MY LAUNDRY RENOVATION REVEALED
My laundry renovation is finally complete. What was once a dank, mouldy and unusable space complete with leaking taps and exposed copper pipes (no, not the cool industrial kind) is now a bright, functional space.
PHOTOGRAPHY MARK ZEIDLER
BEFORE: This is what the laundry looked like before moving in.
BEFORE: This is the messy reality of living through a renovation and having no storage!
Ok so let’s talk about the laundry prior to renovation! Right before we moved in we discovered the hot water system wasn’t working (the opposite of a housewarming gift)! It worked out well though because all along I had planned on moving the hot water system outside, I just hadn’t budgeted for replacing with a brand new one so soon. I went with a gas hot water system as we wanted to use gas hotplates in the kitchen later on – so it just made sense to cross over to gas now. It did however cost $2000 so that was something we hadn’t prepared for.
In terms of tile choice I knew I wanted a white floor to help bounce light around the room and keep the space feeling fresh. I chose Tile Cloud’s Wellington herringbone mosaic tile in matt white and I love them – they’re my favourite feature in the room. And for the splashback I used Tile Cloud’s Brunswick kit kat tiles in gloss white. Both tiles were grouted with Mapei Manhattan grout (also from Tile Cloud) – it’s a beautiful soft grey and I’m so happy with the result.
Brass accents give the room a dash of luxe, including the Phoenix ‘Vivid’ slimline gooseneck sink mixer in brushed gold. It’s got excellent water pressure and it’s easy to manoeuvre around – an absolute joy to use. Other brass accents include the glass jars from Zakkia and ‘Cornet’ door handle from Kethy.
The walls are painted in Dulux ‘Vivid White’. On the opposite wall to the cabinets we did a feature wall in EasyCraft’s EasyVJ wall panels from Bunnings. They’re an affordable way to give a wall some character and we will be using this product throughout the house to give the home a coastal vibe. On the same wall we installed three Dial hangers from Design By Them. One has a hook which is great for hanging my Menu dustpan from Designstuff. The other two are great for hanging a towel or beach bag, so this room also functions as a mudroom.
ON FLOOR: Tile Cloud’s Wellington herringbone mosaic tile in matt white
Whilst I’m so happy with the end result, it’s not to say there weren’t compromises along the way. I chose lots of storage over a dryer, so I’m at the mercy of Mother Nature; I only wash clothes on sunny days. Thank goodness I live in Queensland. One of those must-have storage items was a Blum pullout laundry basket (shown above). I’d seen them in display homes and always vowed I’d put one in my own laundry someday. It’s so great for concealing messy dirty clothes. My cabinet makers sourced this for me (it cost about $180).
I will say this though: the laundry budget caught me completely off guard. I went in naively thinking I’d spend no more than $4,000 on this space. I spent that on the custom cabinetry and engineered stone top alone – whoops. All of the other products and trades needed on top of that came in at close to $8,000 – and that doesn’t even include replacing the hot water system. I think I could have saved money for sure by using flat-pack cabinets – that being said, I love the look of these custom cabinets from JMK Joinery and the cost included installation and measuring it all up so that it was perfectly fitted to my space. It also included a bulkhead made from the same melamine for a seamless, polished look. Because we used a Tasmanian Oak vanity in our bathroom I wanted to continue that in the laundry to keep it cohesive. I chose Polytec Tasmanian Oak woodmatt melamine finish for the bottom cupboards and floating shelves and Polytec melamine polar white sheen for the linen cupboard and upper cabinets. The stone benchtop is SmartStone ‘Arcadia’ – it’s a slightly speckled off-white colour and matches almost perfectly with the white granite sink from Temple & Webster.
Was it worth the money? Absolutely. Washing clothes is now my favourite chore and I love hanging out in the laundry!
Door from ebay, Lemaar ‘Orba’ black door handle from Bunnings
