Laundry Makeover - For under $550

If you are renting or want to renovate your laundry on a budget then this is for you...

I use to hate doing laundry. Our laundry felt cold and run down with absolutely no bench space to fold or sort clothes. It didn't even have flooring, it was just a bare concrete slab. As we are only renting we didn't want to do a full renovation and spend money on a house that isn't ours. So we decided to do a temporary makeover using products that we can take with us when we leave. We had planned to do all of this on a very tight budget of $500, but a few extras brought our total spend to $538.26.

So how did we do it? Well firstly we removed everything from the room and soon realised just how uneven the concrete floor was. So the first thing we had to do was use a self levelling compound to level out the floor which is something we hadn't allowed for in the budget. After this was done we gave the room a fresh coat of white paint which instantly brightened the space.

Next it was time for flooring which was more difficult than we thought. Our laundry was built around the 1920's and the craftsmanship was not great. No room in our house is perfectly square and the laundry could possibly be the worst. So this made measuring the floorboards a difficult task. If your room is perfectly square you should find this step a breeze!

Now came the fun part. . . Flatpacks. Luckily we only had to build two flatpacks so there were no arguments to be had. After installing the flatpacks we put the benchtop on and the room was finally coming together. My partner wanted to stop here but I insisted on having an aesthetic hanging shelf.

I had seen hanging shelves on pinterest with cute leather straps but I didn't want to pay a fortune for one so I came up with a quick and easy DIY version. Bunnings sell these Leather strap door handles which I thought would be perfect. So I grabbed a Porta timber dowel rod for the hanging rail and two gold hooks to hold the leather straps. I hung the shelf using floating shelf brackets and attached the DIY hanging rail and I am so in love with the end result.

We completed this project over 2 weekends and are loving our new laundry makeover. Here is a breakdown of the costs involved:

Floor Leveller - $45.45 for 20kg

Floorboards - $43.05 x 2 (Hanwood Laminate Flooring)

Paint - Leftover white paint (whisper white), because who doesn't have a million white paints

Flatpack Laundry Hamper - $196

Flatpack Cupboard - $136

Benchtop - Free from local Joinery shop as it had a slight scratch (although you could use a timber benchtop from Bunnings for $99)

Shelf - $22

Floating Shelf Brackets - $20

Porta Timber Rod - $10.50

2x Leather strap handles - $8.93 x 2

Gold Hooks - $4.35

Total Cost = $538.26 (add a timber benchtop = $637.26)

Please note that our landlord allows us to paint walls and add shelves/pictures etc. So remember to check with your landlord before changing their house.

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Thanks for reading,

Samantha

Instagram: @samantha_milne_designs