aqua | Operation Home

You excited??

I am. Why?? Because I finally did something to our laundry room. Woot!

Granted, it’s a little something. But something just the same.

So, let’s start with a basic floor plan refresher. Our laundry room is located directly off of our breakfast nook…

It’s a decent-sized room that houses a spacious pantry and our teeny pool bath. I actually think the pantry is larger than the bathroom. I mean, it doesn’t take much, but still… it’s kind of a strange distribution of space.

Here’s the room when we got the keys (along with some indicators to show you what’s where) ….

And here it is after we plopped down our stuff after we moved in….

And now….

Granted,. the space hasn’t changed much, and most of what’s in there right now (the rugs, basket, and wood shelf) will be switched out eventually. I’m not a huge fan of the dark brown sink mat, but we needed something there functionality-wise (Lucas + sink = puddle = slippery), and it’s what we had on hand. I’m on a use-what-I-got-front for most of the space at the moment. I did, however, manage to hang a new mirror and towel hook above the sink (which will stay)….

Sometimes the smallest additions can seem like the biggest triumphs in a space that’s been stagnant in decorating. In case you’re wondering, the mirror was a Tuesday Morning find for $39.99, and the hook (a clearance Young House Love hook) and towel I got from Target. I wanted to tie in the red and aqua tones from the adjoining pool bath….

And I love how you can see the bathroom’s reflection in the mirror. Heart.

I have to say that up to this point, the laundry room has been the most frustrating room in the house for me because I know EXACTLY that I wanna do with it. We just haven’t gotten there yet. And in the meantime, aside from housing the washer, dryer and a sink, it has little function. I cleaned it up for the pictures in this post, but normally there’s coats, shoes, backpacks, hats, and laundry piled everywhere since there’s no storage or system of any kind.

Last year, the previous owners experienced a flood that affected half the house and started in the laundry room. Apparently, a pipe burst in the attic above it when we had all of those super low temperatures. They had to almost fully gut the laundry room and pool bath. So in the process, the space lost all of its original cabinetry and storage. They just put up drywall when they were putting it all back together again and called it a day. I can’t say I blame them, but it would have been FANTASTIC to have inherited some storage in the space when we purchased the house.

But, on the flip side, we have a totally blank slate to work with, which is also kind of cool.

So, here’s the plan. This space over the washer and dryer will sport some stained wood shelves that’ll extend all the way to the ceiling….

Then, this area where I stuck a random shelving unit, will be the “mudroom” space with hooks, shoe storage, etc.

I’ve been tossing around painting the sink cabinet as well, though I’d like to see how the rest of the room comes together first.

Then, comes the biggie. THE BIGGIE. The thing that I want to do most (aside from adding function).

That exterior door back there (straight ahead in the photo), which leads to our covered back patio. I wanna change that out for an exterior door with a full length window. That right there will be be a game changer. Natural light will flood the land. It will be glorious. And most importantly, it’ll make the space feel like part of our house rather than a dark, cavernous afterthought.

I can’t wait until we get going on this. We’re currently saving our pennies and planning, though we’ll likely have to wait until the other projects that are in progress right now are finished (our pool refinishing along with a few other outdoor projects and the wet-bar… I’ll post an update once we get to it, of course.). In the meantime, I’m thrilled to at least have one small project for this space under my belt. I’m a total proponent for starting small to add personality when you can’t really take on a larger project at the moment. It’s amazing how just a small mirror and hook are enough to make me smile when I enter the room now.

So, tell me, what little changes have you made that made the biggest differences in your space?

Hey, y’all! I’m back from the totally unplanned siesta known as this week. Sorry about that. It’s just been a crazy week ’round these parts. Work was insane, we’ve had about 4 projects happening at home simultaneously, and I just couldn’t pull it together. Plus, the last thing that I wanted to do was post something that was half done with crappy pictures. So, now, thanks to yet another rainy day that put the kabash on several outdoor projects that we have going on right now, I actually have time to write a decent post. Hehe!

Anyways, last time I showed you the super cool eye chart print that we purchased from Urban Outfitters. And I mentioned that we’d purchased a second print as well. Well, now the other print has a home, too…

After trying it out in several different places in our home, I finally settled on the pool bath. I loved the contrast of the soft aqua walls with the bright red in the print. It’s just sassy. (And something that I seem to like in bathrooms, apparently). I also adore the scale of the art in our tiny bathroom. It just works for me. Something about a larger piece in a smaller room seems to make the space feel less dinky in my eyes.

Once I had the print up, I decided that it was high time that I got going on that pipe shelf that I’d talked about here. I’ve seen the shelf in question shelf ALL OVER Pinterest lately. I believe it’s a Restoration Hardware knock-off (for a fraction of the price). So, I decided to jump on the pipe-shelf-bandwagon, as well. I didn’t follow any tutorial since the shelf’s construction seems pretty self-explanatory just by looking at it.

Basically, I just purchased these parts:

2 – 3/4″ floor flanges

2 – 3/4″x8″ nipples

2 – 3/4″ caps.

Then, I did this….

(I also went over the pipes with vinegar to remove that unsightly sticky stuff left by the label) Next, I screwed them onto the wall with heavy-duty anchors…

Is that not the wonkiest shot ever?? It made me laugh, so I had to include it. In my head, I was picturing the wonky brackets sauntering down the street while drunkenly weaving across the sidewalk and slurringly telling bad jokes (which they happen to find hilarious, BTW). Haha! …See?? This is how you know it’s a good thing I didn’t post this week. Delirium is real. And it’s spectacular. (Namethatshow)

So anyways, despite their catawampus appearance in the above shot, I swear the pipes are actually straight and level. Here’s a more serious shot of one of them…

This guy has his grown-up pants on (or maybe I do now), so no laughter here.

In order to attach them to the wall, I detached the flange from the pipe, screwed the flange to the wall, then rescrewed the pipe back in afterwards. It made the drilling process much more streamlined.

Also, the simplest way that I found to ensure that the pipes are level to eachother was to mark the top hole of one flange on the wall, then use a laser level to determine placement of the top hole of the second flange. Then, I just held the flanges in place over my marks and traced the remaining three holes so I’d know where to insert my anchors. Worked like a charm.

Next, for the wood…

I simply purchased a 2″x 8″ piece of untreated wood from Home Depot and had it cut down to 26″ right there at the store (for freeeeeeee!!). To determine the appropriate length, I simply used a tape measure to eyeball the space above the toilet. 26″ was big enough to fill the space, but not too large as to crowd the wall.

Once I got the wood home, I sanded it with my orbital sander (and 220 grit sandpaper) to remove any splinters, ink, and dirty spots….

Then, I gave it one thin, even coat of this stain…

I was going for a grey-washed look and wanted lots of amber-toned wood grain to show through, so I simply ~~waxed on, waxed off.~~ Well, yeah. I totally waxed on, waxed off. Haha. Basically, I mopped up the excess stain with a dry cloth immediately after applying it, allowing zero time for my stain to soak in. Thus, I ended up with a lighter grey with lots of wood-toned grain showing through. I was a little worried at first as the grey seemed very blue in the sunlight…

…but once it was dry and I got it into the bathroom, it looked great…

I simply set the wood on top of the pipes. The weight of the wood and the raised pipe cap seem to be enough to keep the wood in place. I even shook it around to be sure and it didn’t move much. It’s kind of wedged between the flange and cap. I haven’t topcoated the stain with anything yet as I preferred the matte, weathered look as is. Though, I am considering a lower gloss tung oil to protect it from too much wear and tear (I doubt it’ll get abused much where it is, though).

Once the shelf was done, I accessorized…

This room is strange in that it’s SUPER tiny, and yet the toilet is off-center. So, even though it doesn’t appear as such in this shot (thanks to the camera angle), the shelf and mirror are centered on the wall. I thought that in such a small room, centered on the wall would look better than centered it on the toilet. Anyhoo, I hung this neat, star mirror that I found at Target for $14 on clearance and added some accessories to the shelf…

I just love the combo of the grapic print with the rustic shelf, and aqua walls…

Here’s the view looking into the space from the laundry room. Oh, what I wouldn’t give for a window in this room. Maybe that’s something that we can look into further down the line to bring in some natural light. I’d also love to add some crown molding.

As for the styling, I’m still in the process of noodling around with the accessories. Although I really like it as is, I’d love to add some bright, playful elements being that I’m aiming for a fun and happy a pool bath. Right now the decor’s a bit more on the serious side. I used what I already had on hand and it turns out that anything bright and playful is already spoken for in other rooms (so ashoppin’ we will go!). 😉

And just to show you how the industrial pipe toilet paper dispenser plays in…

There ya go. I’m planning to change out the current striped rug for a round or oval jute rug. I also still need to find some art for the wall above the toilet paper dispenser. The room has come leaps and bounds from this, though…

I’m so excited to have finally made some progress in this space. It’s actually the only bathroom in the house that’s beginning to feel like us. And sadly, it’s probably the lesser used bathroom of them all at this point. I definitely suspect that it’s usage will go up when we start swimming in the summer, though.

So, that’s where I’ll end for today. I still have another little DIY project for this bathroom up my sleeve, so stay tuned… I thought it was too much for one post, so I’ll spread the love. 🙂

Y’all have a great weekend!