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Nuzzled right in between the original periwinkle and grey half bath, and the door leading to the garage, I find my peace doing the laundry. Said no one ever. Behind two bifold doors in the most confined space in this house, lived the “laundry room”. After moving the washer and dryer to the basement we were left with this empty closet, which soon became known as the crap catcher.
The solution was so simple and obvious, we needed a drop zone. A more functional, attractive, organized…. crap catcher, if you will. Somewhere we could kick off our shoes, hang our coats, and store our mittens and bags.
Disclaimer: Since this space is so confined, it does not get much natural light and is pretty difficult to photograph. Please bear with me.
Heres a look at the space before.
As much as I appreciate the effort on behalf of the previous owners with these hooks and command strips… This spot used to be the laundry spot. Could you imagine doing loads of laundry sandwiched between the bathroom and the garage entrance?? Thankful that the washer and dryer were now cozy in the basement, and we had a nook of possibility to work with.
Step one, remove the doors, strip the room down. Goodbye hooks, good bye shelves. And goodbye quarter round. Since we knew this tile will be replaced at some point and we would be building over it, we needed to remove what would be under it. And lastly, I would like to commend the people who laid this tile, that stuff was on there GOOD. Now that we have the worlds smalled gutted room, it was time to start building it back up!
Using the Kreg we built the base frame, then nailed down the MDF top. Instead of attaching the backer board right to the wall, we added 2x4s to studs to anchor the board. We all know houses aren’t square. The gap between the two backer boards would be covered by the upright of the board and batten we would be adding. I always have to remind my husband that THIS is why trim and caulk exist. To give the illusion that houses have straight edges. Once we added the cubbies/bench legs, it was time to attach the bench top! We chose to use 2x6s for a wider plank and thicker wood top. And last, the trim! Board and batten with horizontals for the hooks with a shelf up top for some baskets.
The baton was officially passed to me to finish this bad boy. Since this stuff is so porous, I started with primer. Let it be known getting in those cubbies and painting in there was challenging. Note to self.. at least prime it before adding the bench. hah. We stained the bench top with the color Early American. See all the gaps? Remember what I said about trim and caulk? Quite a difference those things make, right? We were both pretty excited to finally find hooks that weren’t very traditional, but also not TOO trendy but also incredibly functional. Thank you Target and Project 62! It’s all in the details. Add hooks, baskets, pillows, and snap a picture before filling it with your crap! Cause its never gonna look like this again. haha
