Laundry room re-do with Blinds.com

When we moved into our house almost 7 years ago, I was so excited to finally have a laundry room. It seemed like a pretty nice upgrade from our “laundry closet” of our rental house and an awesome improvement over our “laundry kitchen” at our past house.

But, then I didn’t quite know what to do with the room once I had it. It was an awkward, L-shaped space that came complete with an ugly Utilitub, a useless wire shelf, and no good place to put the washer and dryer. Thank goodness I found Blinds.com, because it gave me the inspiration I needed to finish the space and create a separate and functional room that is truly fun to enter.

But, before we get the to solution, here's the problem. Isn’t this awful? I knew we were well overdue for a new washer and dryer set as ours had come in trade for a bottle of Jaggermeister, so I didn’t really want to do anything until we figured out what units we would be replacing our old set with. So, I waited. And waited.

But, then after years of hoarding, begging, and trading, I finally had enough Best Buy gift cards to buy our dream washer and dryer. I was absolutely ecstatic about the new set, and not just because I would no longer have to dry each load 2-3 times to get the clothes dry. This new set meant I could finally finish the laundry room the way I always wanted.

When the new washer and dryer arrived, I thought I would be thrilled. I thought it would all come together like every other room of the house seemed to, and I thought it was going to be a fairly easy project. Oh boy, was I wrong.

The washer and dryer, although awesome pieces of machinery that made my loads of laundry each week so much easier, just looked awful in our space. Because of the layout of the laundry room and the fact that the only hookups are on the opposite wall of the Utilitub, which can’t be moved, it means that there’s just no good way to put a front loading pair in the space without stacking.

So, we stacked the pair and I hated it. Then we bought awesome Elfa adjustable shelves and a double stacked IKEA mesh drawer system for sorting clean clothing for each family member to try and add usability back into the laundry room. But, as functional as it was, I hated it all. It just looked so… messy. It wasn’t overcrowded and it didn’t really have that much on it, but it still looked awful to me. After all this work, time, and money it was still the opposite of my "laundry oasis" I coveted.  
It was then that I had my first good idea about how to solve our laundry room problem. I would create a closet of sorts and close off the shelving, Utilitub, vacuum, and laundry baskets so I didn’t have to look at the clutter every time I came in the room. Sure, it would take away our open space, but it was the most practical solution to an awkward space that really needed some help.

I looked at closet doors {not tall enough}, curtains {too messy-looking}, bi-fold doors {took up too much space when open} and I almost gave up. But, then I decided to look somewhere completely unexpected for a room divider and closet door solution: Blinds.com

I've been a fan of Blinds.com ever since we moved into our house and I purchased wood blinds for many of the rooms. Even though this was a little trickier than windows because of the size and shape of the space as well as what would work in terms of practicality, I knew they were the place to turn.

As it turns out, they were an amazing resource and I was able to figure out very quickly that I needed a sliding panel system that had a ceiling mount. By using their "Unique Alternatives" finder, I was able to filter by size and shape and quickly see what might work for my space. I had a few sliding panels I was thinking would work and was about ready to just order one in a light color when Josh, a Blinds.com customer service agent, suggested we order some samples so we could hold them up in our space and see which ones blocked the clutter the best without looking too stark and boring.

That turned out to be an awesome suggestion because the clutter blocking ones ended up surprising us all. Since the Bali Fabric Sliding Panels {color: Promenade Sachay T1231} are kind of sheer and have a woven pattern, I was expecting them to show all the bright colors of our detergents, humidifiers, and clothing. But, since the light is coming from in front of the sliding panels it ends up working the opposite of how a window works with light filtering through the panels. Once our package from Blinds.com arrived, Hubby went to work installing the ceiling mounted panel track. Although he ran into a couple issues because the ceiling wasn't very level and it was hard to push the track up into the brackets with uneven surface, the light fixture in his way, as well as two "helpers" who were anything but handy at hardware installation, he was able to get the track up and ready for us. 

And, isn't it glorious? Clutter? What clutter?

We chose the left side stack and I was very glad we went with 5 panels instead of 4 once I saw the panels up. Having thinner panels makes it much easier to push them out of the way with the clear wand, and I think it looks better. Here's another shot of the panels in the room, this time with them open to expose the laundry sorting bins. I leave it like this most of the time for easy access, but whenever I want to hide it, it's just an easy pull of the wand. After the "closet" space was finished, it was just a few finishing touches and I was ready to proclaim it an oasis. I made a little piece of art:  I added the PTPA-winning Windel diaper depot station to the room since we're done with diapers and put a laundry care printable inside instead of a picture. It is the perfect size for dryer sheets to dispense out the side and awesome for storing other small laundry items out of sight that tend to get lost on a shelf. I may not be completely done decorating, organizing, and refining our laundry system, but it's a far cry from the hot mess I've been living with for almost 7 years. Doesn't it look clean and organized? It might be both of those things in this picture, but the awesome thing is that it doesn't have to be. Let's call that a housekeeping win.

Do you have an awkward space you are struggling with? Maybe you want to screen something off, add some dimension to a room, or you simply want to cover your windows, but whatever your issue, I would recommend checking out Blinds.com to see if they have a solution. With all sorts of styles, colors, fabrics, and mediums to choose from, you can create a beautiful space easily… and with their professional help.

Do you want personalized and professional help for making over your space? Contact Josh at Blinds.com and he can guide you in the right direction and make buying window coverings, shades, shutters, and more easy and fun.

A big thank you to Blinds.com who helped me finally finish our laundry room after years and years of hating it. I'm a member of the Blinds.com MOBsters and have enjoyed working with them on other projects as well. You can read more about those here and here.