Before and After: A Cheery Laundry Room Makeover for Just $25

updated May 28, 2020
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Before: Dark laundry room with concrete floors and paneled wood walls
Credit: Samantha Overway

When you move into a new-to-you home, not every room makeover can be top priority—even when it gets a lot of use. Samantha Overway closed on her family’s home the day after she got home from the hospital with her youngest child. So needless to say, the laundry room was not on the top of the family’s to-do list. It sat in the basement of the family’s 100-year-old home, and while it worked well enough, it wasn’t exactly pretty. “Sometime in the 1980s, there was some work done on the house and they completely covered the basement walls in wood paneling,” Samantha says. “Even though the laundry room was functional, it was ugly and dated and we dreaded going down there to do laundry!”

Samantha had been planning to redo the laundry room and had just bought a new $25 hamper when her state was told to shelter in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19. She didn’t want her stay at home to stop her progress, so other than the hamper, she used only items she already had at home.

Credit: Samantha Overway

Samantha did all her work while her two kids, ages 2 and 4, were down for their naps. She started by painting the paneling white (HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams’ Fundamental White). It took three coats before the paneling was totally covered. Then, Samantha turned her attention to the countertops. She painted those black (PPG’s Black Magic) and gave them a couple coats of sealer to protect them.

Credit: Samantha Overway

Samantha used the same combo of paints on the floor. She first painted the gray concrete white, then used a stencil from Royal Design Studio she had previously used on her bathroom floor to create the geometric pattern in black. “The hardest part was stenciling,” Samantha says. “It’s not necessarily hard, but it definitely requires a lot of patience.”

Four coats of polyacrylic sealer guard it from scuffs and spills. Finally, Samantha hung a cabinet leftover from the family’s kitchen remodel to help hold detergent and other supplies. The rest of the decor came from around the house.

“I love how bright it is now!” Samantha says. “It completely transforms our dark, 100-year-old basement.” And all that without spending any money aside from a $25 hamper!

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