Thursday 12 April 2012

My New Laundry - Part 1

For those of you who have been following me for a while now, you would know that last year we renovated our laundry... and I never did get around to posting the finished photos.  This is probably because it is still not quite finished (in my eyes), but I decided that I would share with you what we have done so far - which is actually a whole lot!

I am very lucky to have a big laundry, which is also my sewing room.  This meant lots of careful planning and strategising (is that even a word??) about the best way to renovate to make the most of the space.  Knowing that I currently have 2 x double overhead cupboards and 3 drawers totally empty indicates to me that we achieved our goal of maximising the available space with functional cupboards - to accommodate the old contents of the room - plus so much more!

Ok, so step one was to rip out the old laundry! (I posted about my old laundry here.) Pretty much the sink and the sewing bench were the only fixed items in the room. (Unfortunately, I can't find one photo of the old sewing bench, which is on the opposite side of the room to this photo!  No before shots sorry.  Just imagine a wall to wall bench, with a small cupboard underneath on the far right side.) The bench and cupboard pictured below was our old bar, so that got relocated (again) into the fishing room, and the rest of it went to the dump.



I hopped onto the Bunnings website and used their online planning tool to create my dream laundry.  It uses the measurements of the room to create a virutual room, and then you simply slot in the cupboards into the available space.  It was so easy to use and because I am such a visual person, it was great to be able to see it all transforming before my eyes!



I ordered custom made benches through Ikea, which didn't even take two weeks to have made.  They were made perfectly to specification and the benchtop is a really durable surface, which is sure to last for many years to come.

And after many hours of hard work (not for me - for the hubs!)...



You can see where we pulled the old sewing bench off the wall, and where the tiles were laid around the cupboard.
Typical pose by my hubby - anyone would think he was a plumber ;)
I finally had this amazing space to call my own!  I now have 13 cupboards, 8 drawers and 2 shelves to play with!




The 2 shelves below are designed to house two washing baskets -one for washing and one for ironing.  I have finally ended my epic search to find the 'perfect' baskets ie: baskets that fill the available space in these two holes, as last week I finally struck gold when I found just what I had been looking for!  But I still need to spraypaint and fabric-line them, so I am using my old baskets until that project is done.




I will do some more detailed posts about some of the other features in this room, but for today, I will leave you with some of my favourite things we did...

A pull-out clothes line for wet weather:


A wall-mounted Robinhood ironing centre:



A pull-out hose from the tap for thoroughly washing things down:



Although I haven't finished the painting, decorating and organising in here, it is such a great room, and I am really happy with the end product!  I love that everything has a home, and that I have plenty of room to move around in here and do my jobs.  Oh, and I just love my new laundry tins that I scored this week at Aldi - for just a fraction of the cost of others I have seen elsewhere :)


Read more about My Laundry Make-Over here.

16 comments:

Natalie said...

Wow! I absolutely love it.This is my dream laundry.I am going to use it as total inspiration for mine.Thankyou

Cassandra said...

Thank you Natalie! It took me so long to make this a reality - I knew what I wanted but just had to source the right bits and pieces for this particular space. I still haven't decorated, as I hadn't decided on a colour theme... But now that I have my new tins, the pink/purple colour is going to be my base, and I think I want to add in some green to make it pop!

Julie said...

I love the look of your new laundry, it all looks so fresh and bright!

Cassandra said...

Thanks Julie!

Michelle said...

Wow! Love this, saw the link from Mummy Smiles. Where did you get the iron centre and washing line from? Also would you mind staring the cost of those?

Unknown said...

Love your laundry! I wish mine was this big so it could be used better. Great idea to use Bunnings and Ikea to get the best of both!

Cassandra said...

Thanks Michelle! I love Mummy Smiles too :) The ironing centre is from Mitre 10 - it cost $480 for the deluxe model, which is completely wired with power, a light and a timer. The washing line is from Bunnings - it cost $230 for the entire cabinet, including the airer. I am preparing some follow-up posts with links to websites and more details about everything. Let me know if you have any more questions. xxx

Cassandra said...

Thanks Annaleis - I am very lucky to have such a big space! I can never find everything that I want at one store, it just worked for me that between Ikea and Bunnings, and also Mitre 10, I was able to gather the bits and pieces that I wanted :)

Liz said...

WOW!! I absolutely LOVE your laundry!! Its gorgeous!

Cassandra said...

Thank you Liz! I love it too :)

Organisingtomakelifeeasier said...

Looks fantastic! What a transformation..I bet it's nice to have a large laundry with so much space.

Cassandra said...

It is definitely a big transformation! It sure is fantastic to have so much space... I know I am spoilt!

My Pigeon Pair said...

Love this laundry! I have "pinned" it for future reference for in "the next house"!!! Love it so glad I found your blog via "The Organised Housewife"

Cassandra said...

Thanks so much! I visit your blog quite regularly too :) Loving the Linky Parties!

JustForDaisy said...

Oh my! :) I love this and am totally inspired. My before shots are a little worse than yours as our laundry is in a farm cottage and it's also the 'mud room'/entry to the house too which means it'll be multi purpose but maybe not so glamorous as sharing with a sewing room! Love your finished product!! Might have to visit the Bunnings website and start planning! :)

Cassandra said...

Thanks Rebekah! There are more sizes of cupboards instore, so do your basic plan online and then check out what they have in the store too - that's how we made ours fit so perfectly! I am looking forward to reading your blog later on with a cuppa... It looks great too! xxx

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