Our laundry room is much like a galley kitchen in a Manhattan apartment: long and narrow without much space to work with. I’ve been brainstorming over the last few years about how to make it a little more user friendly, a little more family friendly.
The solution went thussly:
Step A}: Buy a coat rack from IKEA in the As-Is section for $3.99. Bring it home and screw it into the laundry room wall.
Stand back and admire your work.
Step B}: Buy an old, old bench from D.I. for $5. Take it home and paint it red.
Do a little happy dance because not only is the color of the paint perfect, it’s oil so it’s shiny and the red paint compliments the shabby apple green paint of the walls.
Step C}: Let it dry overnight and shimmy it into place under the coat rack on the wall.
Smile, because the bench fits perfectly and is short enough for your little people to sit on while they remove muddy/snowy/dripping boots.
Step D}: Go pour yourself a cold drink. You’ve just completed the easiest transformation of a laundry room in the history of laundry rooms.
Enjoy. I know I will.
Allison
Hello there! I'm Allison Czarnecki, founder + editor of Petit Elefant, a blog all about style on a budget for every part of your life: style / home / travel / family. I do a lot of how-to beauty + style tutorials, travel posts, easy recipes, home remodel projects, and cool DIY crafts you totally want to try. I'm super happily married (to a hot Polish immigrant) and am the mother of two kids, a daughter and son, all of whom are featured here on the regular. We live in the country but we're a little bit rock + roll. Welcome!
Great Idea!
I'm so happy I was able to solve the problem for under $10, that's the best part!
That is truly awesome and that red? LOVE it! I'm a big fan of red…had some red walls in our last home and can't wait to find the perfect red wall here. Your laundry room looks great!
Emily,
I wanted to paint a wall red but Viktor wouldn't concede, so I painted a bench instead. It's all about the compromise.
Sweet! I love simple and cheap solutions….and the red bench. Bravo!
So cute! I love the green and red combination. You should have a section on Petit Elefant highlighting DIY projects! (with vlogs, of course!)
Very nice!
I fantasize about having my very own washer and dryer.
It looks fantastic!
I love the way the red of the bench really sets off the fire extinguisher. Perfect color coordination. Somebody call HGTV you are on a roll.
:)
Great idea, and laughing once again.
Stopping getting in my head. I hung that coat rack from Ikea in my son's bathroom on Sunday.
Breeders Digest,
Cheap solutions are definitely something to cheer about aren't they?
Camille,
It's on it's way shortly! :)
Sania,
That green makes me happy to do laundry, if such a thing is even possible.
Debbie,
Thank you, I'm really happy with it!
Dandy,
I'm not kidding, I'm grateful every single time I do a load of laundry, I really am.
Glamorous Life,
I know, either call the people at Home Depot or HGTV, I'm having a ball. I didn't even mean to color coordinate with the fire extinguisher, it's just mandatory {couldn't pry it off the wall for the photo darn it!}
Angry Julie,
We have good style both of us! ;) I love that rack!
Andrew,
Happy to have you here, and thank you!
Ooo, very cute. And a very calming green on the wall too.
Yay, the bench! It looks so good. I LOVE the red! I'll be linking to it soon!
Love the red! What a perfect spot for it! Yay for cheap-cheap!
just found you thru PW. i like your style!