Before and After: A “Wasted Space” Laundry Room is Transformed by Fun Wallpaper and IKEA Storage

Remodeling a home can be one of the most exciting (and tiring!) things about becoming a homeowner. And when you’re working with a limited budget, it’s only natural to focus on highly visible areas like the kitchen, living areas, and bathrooms. This usually means rooms hidden out of plain view like the laundry room fall to the bottom of the priority list. Most people don’t spend a lot of time in their laundry room, so it’s easy to close the door and forget about it—at least until it’s time to do laundry again.

When architect and interior designer Taryn Bone of Bone Collective Studio bought her first home last year with her husband, she knew the laundry room of her new Boston residence would need some work just to become functional.

“This room was such a wasted space when we bought the house,” she said. It has low ceilings due to the exposed floor joists overhead, no windows, and no ventilation. It’s also one of the only rooms in the open concept house that has a door, which she decided to use to her advantage. “I decided to go with the jewel box concept in my design plans,” she said, “meaning that rooms which can be closed off get to be very different from the rest of the home.”

Bone didn’t want to spend a lot of money on “just a laundry room,” so she DIYed her way to a hidden gem. For flooring, she had her contractor put down plywood and painted it a bold “California Blue” from Benjamin Moore.

She chose Emily Isabelle’s Bloom in “Dusty Rose” from Hygge & West to create a lively accent wall. The low ceiling height meant she had to get creative for storage. She ended up stacking two 15-inch deep IKEA cabinets and adding legs to give them a built-in look and raise them to the right height. For the ultimate finish, she polished them off with Semihandmade’s Impression doors and panels in Tahoe.

You can see the full process and more after pics on Bone’s website.