice on the walls. We’ll get to it. I’m sure of it. In any case, I spent zero dollars on this as I already had everything on hand and it took a mere afternoon to complete. This little refresh really, REALLY goes a long way into making the space fit the vibe of our home so much better. No more random aqua room in this Casa. And I’m okay with that. 🙂

So, that’s our toilet room, and boy are we so much happier with it. Next up, I’ve taken pics of our living and dining spaces as they stand now, and lemme tell ya, I’m so, SO happy with how those rooms are coming together. I can’t wait to put those posts together for you guys, so stay tuned.

You guys. I’ve been restoring all of my past photos as I mentioned in my last post and I tackled our House Tour page the other day. It was TOTALLY the giant kick in the pants that I needed to get a move on. The photos on there are so outdated and I’m SO proud of how far we’ve come since I published many of those photos that I seriously can’t wait to update you guys on all the changes we’ve made in the past year. Thus, I hereby dub this the beginning of our Catch-Up Period. I took photos of our laundry room and toilet room the other day, so these will be the next spaces I’ll show you.

And today… laundry room. Oh. Yes.

Our laundry room is not a space that I’ve discussed much on the blog. Namely, because it was a basic white box located off of our breakfast nook. Nothing of interest. Nothing to see. One giant yawn.

Am I right?? Of course I am.

It came to us with a white sink cabinet… aaaaaand that’s about it. Otherwise, it was a blank slate.

We’re lucky in that this room is a decent size and boasts a pretty large closet (which we used as a pantry up until our kitchen reno) and a toilet room, which is convenient to the pool. The door straight ahead in the pic above is an exterior door that leads to our covered back patio, but you’d never know by looking at it. The previous owners replaced it, but with a solid door. That looked like it led to a garage.

I knew from the second I saw it that the space was absolutely yearning for a door with a full length window. Needy laundry room? Yep. You bet. I mean, it just made sense to let in some natural light and enjoy the view of our patio, since WE COULD. I mean, not everyone is fortunate enough to have a potential portal to a pretty view. And, sadly, said portal was just going to waste, wallowing in a mortal sea of artificial light (…like how I’m getting all profound with my verbiage today? (Isaidverbiage) — I feel like I should be wearing a beret with far too much eye makeup.). 😉

Aaaaanyways, the funny part is that when the time came to install the new door, both the measurer and the installer who came out on separate occasions, both seemed thoroughly confused when I showed them the door we were replacing. They ALSO thought that it led to a garage and wondered why we wanted a window to that. Ha! But, alas, I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s step back.

For a while (like, 2.5 years), the laundry room looked like this…

… Blah. Mismatched. With our only storage being an unfinished wood shelf that we stuck in the space…

Because of its basic blankness, the room was severely lacking in function. It was constantly collecting piles of stuff since there was nowhere to really store or hang anything. Coats and bags were shoved onto the wood shelving unit or piled on the floor. Detergent and other laundry paraphernalia sat on the dryer. I couldn’t.even.stand.it. Also, because this space accesses the closest bathroom to the pool and the kitchen from the back patio, it is a space that is frequented by guests when we have get-togethers. No closing the door and brushing the dysfunction under the rug when company arrives so to speak. And let’s face it… this wasn’t exactly the impression that I was wanting to give them. So, when we found out that we were expecting our little nugget, I made it clear that we NEEDED to make this room work for us. I mean, new baby = crazy laundry and if I’m going to have to spend years of my life in this space, then darnnit, it’d better function and make me happy. Yeah.

Plus, it drove me nuts that this room felt like an afterthought as I stared at it from the kitchen table while drinking my coffee each morning. Yes. I’m sorry to say that the first photo above was my view at meals for over two years. The room felt dark and cavernous and bland and all of the things that the rest of the house didn’t.

I have to tell you that we have a more extensive, built-in plan for the sink and mud areas that we want to incorporate down the line, but given some rather large expenses that we’ve had recently, we opted for a more budget-friendly makeover to tide us over.

And guys, we think it’s pretty great.

I mean, the space actually functions now and we’re totally loving it. So, lets get down to it.

Way better right??? That door is a GAME-CHANGER, lemme tell ya. The full-lite window opened up the space in a way that far surpassed my expectations. This corner of our home can breathe now. It’s how it should’ve always been.

Much of the work on this space happened before Henry was born, though I did paint the space and complete a few finishing touches afterwards (giant preggo belly + ladder + clumsiness = NO). The space is painted the same color as the kitchen for cohesiveness (Silverbirch by Glidden).

I knew from the getgo that I wanted to utilize simple metal shelving brackets (sold at any home improvement store), paired with stained wood shelves over the washer and dryer. I knew this from Day One. Just like adding the door. … So, years later we finally got on that. 😉 It was important to me that we use adjustable shelving as our plan is to replace our current washer and dryer with sweet-looking front loaders once our current ones crap out, that will then be draped with a lovely waterfall-edge butcher-block countertop. The adjustable shelves will allow for this without having to worry about rehanging/rebuying stuff. Plus, they look cool. Just sayin’.

I went with a black finish on the brackets and Varathane’s Early American stain on the shelves to coordinate with the kitchen shelving in the adjoining room. I hung a laundry symbol cheat sheet that I’ve had for years, and added storage boxes from Ikea which hold towels, chargers/headphones, and other odds-and-ends. The canisters act as storage for dryer sheets/stain remover and a makeshift trash container for dryer lint.

Over the vanity, I switched out the more traditional red mirror, for a simpler one that we’ve had for years. I’d love to hang a round mirror here to break up the straight lines, but I figured waste not, want not. That being said, if I find one at the right price, it’s on. I also added matte black pulls to tie in with the kitchen.

Looking back towards the breakfast nook, we kept the wood shelf, though I stained it to match the shelves. Above it hangs a vintage painting that I thrifted. We created a small “mud area” beside the shelf by mounting stained 1×4’s with white hooks for coats and bags (that I found on clearance at Target a few years ago) and smaller cup hooks for keys. A magnet board keeps Lucas’s weekly homework, party invitations, and other items that we need quick and easy access to in view.

The shelving unit got a huge dose of organization for paperwork and random stuff….

A box for longer term paperwork is above the dryer, but these bins here corral most of the random paperwork that we see daily. The organizer on the top shelf holds paperwork specific to each person in our family, plus a tray for “to be addressed” items like bills and such.

This system works so well for us. No more piles of paper. No more losing track of time-sensitive materials. Everything has a place and I adore it. I can quickly stash our daily paper trail where it belongs and the world can be right again. I even bought a label maker. I excitedly professed my newfound love for this inanimate bundle of organization to my cousin and she responded that she needed to leave my house as my feelings for my label maker made her uncomfortable. Heehee! My family is hilarious.

In case you’re a sucker for a sexy room-to-room shot…

Also, check out that natural light bathing our vanity in warmth and happiness!!! (Too much? Never.)

Finally, I know you’re probably worried about my view from the breakfast nook. Well, fear no more…

I’m not great at photographing windows, but you get the gist. I can see into our backyard from both the laundry room AND the picture window in our dining room. The fact that Lucas is also in this shot is a bonus. You are welcome. He’s playing with Lego Batman, in case you’re wondering. His favorite toy of the moment.

So, that’s our laundry room as it stands now and we couldn’t be happier… That door, though. Gah. Best decision that we’ve made yet. 🙂