A Room Remodel

Just a few weeks back, when we were still debating the move, we decided that it wouldn't hurt to call our realtor and have him assess the house. After all, it wouldn't make sense to move if the housing market was lackluster (he assured us that it was not) or our house had not appreciated in value thanks to our whole house updates (he promised us that it had).

As we walked through the house, I told Mike about all of our updates...paint, lighting, fixtures, fencing, landscaping, etc. We have painted nearly every room in this house in the past five years. And when I say we, I mean mostly my husband. What can I say? He's cheap manual labor! Make him a good dinner, put on an action movie in the man cave, and he's paid in full.

Of course, leave it to the realtor to make a comment on the ONE room that had not been painted...the laundry room.

"You should probably paint this room," he said. "Moms these days are looking for mud rooms, a place where the kids can hang up their coats, dump their shoes, and deposit their book bags."

Is that a challenge? Well, I accepted that challenge! I can turn a laundry room into a mud room. No problem! After all, I have the live-in labor to help make it happen!

Here is what the room looked like when it was still a "laundry room":

Yes, it was pretty sad. I must confess, I was holding onto stuff that I had absolutely no use for. A bottle of Dreft baby detergent? I haven't had a baby in nine years! Silver cleaner? You know, for when the queen comes for tea. At the end of that cleanout, my recycling toter was filled to the MAX! After a good cleaning and painting, here's the new "mud room":

That looks much better!

My good friend, Martha, came to the rescue. (I can call her Martha because Ms. Stewart and I have been like best buddies for years now!) Martha had a fun line of organizational furniture and accessories at Home Depot. We picked up this storage bench, matching storage shelf with hooks, and all of the colorful fabric baskets for under $200 dollars total.

I added a few of the fabric baskets over the washer and dryer, too.

I wish I had done this remodel years ago, especially when you consider how much I love to do laundry!

I learned a few lessons in this room remodel:

*For Pete's sake, make your laundry room in the new house a cute place to be! After all, you'll probably spend a lot of hours there, so make them happy hours!

*Fresh paint is always the cheapest remodelling trick with the biggest impact.

*When shopping for room accessories, keep your paint swatches handy. I found these items while making a stop for ceiling paint, and knew they'd match because I had my paint swatch in my purse with me.

*A room remodel doesn't have to cost big bucks to make a big impact.

*When selling your house, clean, declutter, and then declutter some more. Set the stage!

*Finally, listen to your realtor. He/she knows the market and what the buyers are looking for in their house hunt.

A fresh new start for a fresh new room. One step closer to the day the "For Sale" sign goes up in the front yard!