Before and After: A Grungy ’90s Mudroom/Laundry Room Gets a 21st Century Glow-Up

Living spaces and hangout spots get a lot of design love, but that doesn’t mean that the more utilitarian spaces should be left out. Take this mudroom/laundry room combo. For Amanda Hemingway (@house_of_hemingway), this multi-use space in her home was the ghost of grunge eras past. “Everything was that orangey oak from when it was built in 1990,” Amanda says. “The linoleum floor had been damaged, including scratches and a few tears from the previous homeowner’s dog.”

When it came down to it, Amanda says, “The space was dark and not usable.” Not ideal for a workhorse space like a mudroom/laundry room!

So right after purchasing the home, changes began. Amanda and her husband Brad started first with removing the inefficient closet space and constructing lockers for storage instead. Then, they moved to the walls, where the couple replaced all the trim, added cozy shiplap to the walls, and installed wood on the ceiling. Underfoot, Amanda and Brad swapped linoleum for ceramic tile, which holds up better to foot traffic.

The laundry room area was next. Amanda and Brad added a board-and-batten wall, plus a new vanity with a wide vessel sink and tiled backsplash. Amanda and her husband also decided to painted the upper cabinets a dramatic dark blue-gray color (Benjamin Moore’s Soot).

There were a few complications that came with this scale of a renovation, of course. “The hardest part was tackling this project while living here with our five kids,” Amanda says. And a few steps of the process needed some serious planning ahead: “When tiling the floor, we removed the washer and dryer for about a week, and we couldn’t use the lockers while the tile set,” Amanda says.

But it was worth it in the end. “Walking in the front door you can see the beautiful new bathroom vanity and backslash tile, and the lockers with doors to hide the coats to keep the space tidy,” Amanda says.

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