Guess what? With the completion of the mini makeover in the office, we reached a milestone. We have lived in our house for almost 8 years and throughout that time period we have had, what I call, embarrassing rooms. These are the rooms that we shut the door to, and bypass, if we happen to be giving a tour. It’s not that the rest of the house was/is perfect (remember the old kitchen?) or even that some embarrassing choices weren’t made in those rooms, it just seemed like the more ‘public’ rooms were presentable and then we had the embarrassing rooms.
Sometimes we focus our funds and attention on the rooms other people will see and don’t pay attention to the rooms we ourselves spend a lot of time in, or at least could potentially spend a lot more time in.
Here’s what the door pictured above used to open up to.
The laundry room not only looks better and but has a dual purpose as a butler’s pantry. The majority of the changes were done in a weekend. It didn’t take a big budget to make it look better, the transformation was made for under $150.
Our office had these lovely mud patches for entirely too long.
It took 8 hours to paint this room (trim, windows and doors included) and even less than $150 (if you don’t count the new chairs, but still under $300 if you do). The lesson in there was to move things around and arrange what I already had in a different way. A less embarrassing way.
Now that I no longer feel these rooms are embarrassing, I realize it didn’t take a fortune or a huge amount of time to change their state of affairs. Mostly, it was just a mindset. It was determination and making a decision to do something about it. I could’ve done it years ago.
It’s satisfying to have reached the no-more-embarrassing rooms milestone. Well, at least in our main living space. We still have basement and outdoor spaces that need some help. Maybe it won’t take 8 more years to fix it.
How about you? Any embarrassing rooms? Any plans to change them?
-J
Wow, you’ve got such a knack. It all looks so crisp and clean. Congratulations on the milestone!
Your transformations have been phenomenal, and in such a short period of time. Great JoBs.
I have a different take on these matters, and don’t have embarrassing rooms (maybe I should be embarrassed, but I’m not, with one possible exception….that garage is a nightmare…thank goodness for the ‘up a hill, side entry situation’). But then too…I don’t give tours. I just live in my spaces, and make them as comfortable as I can afford for them to be at any given point in time(affordability taking into consideration not just $$, but time and effort to do things differently). My mantra when it comes to home decor….”I live here…if I like it, everyone else needs to get over it”.
lusting so hard over your black door!
I love your transformations! Stopping by from Better After! Question: did you buy your red lamps or spraypaint them? I am hunting for some used lamps to spraypaint a glossy red for my son’s nursery, but if I could find a pair new, I might be swayed! 😉
Thanks! I spray painted a pair of lamps I found at a garage sale. More on that here:
Did you buy or make that light cover in the laundry room? Please tell me that you made it (and that you are willing to share the process!) It looks amazing!
Thank you! I made it! I didn’t do a tutorial b/c I basically used the same process YHL did here:http://www.younghouselove.com/2011/08/320-pins/
Mine was a little simpler because of the way I chose to clip on the pins and I had a light fixture already in the room that had a broken glass globe. I didn’t even change the base part that holds the bulb, I just sprayed it white and just attached my clothespin chandelier directly to the existing base by hanging it on the 3 screws present. I used wire fencing found at Home Depot.
I love your laundry room. You did an awesome job! My laundry room is one of those embarrassing rooms in my house right now. I have patched drywall & have been looking to repaint but just can’t decide on that perfect color. Would you be willing to share what your paint color is?
Thanks! Here’s a post about paint colors: https://b.designocd.com/2012/07/paint-colors/
The laundry room is Glidden’s Icy Teal.