Industrial Style Laundry Room Renovation [Almost] Final Reveal

I feel like a broken record saying this but it bears repeating; we did NOT expect the laundry room to take this long.

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When we first decided to tackle this space, we thought, “Oh, quick win. This project will be so easy and we’ll get it done by the end of June… maybe mid-July if we’re really slacking.”

We may have gotten a little too ambitious and over confident…and perhaps didn’t take into consideration Brett’s travel schedule, the garage plans and the other small thing called getting married on our to-do list.

As a quick reminder, here’s what we started with:

And here is where we stand today:

Thanks to the garage [of course nothing to do with the wedding] this room has been neglected since July 22.

Why so specific? Because that’s the date we broke ground on the garage and also the date that will be burned into my brain forever. It’s when all hell broke loose at The Nest. We lived, ate and breathed all things garage-related until August 19 when the concrete was poured.

If it was up to me, having a finished space that makes laundry activities much more appealing is definitely more important than finishing stage one of the garage. But when Brett sought reinforcements in the form of my father all hope was lost and the laundry room was put on hold 😉

So without further ado, here’s all the fun details for our industrial style laundry room final (ish) reveal.

In our last update, we had just finished the industrial pipe shelving in the closet.

Since then, we made a shoe stand for our boots.

Hung two galvanized bins from black hooks on leftover barn wood for hats and mittens.

And added white base boards and trim around the doorway.

In the main room, we finished staining the cabinets and added iron black hardware.

Made frames for these awesome vintage laundry prints.

Added white baseboards to match the closet.

Put up this giant clock from Target.

Side note: Mom, this one is for you – the only person I know who has at least two clocks in every. single. room. 

And hooked up this beautiful, amazing galvanized laundry tub to the water lines. Yes, it works and yes it’s perfect.

What the pictures don’t tell you…

The water hookups for that beautiful, amazing galvanized tub were too close to the washing machine so Brett had to move them over to the left about two feet. This involved cutting a hole in the sheet rock, reconnecting all the piping, seven trips to Menards in three days and having no water until 9:30 on a Saturday night.

To save money on the faucet, we purchased one in a silver finish and spray painted it black. The first time we smudged and bumped it before it dried, so Brett sanded it off. I spray painted it again but we still weren’t happy with the finished product. Apparently third time really is the charm because Brett sanded the entire piece off yet again and  carefully spray painted it for the win.

I taped off the walls to stain the wood trim and upon removing the tape, up came with it all the paint. After severl curse words and an angry letter to the painter’s tape company, I taped off the trim and repainted the area around the door.

The baseboards are a little too thin in some areas so there is a space between the end of the tile and the beginning of the baseboard and the subfloor can be seen. To fix this, we have to mix up some mortar and fill in the gaps. We’re adding this one to the ‘some day’ list…you know, the one you keep around for those times when motivation kicks you in the ass and you’re just itching to do something. No? Just us?

One of the light switches and one plugin has too big of a hole cut in the drywall which will need to be patched up. Also getting thrown on the some day list.

We didn’t use a drywall anchor when hanging the curtain rod and one screw ended up falling out of the wall about a month ago. Last week when Brett was gone for work I tried putting in the anchor myself. I had NO idea you only used the drill to start out the anchor and then are supposed to hand-screw it in the rest of the way. I ended up going right through the wall with the entire drill head. Luckily Brett came to my rescue and we ended up moving the whole curtain rod up a few inches [don’t worry, anchors were used this time].

All of this to say, nothing is perfect. Yes, we stage the pictures and make it look all pretty to show you, but it doesn’t happen that way overnight and there is always more to the story than what you see in a photograph.

If you’re three nights, a few weeks or even months into a project and feel like the universe is plotting against your completion, don’t worry, you’re not alone. We’ve been there and we’ll be there when we work on the next room…and the one after that…and the one after that… 🙂

Huge shoutout and thank you to Sherwin-Williams for providing us with paint [wall color: upward, baseboard color: alabaster] and Wayfair for the new light fixtures. 

All our best,

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About North Country Nest

Hi, we're Brett & Kelly! We're tackling our first home renovation and would love for you to join us on our journey of reno projects, DIYs and home decor tips. View all posts by North Country Nest