Every winter I like to do one home interior project. I have gone through my entire home refreshing every single room. All that is left after this winter is my kitchen (I am not looking forward to that) and my upstairs hallway.
This year's project was my laundry room/pantry. First of all, I could JUST KICK MYSELF, but I have no "BEFORE" pictures to show you. This room was such a disastrous mess and I was in such a big hurry after Christmas to clean it up, that I forgot to take "BEFORE" pictures. So please forgive me. In a way, I'm happy I don't have "BEFORE" pictures because it would have been too embarrassing: it was a nasty, ugly room no one wanted to spend too much time in! So in lieu of "BEFORE" pictures, I will give you a "BEFORE" description.
The room "BEFORE" was painted a bright yellow on the walls and the cabinets were a slate blue. It was all flat paint so the walls became very dirty over the years. I'd come in from the garden to wash my hands, turn on the light switch (covering the area with smudge as I flipped the switch) and wash my hands in the basin. I never cleaned this room since we moved in. There were cobwebs everywhere! When I cleaned it up for renovating I even found a dead mouse behind the refrigerator and a snake skin on the shelf. YUK! I'd hate to meet the snake that left it behind. The walls were covered with old sentimental artwork I didn't want to get rid of ( I finally parted with it!), gift bags, tubes of craft glitter glue, old cards and newspaper articles tacked to the walls...oh my gosh, it was a horrible mess! It was so over-flowing with crap there was only a foot of walking space to get to the refrigerator and if I wanted to reach something on a shelf, I had to get out a ladder because there was too much stuff on the floor. I finally reached my breaking point and said "ENOUGH! I have to clean this room up!"
The first thing I did was "Marie Kondo" the room. I took everything out, and donated a car load of stuff to the thrift store and threw out anything not worthy enough to even be donated. I removed anything that wasn't a food item, garden item, or cleaning item to another closet. This room was going to be used strictly for food & cleaning supplies, and also to hold a few garden items that can't freeze in the winter. Then, I gave it a good cleaning and a fresh coat of paint. This time I used semi-gloss on the walls so I could easily wipe them down, and high-gloss on the shelves. I painted the shelves pure white, and for the walls I mixed three different shades of white together to create an off-white color. I did this so I could use up paint I already had rather than buy more paint. I spent $0.00 on this room.
The room holds our washer and dryer, the wash basin, a refrigerator, a chest freezer, and a brown storage cupboard. I live in a house in the country built in the late 1800's so I do have mice. The food that is stored in the brown storage cupboard is stuff mice could get into. The mice can't get inside the storage cupboard. The food mice can't get into (like canned goods) is stored on the shelves.
On top of the refrigerator I store old towels and rags for cleaning.
There is a long counter on one wall I keep empty so when I buy new groceries I can set them there while I unpack. The counter is also used by my kids when they come to visit as they bring more groceries than can fit in my kitchen. I keep a box at the end of the counter for my cat Jackson. He likes to hide in this room and sleep in the box when the grandkids are over. It's his secret hiding place, where he feels safe from toddlers. 😂
Underneath the counter I store my winter squash, dried beans in metal containers, vinegars, drinks, bird food, and more cleaning products. Mostly big, bulky stuff that doesn't fit on the shelves.
I completed the room by adding a floor rug I already owned but was not using.
I can't believe how much JOY this room brings me now. Marie Kondo was right! If it doesn't bring you JOY...get rid of it! I use to hate even walking in this room, now when I step inside I smile because it's so clean and orderly. Even the men in my family commented how much they appreciate that this room is clean and orderly now. I think we were all getting frustrated with the "BEFORE" but no one wanted to take the time and energy to fix it because after all, "It's just a laundry room".
I thought of buying some of those cute signs that say "Laundry Room" or some cute baskets, but you know what, "It's really not necessary." I just cleaned it all up and donated so much, why spend more $$$$ to clutter it again? I love it just the way it is.
Edited Post on 2/7/22 to add:
A reader commented that she had never seen a laundry room used as a pantry before, so I wanted to edit this post explaining how that came about.
My laundry room is located in the sunroom, which is on the lowest level of the house. My kitchen is upstairs and quite small. There is not enough room in the kitchen for a large refrigerator or to even to store all the food my family needs. In addition, our upstairs dining room only seats four, so anytime we have company we need to eat at the larger table in the sunroom which seats eight.
So because of the small kitchen and the large dining area in the sunroom, we thought the laundry room would also be the perfect place to store a second refrigerator, a freezer, and extra canned and dry goods. It actually works out really well for parties, because I can store a lot of the extra party food in the laundry room fridge and put food on the laundry room counter. Sometimes, running downstairs to retrieve something when I'm cooking upstairs in the kitchen can be a pain. But most of the food down in the laundry room is an "extra" and I already have it in the upstairs kitchen anyway.
In the picture above and below the door on the left leads to the laundry room/pantry. So the accessibility works quite well when hosting large dinner parties. I even keep extra dishes in the hutch so I'm not running up and down the stairs for plates and cups.
So what about you? Do you have a messy, cluttered room in your house that needs the Marie Kondo method? I'd love to hear from you!
Have A Great Day! Amy
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