Our Laundry room has had a total overhaul since Hurricane Harvey.  From new flooring all the way to ship lap walls and storage, it looks completely different than it did just a year ago. Now it looks like the elegant farmhouse inspired room I always envisioned. Our laundry room was one of the last areas to update and repair simply because it’s hard to go without a washer and dryer with an active and messy toddler.  We decided to take the plunge and remove the old ceramic tile in order to give this space a cohesive look with the rest of our home.

I recently shared how we laid the wood look tile in my post here. Fortunately, our laundry room is small-ish so it didn’t take long to lay the tile and grout.  What did take forever was installing our faux ship lap wall.  After ripping out all the old shelving and moving the washer and dryer, we purchased an 8×4 sheet of plywood and cut it into 6 inch strips with the table saw.  Then ever so carefully, I used nickles to space the boards and glue and nail them to the drywall.

Then it had to be painted…this was an arduous process and if I had to do it over I would have painted the boards before installing them  With such small spaces between them it was next to impossible to paint them without getting paint gooped in the spaces.  That was not what I wanted!  Eventually I got it done, but geez.

Next, I used 1×2’s to build wood brackets for shelving.  Basically, they’re just triangles with right angles that I spray painted black and screwed into the studs.

Finally, I stained and clear coated the shelves.  I used Rustoleum Kona and Varathane Matte clear coat.

I made a few more brackets to hold all my Ikea storage bins.  After looking at the Ikea system and deciding it was too flimsy I went with these brackets that hold the baskets in place and let them function kind of like drawers.  I’ve lived with this system for a few weeks now and I absolutely love that there are bins to sort dirty and clean laundry. I also used some left over shelving to make a small shelf / folding table.  It’s not really big enough to fold on, but it’s a nice place to set hangers or the iron or whatever while you work.

Another cool thing we incorporated is this little niche built between the studs.  I framed it out with 1×3’s and 1×2’s and planked the back with ship lap.  It’s the perfect place to hang a broom or dust pan and it gets it out of the way since our laundry room is so narrow.

Here’s an up close shot of the clothes hanging rods I put up under the shelves.  I made them out of pipe flanges and 12″ pipe nipples.

I still love the wood look tile floors too. 🙂

In case you don’t remember here’s the before:

AND AFTER!!