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Potty Talk and More.

October 17, 2011

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This is the only picture you have seen of our laundry room/half bath right off of the family room:
The room is not pretty to look at, so we usually just get our laundry done and get outta there.  The blue rag-rolled walls and lighthouse wallpaper border are dee-skusting.  The once blue (I think) tiles are filthy and cracked.  The blue (different blue *rolls eyes*) shag carpet area rugs have got to be festering germs galore.  The toilet seat.  The vanity.  The lighting.  This room is not fit for use by people other than doing laundry.  Which is exactly why we have been sending our guests (and ourselves) upstairs to the hall bath (that I gave a mini-makeover awhile back) when they need to use the restroom.   It isn’t exactly convenient to walk up 1 1/2 flights of stairs to use the bathroom, especially when you are hanging out in the family room, but who wants to use this?!:
How does a toilet even get like that?  It isn’t just dirt, it’s the finish on the seat that is completely destroyed.  We are guessing the previous owner’s dogs had something to do with the toilet looking like this.  Either way, with a party in less than 2 weeks and so far 50 people confirmed attendees, we knew we didn’t want to send everyone that needed to use the potty all the way upstairs.  So it is time to give this room a little facelift to make it presentable and usable for guests. Woot!
The first thing that had to be replaced was that toilet seat.  The toilet itself is a really nice and working Kohler, so it was just a matter of picking up a new seat and lid for $22 at Home Depot.  They categorize them by shape and brand, so it was really easy to find the right fit for our toilet.  Chris switched out the seat in about 5 minutes and it was as good as new:

While at Home Depot, we also found ourselves in the lighting department and picked up a new light for the room.  Nothing was terribly wrong with the other one, other than it just wasn’t our style.  We have learned that the right lighting can do wonders in transforming a room and our previous light was just….meh:

Because the room is long and narrow, we wanted a light that would help define different areas and really illuminate the whole room.  Track lighting was the perfect solution:

A little nontraditional in the laundry room, but turns out, it was just the look we were going for.  The three lights are currently directed at the sink/vanity, wall where some very large art is going to hide all those cords, and the laundry area.

Here’s how the room looks now–which is very similar to the before, but, we have lots of big plans on a small budget to get this room guest ready before the party.  Stay tuned, friends.

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What do you think?

  1. Yikes! That’s a LOT of blue in a BAD way. Good call on the track lighting. I love it. It’s nice and bright. Are you going to paint? Please keep the rag-rolled walls…(my eyes just rolled in the back of my head).

  2. YOU, my friend, are on the right track. I hadn’t thought of putting a shower curtain up–but we do have plans to move the washer and dryer! :)

  3. Dana Fox says:

    wow that toilet seat looks so much better, and the lighting too. I have to admit, I’ve never seen a laundry room inside a bathroom before haha.

    i totally just had an idea for you though… if you haven’t already thought of it. What if you were to move the washer/dryer to the back wall (where the mantle thing is) and stick up a shower curtain rod and curtain in front of it? It would hide the washer/dryer and appear as if it was an actual bathroom, with a bathtub behind it. guests wouldn’t even know unless they moved the curtain ;) it would be a cheap and easy fix :)
    xo dana
    thewonderforest.com

  4. Meagan says:

    That bathroom….oooo man. This might be worse than the basement. At least the basement was a total facelift after paint…that bathroom has SO many problems!!! Geez! I can’t WAIT to see the after. Get it girl.

  5. HAHAHAHA!!! Perfect description. Oh geez.

  6. This room is seriously business up top and a party on the bottom. Haha. Not QUITE a mullet bathroom but close. Good luck!

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