Paint and flooring helped to update our laundry mudroom area to a brighter, clean space for our ranch turned cottage farmhouse. This space was created from a garage conversion and shows how simple DIY's can give age and character.
Hi friends! I've been meaning to share with you our updated cottage farmhouse style laundry room-mudroom for a few weeks now and today's the day! This is one of those cases that happens in every diy-er's life (at least all the diy-ers I know...) where you've lived with a room "almost" finished. For years. A-hem.
It's true, though as I've mentioned, it became our dog's domain and we just sort of turned a 'blind eye' to it - and life goes on, you know? (Please tell me you know and make me feel a bit better!)
When we did our major remodeling, turning the garage into living space, we added cottage-farmhouse style to this room with beadboard, wood counters, a vintage wall cabinet, and a hand painted green-and-cream diamond pattern floor.
Wondering where the floor is? Read on for the sad state of affairs...
Over the years since, we built shelves on the mudroom side for garden supplies where I attached the shop light for growing seeds in the winter months.
And we added wood pieces and brackets to the vintage wall cabinet to make it look more built-in...but never actually painted it.
Laundry-Mudroom Before
Note: this room never looked this bad - I took these right before we started painting and had removed the curtains, coats, etc. and piled the counters with stuff. Just so you know!
But it remained half - or actually three-quarters - finished, with the wall cabinet and a repurposed bathroom cabinet unpainted and an exposed electrical panel (in our defense, though, no one really saw the panel, since our coats covered most of it). But, not in our defense (Should I even mention this? Heck, why not - I'm just like you so lets be honest!) - much of the molding and trim still had unpainted nail filler - lovely brown spots all over the place. Sigh. #notmybestmoment
Not only all this, but in the 10 years since we originally painted the walls they were in desperate need of repainting. Large dogs + white walls = dirt & scratches. Live and learn, right?
I also learned that dog or no, light painted floors and mud rooms do not play nice. I loved, loved, loved my hand painted floor (that took me days to complete...) but the dog scratches and other stains finally got to the point where it just looked so dirty and abused that we had no choice but to find another flooring. Cue sad face.
Laundry Room After
The first step was to paint, paint, paint. My sister-in-law came over one Saturday and we finished it all in by five o'clock (I'm blessed, right?). It immediately looked SO light and bright - and clean, finally.
Floor Before
Since most of the people who saw the diamond floor thought it was okay, I thought I'd give you a few close-ups so you could understand why we needed to cover it up, especially since we're looking to sell.
The door rug and dog bed had both left stains in the polyurethane (I'm not sure how to combat this on painted floors - anyone know?), a metal boot tray leaked and left rust marks by the time we found it, and our galvanized dog-food container left it's own mark, too.
No amount of scrubbing could remove these marks - and add to these the many, many dog scratches and you may understand why we had to apply a new flooring.
Floor After
We needed something that was quick and easy to apply as well as cost effective, so we chose a simple peel-and-stick tile in a slate-look because, hello, mud-colored.
I'm going to be honest and say it's not my favorite look and I do miss the painted floor, BUT I don't miss the dirty, scratchy surface and I DO like how clean and finished this looks now.
I also LOVE how it doesn't show the dog hair as much - it really does look cleaner all the time versus the lighter floor. It's definitely something I learned, and tell anyone who asks - function over fashion in mudrooms! Any future mudrooms we have will have dark flooring, whatever type we have.
And that fully painted cabinet complete with doors (and actual knobs on the drawers instead of screws and hooks)? Maybe my favorite part since it goes a long way to helping it look clean and organized. AND Brian made a brilliant diy adaptation that I can't wait to show you on this cabinet!
Go here to read all about how Brian adapted the cabinet and how we made the beadboard electrical cover you can see in some of the photos. We've now made two of these beadboard "cupboards" to cover electrical boards in our last two houses and I love how it camouflages them.
We're all enjoying our updated cottage farmhouse laundry-mudroom - I'm sure even our dog, Samson, likes hanging out in this bright, finished space. I know I like doing laundry here!
Oh, and see the edge of that narrow wall to the right? I had to fight the builder who was helping us for this little closet and I'm SO glad I did, it's one of my favorite things about our laundry.
You know how you hang clothes to dry and then forget about them? And then they're always there cluttering up the place? Mine are hidden in this little closet, along with a broom and a few other cleaning supplies, which makes me very happy.
When you know how you will use an area when you're diy-ing or building, work to get them added since it's those little things that you will appreciate over and over.
So, I'd like to leave you with a list of the items we added to this space that gives it cottage farmhouse character, even though it's a 1982 ranch house - it can be done!
Ways to Add Cottage Farmhouse Character
- Replace door with French door (or a vintage/reproduction)
- Replace door knobs (we used reproduction ceramic knobs)
- Add beadboard and trim (or any type of wood paneling, like shiplap)
- Repurpose old cabinets into wall and base cabinets
- Use wood for countertops
- Add substantial hanging shelves
- Make a coat rack out of vintage molding
Hopefully this is inspiration for you!
