soooooo this happened today! construction on the laundry room built-ins has begun! not that the paint and the flooring and all the other decisions weren’t a big deal but THIS is what i have been waiting for. THIS is what i envisioned when i first discussed my laundry room renovation pipe dreams with my husband. to see it all come together and figure out if my design will actually work in this space. fingers crossed we don’t run into too many unexpected challenges in what should be the final stretch of our…

budget-friendly laundry room renovation

days 26-30

days 26-30 tasks

{1} be on hand for lots of on-the-spot decision making {not my favorite!}

{2} have as much wood prepped and painted as possible, and keep painting

{3} constantly check in on the process

days 26-30 {task 1}

be on hand for lots of on-the-spot decision making. i am the kind of girl who likes to ask a million questions, get advice from friends, and google the heck out of something before i make a decision about anything. getting into this renovation process, i knew i might have to make some decisions on the fly, which is not my strongpoint. so i tried to think of everything beforehand.

guess what? there’s no such thing as thinking of everything beforehand. this week i learned that in the land of renovations, one million on-the-spot decisions are going to come up despite any and all prep you do in advance. how do people build whole houses? i would never survive!

basically, days 26-31 consisted of a lot of deep breaths on my part. and sticking up for decisions i thought were best, even if they didn’t make the most sense from an aesthetic standpoint. this part was hard and made me feel bossy with my builder. but for us, this laundry room was the answer to my never ending battle with shoes, jackets, and backpacks. i had to stick up for decisions that kept these needs at the forefront.

if you are in the middle of, or considering a reno, make sure you have a list of your non negotiables. i learned that this week, as there was a constant battle between function and design. if there is something you want, stick up for it!

for example, functionally speaking, i insisted on four cubbies across the front of the space. from a design standpoint, three would have looked more pinterest worthy. four meant cubbies that were a little more crowded and a narrower bench. but we have four people in our family {and one on the way!}. for my sanity, i needed four cubbies for shoes, four sets of corresponding low and high hooks for jackets, and two more cubbies with hooks on the side.

as hard as the decisions were, they meant progress! i could not believe the progress in just the first couple days of building.

days 26-30 {task 2}

painting, painting, and more painting. i watch a lot of HGTV. and i browsed a lot of laundry rooms on pinterest before this renovation. at times, the pictures i saw made it seem like the whole reno process was a lot more glamorous than it actually is. don’t get me wrong. i am thrilled we did this. but we set out with a strict budget for this project. and that meant getting my hands dirty anywhere i could to save money. painting was one of the ways i chose to save.

i have been painting every waking minute these past two weeks and i am pretty sure i have at least another week ahead of me. mostly MDF and plywood for the built-ins, but also the baseboards, staining the shelf, and touching up spots on the wall that were scratched in the building process.

there were times, while painting, when i thought to myself, i should write a book about painting furniture i’ve done this so many times. well. this isn’t a book. it’s just four pages. but it is FREE and it has EVERYTHING you need to know about painting furniture and built-ins – what supplies and paint work best, how to begin, what not to do, and other tips and tricks to get your painting projects done FAST {and without chipping}. sign up and grab your copy of the ultimate guide to painting furniture, along with other fun freebies!

what were my kids doing while i spent all this time painting? truthfully? watching disney junior. i had to just let that guilt go. i am still sticking by the $500+ dollars i saved by doing the painting myself. but if i never see another paintbrush or expanse of MDF after this, i will not be sad.

days 26-30 {task 3}

checking in on the progress. this was my other full time job this past week. i learned that no matter how much communication you have with your builder, constantly checking in is helpful. or maybe i am just a control freak? but when i walked in and the pretend shiplap was running vertically instead of horizontally, and looking like the old school paneling in my parents’ basement, i was glad i could mention it before the glue dried. seriously though, most times i looked in i could not believe my eyes. this was actually coming together!

total project savings remains $3,865 for days 1-30 of this budget-friendly laundry room renovation! check back soon for days 30-35 and then the final reveal! {want to catch up on our budget-friendly laundry room renovation from day 1? click here. interested in reading what happens next? click here.}

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