Our Laundry Room Reveal

I never thought I would actually ever LOVE doing laundry… until now!  There are a few things that I would have changed about our renovation looking back, but this room is NOT one of them.

When Charles and I purchased this house (click here for the full story and the before pics), we thought we would just put some lipstick on it and rent it out or flip it.  After about a week living here, we realized we were sitting on a piece of property we could really settle into for a long time, and set out to design a home that truly met our family’s needs (Charles helped design the home and built it – talented man).  It is a flat .5 acre lot on a cul de sac, a stone’s throw from my parent’s house, surrounded by wineries and hiking trails and we have a panoramic lakeview to boot.  I feel so lucky to call this place home.

Laundry Guide Print

I have been wanting to put a piece of art in our laundry room forever, but really wanted it to be functional too. We created this Laundry Guide print that I’m a bit obsessed over; I love things that are both functional and beautiful!  You can purchase the digital print here and shop our other prints.

Our Laundry Room Layout

When I looked at a lot of other home designs, I realized that the laundry room is typically an afterthought; at least it certainly has been in every other house I’ve lived in. Actually, the only house that I lived in that had a dedicated laundry room was our family home where I grew up as a kid, but it was a little windowless room in the basement full of spiders, certainly not the place to foster a love of doing laundry!  I wanted a space where I could enjoy folding clothes with a cup of tea or clip flowers from the garden to put in a vase without wanting to run out of the room as fast as humanly possible. This whole room is 12’ x 14′ ft, making it a really great size for our family.

The laundry room ended up being positioned at the front of the house (the back of the house has a beautiful view of the lake), and as luck would have it, the room has two windows (one of them is oval) in it which makes it the best lit room in the house.  It has three entrances, one to the garage, another to my pantry/office and the other to the front entrance.  How I’m going to keep it clean as the boys grow and are coming in and out a million times a day is beyond me, but I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it!

Sources for above: laundry basket (Pottery Barn), antique stool (Sadie Ann McMurray Antiques), rug (Homesense), baskets (Dreamy Whites Lifestyle), vase (IKEA), antique picture (Taylor’s Antiques), oval window (Home Depot)

Laundry Room Flooring

Flooring was one of the first things I chose. I was originally going to put penny tile in the laundry room but am really happy I didn’t – the space ended up being bigger than I thought it would be, and the larger floor tile is so much better and less busy!  We chose the Olympia Tile Muse series in white, which is a 2’ square porcelain tile that is SO nice on the feet and incredibly forgiving (we used ‘alabaster’ as our grout colour which I would use again).

Sources for above: bench (garage sale), shiplap and trim (Metrie), basket (Dreamy Whites Lifestyle), hooks (Emtek), rug (Wayfair), hats (Winners)

Appliances & Laundry Products

I did a lot of research into appliances, and we ended up going with a top loading Fisher & Paykel washer and dryer (from Coast Appliances in Kelowna – Rob is amazing), and I couldn’t be happier! I started using the Nellie’s eco-friendly brand of laundry soaps and stain removers and love them for so many reasons. The soaps are in a powder format, meaning that they aren’t shipping water (totally unnecessary) all over the country. They are also biodegradable, hypoallergenic and free of harmful toxins, phosphates and synthetic fragrances, and they WORK!

Wallpaper, Paint, Trim & Window Treatments

I really waffled on what to do with the walls in this room (I had no idea how difficult it would be to make all of these decisions for the record!), and ended up doing a combination of shiplap and wallpaper in the room and am head over heels in LOVE with them!

We used the Metrie Option M 7 ¼” shiplap as a backsplash around the oval window and as a wall feature on the wall with the hooks for coats (painted Simply White by Benjamin Moore, as is all of the trim and the walls), and I couldn’t be happier.   We used the Metrie French Curves Architrave to dress up all of the tops of the interior doorways and windows in the house, it ended up having a really grand but not overly busy effect; it’s a super classic look!  The link to the wallpaper (peel and stick) is here!

Our buffalo check window shade by Q Design simply made the room!  It softened the space, brought in a perfect subtle pattern, and looks so classy!  The Q Design team made it an absolute breeze to order custom window coverings, I highly recommend them.

Countertops & Cabinets

For our counters we ended up going with a Quartz surface and used the Silestone Statuario in a polished finish, the same product that we used in the entire house.  I wouldn’t change it for the world.  It has a beautiful tone with hints of marbled grey that remind me of Carrera marble but are so much more durable!

We went with a simple profile cabinet from our friends at Norelco which are custom painted Simply White – they came out creamier than the paint chip and I LOVE It!  Layering whites and creams creates a classic, warm timeless look that I know I will love 10 or 20 years from now.

Hardware, Sink & Faucet 

We chose brass Emtek hardware to warm up the look even more and give it an old-world feel.  We went with the 4” French Antique Brass cup pulls on the drawers, these knobs and these hooks all in the same finish.  We ended up installing a beautiful single undermount farmhouse sink from Kohler with this classic polished nickel faucet – I love mixing metals!  The polished nickel is warmer than the chrome and ties in the door hardware from Emtek which is also polished nickel.

 

Laundry Room Linen Storage

I was stuck on what to do with the one wall in the laundry room and went with a buffalo check wallpaper.  I spotted THE PERFECT linen cupboard at Lakehouse Home Store in Kelowna pictured above and fell head over heels in love with it (you need to check out their new amazing showroom on Ellis if you live here!).  The one thing we didn’t plan for was a built-in linen cupboard so this is pure perfection and ties in the vintage look that I was after.  I use it to store my king-sized bedding and a few other linens.  Click here to purchase its twin – I will have this piece of furniture forever, it’s completely timeless.

Thank you for following along on our renovation journey!  I can’t wait to show you the rest of the house in more upcoming posts, and if you have any questions please feel free to share them below.

 

Many of the items in this post were generously provided to us at a discount or for no charge.  Thank you to Emtek, Fisher and Paykel, Nellie’s, Olympia Tile, Q Design, Metrie, Lakehouse Home Store, Norelco, Silestone and Kohler!