Chip and Jo Jr. – The Austin Johnsons

After a visit to Home Depot with my mom (thanks, mom!) I had a plan to update our laundry room. We’d been looking for more storage for a while and the builder-installed shelving just wasn’t cutting it.

We’d start by taking down the nearly useless closet rod and replace the shelf with a cabinet and some open shelving. I’d also been dying for some counter space so I devised a plan to use a piece of plywood to make a counter above the washer and dryer.

Another Saturday and another trip to Home Depot, we had everything we needed. A shopping list is at the end of this post. Ally got to work on sanding and staining the plywood; we used two coats each of stain and polyurethane to get a really deep, rich color. While Ally was staining I got to work on the demolition #demoday. Pulling down the original shelf caused some damage to the textured walls but I was able to spackle and paint over it.

Next up I wanted to get the cleat installed for the counter to rest on. After 3 or 4 screws my drill lit on fire, so I needed to make an emergency trip back to the store for a replacement. A home improvement project wouldn’t be a project without some drama. While I was there, I met another customer whose Bosch drill had also lit on fire. Strange coincidence but that drove me to pick up a DeWalt instead. Always a bonus to get some upgraded tools! (I can feel Ally rolling her eyes)

Getting back home I got the 1×4 cleat installed around the walls of the laundry room and moved on to putting up the shelving. You can see the cleat on the wall in the picture below. Two shelves spaced 18″ apart were all I needed. After the shelves, Ally lent a hand to attach the cabinet to the wall. She very much enjoyed using the new drill 🙂

Two days and a few coats of finish later, the counter was put in place and the room decorated! Ally did an amazing job with the decor and it really freshened up the space. We added another shelf along the side of the washer and you know it wouldn’t be a home improvement project if we didn’t add an outlet along the way!

We ended up adding a shortened closet rod on the opposite wall so we could hang clothes to dry and an extra shelf on top. The whole project cost just a few hundred dollars and we vastly improved the utility of our laundry room by doubling our storage and providing a closed space to keep our cleaning supplies.