My friend Ruth has some of the best interior design taste and sense of style of anyone I know. Last year, she decided to create a laundry room once and for all out of the extended space in her garage. What followed was the creation of the most beautiful laundry room I know of. I mean, who has brick floors in their laundry room?! Ruth was kind enough to talk to us today about how she designed this space and how it works for her busy family. Please say “hello” to Ruth and stick around for a beautiful laundry room tour:

________________________________________________________________________________

Me: “Hi Ruth! Thanks for showing us around your beautiful laundry area today. For starters, how did you come to live in this home and when was it built? Tell us a little about what this current space was before you did the renovation”.

Ruth: “We’ve been living in this house since Thomas was a one-year-old!  What?  Engaged?!!!  How can that be?  So that makes it like, 24 years or something now that we’ve called this home.  We bought this 1970’s home on over a half acre and slowly transformed every single inch of it.  We love it here.  The huge yard pulled us in from the beginning, and we knew we could make the house and yard into something we loved.

The original laundry “area” was where our computer niche is now.  You had to step over laundry to get in or out of the house if you were using the door to the garage.  There was no room for a hamper and if the dryer door was open, you couldn’t even get through. The funny thing was, the garage was extra large and deep.  There was plenty of room in front where the cars parked for something useful!  It only took 23 years for me to turn it into a proper mud room and laundry space.  HAHA! Better late than never”.

Me: “And it is SUCH a gorgeous new space! I love it. So what was the feeling you were going for with your furnishings and decor in this laundry space?”

Ruth: ” I’m always all about the white and bright!  I love light, and open bare windows, and sunshine, and white cabinets.  And after our son served a mission in Denmark and we traveled there, I was more committed that ever to my white on white, slightly Scandinavian decor, with a hint of farmhouse.  So in the laundry area I already knew I wanted white cabinets, and then I took note of the bright and cheerful white on whites of Denmark.  That’s how I ended up with white walls and white-washed wood countertops.  (I kept bringing home marble and granite samples for counters, and when I finally re-did our family dining table with a chalk paint white wash, Viola!  I knew it was the right thing for the counters in the laundry area.  Bonus–it was SO affordable!)”

Me: “Please tell us about that brick floor! Was it hard to lay? What was the process for doing it?”

Ruth: “The floor!  I love our brick floor.  I looked at every possible durable, forgiving mudroom floor idea.  I grew up in Georgia and LOVE old brick–so much brick there!  When I realized that brick seemed like a possibility, I was sold!  Steve and I hand picked every single brick on that floor from about four different Home Depot stores around the Bay Area.  We liked the white wash splatters and distressed look of them better than any other bricks we could find.  We put in the floor much like a tile floor, right over the garage slab floor.  Then, going for a worn look that would look like it had been part of the house from the beginning, we added a poured-in sandy grout that we sealed in place with brick sealer.  (Thank you to all the YouTubers who show zillions of ways to put in brick! I watched too many of those to decide on my methods.)  The best thing is that this floor feels good under bare feet!  You wouldn’t think so, but it is so comfortable.  It makes me smile every day.”

Me: “Do you have any further plans/changes for this space? What is on your reasonable wish list?”

Ruth: “This room works really hard for us.  I measured and planned for so long to be able to house LOTS of stuff in this room.  I specifically created room for:

-Our beloved dog’s food and water and all her things.

-Our family files.  ALL of our household files are in one of the big drawers.

-My work station–my laptop and all the files I work on are in one cupboard.

-Shoe storage (with more shoe storage right outside in the garage).

-Places to hang jackets, purses, scarves, bags, keys.

-School “cubbies” for each of our high schoolers, with back packs and text book storage.

-Beach towel storage.

-Table linen storage.

-Large appliance over flow from the kitchen (crockpot, etc…).

-Movie projection equipment storage.

-ALL the family games (if they don’t fit here, we don’t need them).

-Decor storage (mostly on the open shelves, that I rotate into the house based on seasons or occasions).

-Laundry and cleaning supplies.

 -ALL the household paper goods (cups, plates, napkins, serving tins, plasticware).

The best storage, however, is a big wire dirty clothing hamper and a HUGE DRAWER where the clean laundry is sorted into removable bins.

The cabinets go all the way to the high ceilings in this room, so we hung a cute step stool (IKEA) that we use all the time.

Overall, I’m pretty happy with our space.  The only changes I think I’ll see over time is how some of the storage is used.  (Our sweet dog recently passed away.  It took us awhile to empty her drawer and then give it a new use.  And I can’t bring myself to empty Emma’s school cubby yet.  It remains untouched since she left for BYU a few months ago”.

A big THANK YOU to Ruth and family for showing us around this beautiful space. Our washing machine unexpectedly broke last summer and I went over for several days doing my own laundry in this space. I can attest it really is as lovely as it appears in these photos!