After I closed on my house on a Friday, I didn’t drink champagne or go out for dinner. I drove to the house and started painting the laundry room. Yep, it was that bad—the ugliest room in the house. I had to brighten it up. And because I also wanted to redo the floor. I had to get started before the movers started moving furniture the next day, Saturday.
The laundry room could also be called the back porch. It’s an enclosed porch that both units’ backdoors descend into.
So in your opinion, did these colors look good in the ’80s or ’90s—caramel walls, brown Italian-style linoleum, and ugly wood and white cabinets? It’s hard to think that they ever looked good.
The floor was the worst. Should I paint or could I lay more tile over it? I did my research. Paint could be applied but it would then only be one flat color which could be boring and I wasn’t sure how it would hold up through the years. I chose to go with 6″x12″ Stainmaster Peel-And-Stick Travertine Vinyl Tile.
Of course, I had to be creative with it. I chose to lay the tiles down in a unique pattern that I had seen online. (Note to self: sometimes simple is the way to go because it saves you time and headache!) I also didn’t realize until I was at home installing the tile and reading the directions, that I would need to rent a 100 lb roller and roll them down! So I had to go back to Home Depot for a rental. I had a four-hour rental window and had to load and unload the 100 lb roller by myself—doable, but not easy. Because of the pattern I chose, the size of the tile, and the fact that I started in the middle of the floor, I had to cut the tile down to small pieces to place around the edges—I don’t recommend that as they have a tendency to want to come up. But all in all, I am happy with the result!
I am proud to say that I thought to buy an extra box of tile in case I need to replace some of the tiles in the future and this style is discontinued. As of three years later, they are no longer available—so I am so glad I have the extra box. I thought that they would be super easy to clean—that dirt would just come right off. Reality is that they can be hard to clean when lots of dirt gets tracked in and they show everything. Next time, I would probably choose a darker gray tile.
My handywoman, Tanya, told me there was a product that I could put on the finish of the cabinets that would allow me to paint them. However, in the meantime, I found cabinets on Marketplace cheap! When I went to pick them up, the gentleman said his “crazy wife” had just taken them down in their laundry room that she was redoing. Her remodel was my gain!
All my guests that come and go through the back of my house see this room so it was important that it didn’t remain ugly. My laundry room went from looking dingy, old, and tired to bright, sunny, and fresh!
