One Room Challenge | Laundry Room: Week 4

Welcome to week FOUR of the One Room Challenge! If you are new here, I am a kindergarten teacher by day and DIY/design aficionado by night. My husband and I are currently renting our home, but it hasn't stopped me from creating a comfortable and beautiful home for our family.

If you are new here, we are tackling our laundry room for the One Room Challenge, and it is all about being VERY budget friendly along with renter friendly. I will take you through my process as we drag this out over 8 weeks!

week  1      |   week  2   | week 3


After 3 weeks of serious procrastination I'd like to announce I have started on the laundry room makeover! 

This week was about getting the cabinets painted. The laundry room has melamine cabinets, so I gave them a good cleaning, lightly sanded and then primed. I should note that I filled in one hole from the previous cabinet pulls as my new pulls from Emagn Designs are a lot longer in length, therefore one hole needs to be filled in.


The ugly pulls were removed.


The top hole filled in with wood filler.


Then I removed the cabinet doors.


The key for any good quality painted furniture project is prep! Wash, sand and prime, especially slick artificial surfaces like melamine. My go-to primer is Zinsser 1-2-3 High adhesive primer.

First I lightly sanded the cabinet doors and cleaned with TSP.
Then I painted 2 coats of primer using the Handy paint pro-pail which comes with a liner and I love how it was easy to hold and I could use both a roller or paint brush!




After letting the primer dry, I painted  two coats of Linen from Fusion Mineral Paint.

My final step will be to seal with a matte clear coat by Rustoleum.




This weekend I plan on tackling the wallpaper!

Just a reminder, this is the wallpaper that is going up. It's called Jungle Toile by Roommates Decor!



I still need to:


  • spray paint the light fixture
  • finish painting the cabinets
  • hang up long shelf behind appliances
  • paint floor
  • paint back door
  • install wallpaper
  • source artwork
In the meantime, go visit the One Room Challenge blog to check out the featured designers AND the over 600 guest participants!

Thank you to the following sponsors of this project!






One Room Challenge | Laundry Room: Week 3

Welcome to week three of the One Room Challenge! If you are new here, I am a kindergarten teacher by day and DIY/design aficionado by night. My husband and I are currently renting our home, but it hasn't stopped me from creating a comfortable and beautiful home for our family.

We are tackling our laundry room for the One Room Challenge, and it is all about being VERY budget friendly along with renter friendly. I will take you through my process as we drag this out over 8 weeks!

week  1      |   week  2


Not much has happened in the space as I have been trying to finish other projects that don't really need to be done but yours truly LOVES to procrastinate...

Renter Friendly Update Tip: 

Another way to update your rental space is to switch out cabinet hardware. In our kitchen makeover I bought some inexpensive matte black knobs for the cabinets. Last night, I removed the ugly plastic handles and filled in one of the holes on the cabinets. I'm excited to have partnered with Emagn Designs, as Canadian hardware company with simply stunning one of a kind hardware. It took a while to decide which hardware to go with, but I was trying to balance the plain flat fronts of the cabinets with the scale of the hardware their offer. They sent me a few samples. But one pull caught my eye right away! 



The Timeless pull in satin brass with black stainless in 160 mm length.

 Gorgeous! 

I think it will glam up the plain flat front laminate cabinets and will go beautifully with the wallpaper, that I am installing this weekend! 
Hurrah!



Here is the mood board in case you haven't read my last few posts! 


What do you think?

Just a reminder of what I am working with....not pretty at all.




Check back next week, I promise there will be more progress!

In the meantime, please go visit the One Room Challenge blog to see what other amazing makeovers are happening.


If you are interested in following along with my design, feel free to subscribe!


Again, I would like to thank my generous sponsors:



One Room Challenge | Laundry Room: Week 2

Welcome to week two of the One Room Challenge! If you are new here, I am a kindergarten teacher by day and DIY/design aficionado by night. My husband and I are currently renting our home, but it hasn't stopped me from creating a comfortable and beautiful home for our family.

For the One Room Challenge, I am tackling our laundry room. My plan are renter friendly updates that can be easily removed when I move out or neutral updates that won't upset the landlord. Always ask for permission from your landlord before making any permanent changes. My landlord gave me permission to paint and make tasteful changes to the home, her only request was I not paint the walls dark.

The Plan:

For this makeover I am focussing on renter friendly updates. In our home, I have swapped out things to make this house a home. Drapery was hung after I removed the sad mini blinds, lighting has been swapped, walls painted, hardware changed, and area rugs added.

The plan for the laundry room is the walls will be wallpapered with a peel and stick wallpaper Jungle Toile from Roommates Decor, cabinets will get painted (still unsure of colour), hardware swapped with the Timeless Pull in Satin brass and black from Emagn Designs, the linoleum floors will either get a peel and stick tile, if I can find some, otherwise I will paint them with charcoal chalk paint I have on hand. Then accessories such as baskets, art work and shelving will get added.


My number one tip for renting is PAINT is your best friend. Paint can transform space so easily and cheaply. Painting walls, flooring or cabinetry can completely change a room. In addition you can now find stencils and peel and stick wallpaper that can be used to add a custom touch to a rental. Most of the walls in our home have been re-painted, and for last year's One Room Challenge, I stencilled our kitchen backsplash which was featured in Apartment Therapy. 

For the laundry room, I am planning on hanging up peel and stick wallpaper that I am designing the room around. This delicious jungle toile wallpaper is a traditional pattern with a whimsical twist with the jungle theme.


Roommates Decor has been generous in sponsoring this project! They have recently launched their new website where you can visualize the wallpaper in your space using their Room Visualizer tool!

The plan is to get this wallpaper hung this week! I haven't wallpapered since I was a 10 year old helping my mom, so wish me luck!


In the meantime, I love following what other bloggers/designers and IGers are doing for the One Room Challenge. Who are you following?

 Again, I would like to thank the generous sponsors of the laundry room makeover!



One Room Challenge | Laundry Room: Week 1

It's that time again! It's the One Room Challenge but with a twist....during a pandemic. 

Delayed by a month. I have had lots of time to plan on how I execute the latest One Room Challenge, our laundry room. The laundry room will get a renter AND budget friendly makeover. Using products I have sourced from some generous sponsors along with what I have at home, I will give the laundry room a traditional look with a modern twist.

If you want to see 3 other One Room Challenge spaces I designed that are renter AND budget friendly you can check them out: first,  my sewing studio, our kitchen and then our master bedroom.

What is the One Room Challenge you ask? It is when 20 designers are tasked to make over a space in 6 short weeks. You can participate alongside as a guest participant as well! This time due to the nature of the world's current events, the ORC is 8 weeks instead of the usual 6. 

Fun fact: I was one of the original "designers' in the very early days of the One Room Challenge, before Linda trademarked the event and before it became this HUGE event twice a year

Laundry Room Makeover Plan:

Is to makeover our laundry room on a tight budget and everything has to be renter friendly. Our laundry is a walk through space that connects the garage to the rest of the house. It has your basic flat front melamine cabinets along with tired linoleum.

  • Wallpaper walls using Jungle Toile from Roommates Decor
  • Paint back door 
  • Paint closet doors
  • Paint cabinets
  • Paint linoleum charcoal using chalk paint I have on hand
  • Add a shelf along the length of washer and dryer
  • Replace current runner with a vintage inspired runner from Loloi Rugs
  • Replace cabinet hardware with the Timeless line (satin brass and black) from Emagn Designs
  • Add artwork
  • Spray paint current light fixture with gold spray paint OR Rub n buff
I am going to be trying to use what ever paint I have on hand to make this cost effective!

My inspiration:


 Roomates Decor



The current space in all it's glory:


I am so excited to add some personality to this drab laundry room with budget and renter friendly updates!

Be sure to check out what others are doing! There is always SO much inspiration!

I would like to thank the generous sponsors of this project: