Spring 2020 One Room Challenge - Week 8: Laundry Room Reveal!

I feel like we’ve finally turned the corner in 2020 with the arrival of summer and our finished laundry room! This was the first project that Grant and I worked on together from start to finish with Grant doing most of the demo and construction. I may have also caught him doing a little final styling including the placement of this brown pottery vase ;)

For those who are new to us and our blog, I’m Carley and I live in Orillia, Ontario Canada with my son Matthew, daughter Lily, seal point himalayan Poppy and wheaten terrier Mr. Finnigan Flowers. I’m a Strategy Manager for TELUS customer service by day and when the munchkins are asleep at night I tap into my creative side through my interior and landscape design side hustle. Grant is my love and partner and we’ve slowly been updating his 1970s side split over the past year including this laundry room.

This is my seventh One Room Challenge after participating in the Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018 , Fall 2018 , Spring 2019 and Fall 2020 challenges including 5 bedrooms, a stairway library and cottage bunkie! Grant and I had originally planned to completely redesign his main bathroom for this challenge but with COVID 19 causing uncertainty, supply chain challenges and trades restrictions we needed to pivot. Grant’s spare bedroom was a solid back-up plan but I just couldn’t get excited about another bedroom makeover. As we were putting the final touches on his downstairs Jam Room, the adjoining laundry room was asking for a little love so that’s exactly what we did.

“Before”

In order to fully appreciate this redesigned space, please take a look at Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Weeks 5 & 6 and Week 7 of our challenge progress. Here are a few pictures of what the space looked like before:

Design Direction

Our design direction for the laundry room was inspired by a “Scullery” by Lauren Lothrop Caron of Studio Laloc, a laundry room by Vanessa Francis Interior Design, my love for pink and Grant’s love for brown. We had several antique and vintage finds in muddy colours like the vintage barkcloth fabric and antique oil paintings and decided to feature those against a backdrop of pink walls painted in Benjamin Moore’s “Pinky Swear” (for me) and cabinetry painted in Benjamin Moore’s “Black Bean Soup” (for Grant).

Redesigned Finds

Almost every item in the laundry room had a previous life which was a great exercise in sustainability. We kept the original washer and dryer as they were in great shape and sourced kitchen cabinets, an oversized granite sink, an antique door and Kingston Brass faucet - all from Kijiji. We sewed a sink skirt from our barkcloth fabric and layered in several vintage and antique items including amber glass Javex bottles, an antique iron, wooden clothes pegs, vintage pottery, a wicker laundry basket and vintage step stool - almost all from Grant’s family’s antique store Antiques on 11.

I love everything about this space - the colours, the texture of the faux brick on the walls and all of the final touches but my absolute favourite is definitely the shaker peg shelves that Matthew and Lily made with Grant. The longest shelf over the cabinets makes my heart flutter a little bit every time I see it because the kids cut and sanded every piece of wood, drilled every hole and glued every peg - it was 100% built by them.

The great thing about the Better Homes & Gardens One Room Challenge is that it forces you to completely finish a space right down to the last detail. Although we’ve worked on a few rooms in Grant’s home already we haven’t completely finished any of them except this one. This laundry room is now a great multifunctional space for cleaning, flower arranging, small DIY projects and provides lots of storage. Most importantly it makes us both want to do laundry - sort of. Now to find a way to get the clean folded laundry put away … something neither one of us loves to do ;)

Thank you!

Thank you Lynda for organizing this event and for Better Homes & Gardens for supporting as media sponsor. Thank you Ryan from Rowell Photography for your amazing photography and for teaching me about the process along the way - especially lighting.

Thank you to our family:

• my Mom Susan and Dad Doug for loaning us their truck for a few weeks to transport building materials and pick up our Kijiji finds like the antique door

• Grant’s Dad Ralph for picking up the flooring for us last minute

• my daughter Lily and son Matthew for making the shaker peg shelves for the room

• my brother and contractor Paul for his consultation, connecting us with trades and coming to our rescue with things above our skill level including our drop-in sink and wall mount faucet, butcher block counters, antique doors and floor installation - just to name a few

• and last but certainly not least, Grant. There were many design changes on the fly, late nights and a few differences in opinion relating to “fashion vs function”. He was 100% supportive of my ideas and brought his own to make our finished product even better.

This space was a fun one and normally I’m exhausted after a One Room Challenge but this one has me more motivated than ever to completely finish the rest of the rooms in Grant’s house. We’re off for vacation next week and are excited to finish the Jam Room baseboards and carpet, finish the Guest Bedroom with Matthew and Lily and build the kitchen island. But first I’m going to take some time to appreciate and Pin all of the amazing spaces from other guest participants and featured designers over the weekend.

Carley

Source Guide:

“Pinky Swear” interior wall paint, “Black Bean Soup” cabinet paint, Benjamin Moore via Housser’s Paint & Wallpaper; large original vintage oil painting of chrysanthemums, vintage barkcloth fabric, Christie Antique & Vintage Show; utility shears, string tidy, mesh bags, June Home Supply; antique door and sink construction, flooring installation, Paul Brandon of Brancon; amber glass soap dispenser Homesense; soap refills, wool duster, straw hand broom, Refillery District; linen apron, Swedish dish brush, vegan dish washing block, agave washcloth, Lemontree Interiors; Eva Zeisel pitchers Hollace Cluny; print of hand holding flowers, Juniper Print Shop; deco cream vase holding flowers, Antiques on 48; dryer balls, wall sconce, ceiling light, Amazon; butcher block countertops, faux brick panelling, wood cabinet knobs, Home Depot; vinyl flooring, Lowes; sink cabinet, lower cabinets, Kingston Brass wall mounted faucet, granite undermount sink, Kijiji; cafe curtain rod & hooks for sink skirt, Bed Bath & Beyond; brass cabinet knobs, Orillia Habitat for Humanity Restore; white speckle & gold rim pottery bowl, Goye Artiste Ceramiste; brown vintage step stool, wicker laundry basket, linen hand towel, rug beaters, small landscape oil painting, vintage black and brass frame, small depression glass vase, amber glass Javex bottles, wooden clothes pegs, vintage Crown mason jar, Majolica pitcher, vintage vases, antique iron, german pottery soap dish, glass and metal flower frogs Antiques on 11 North; small brown pottery vase, rectangular cream vase, Salvation Army Thrift; original oil painting of pansies, Ingrid Seyffer; flowers: magenta Alstroemeria, light pink peonies, pink astilbe, pink ranunculus, Mid Valley Gardens; painting, shaker peg shelves, sink skirt design & sewing, floral arrangements, magenta peonies, interior design, styling, Carley Brandon Designs; photography, Rowell Photography.