Well friends, it’s me again and I am excited to invite you into my home.

When we purchased our current house about six years ago, it had sat in the middle of the woods with no humans for two years. Needless to say, there were a lot of things that needed to be replaced.

 

We chose to add on a big laundry room, half bath and garage. I was so excited, but at the age of 27, we weren’t keen on blowing our budget with lots of extras we didn’t think we needed. Which is why we have a high-quality laminate that mimics the look of granite, did most of the work ourselves and reused what we could.

{I would like to note that I did try to reuse the light fixtures, but if you read my last post about lighting, you are already aware that the boyfriend didn’t let that idea fly.}

When we built the laundry room, I am pretty sure Jason mentioned that I could get new cabinets, but that we could also be smart and just use the ones from the old kitchen and then we would be able to get the upgrades I wanted for the new kitchen cabinets. Kitchen cabinet upgrades … or new, cheap laundry room cabinets? Easy!

The old cabinets are from the early 1980’s, but they are solid wood and actually pretty nice. I figured that with a good cleaning and some new hardware — BAM! I would have a new laundry room.

 

 

If you have ever remodelled a house, you know that it’s easy to make plans, remodel, move in … then think, “what the heck was I thinking?!”. Yeah … I sort of did that. I don’t mind the cabinets, but honestly, the flow didn’t work for us. The hangers were on the other side of the room, there wasn’t space for clothes to hang dry without being in the way of my countertop, which meant I never had access to said countertop. 

I did what any logical wife would do almost 6 years after moving in. I asked for new cabinets and an entirely new layout.

You’re laughing aren’t you? I bet you are currently giggling to yourself if you have met said “boyfriend” {husband} before, because you know what he said. Exactly. No. Not only did he say, “No”. But he added a few other choice words not appropriate for ladies to type into blogs.

Now what! I was highly irritated of course, but I decided to formulate a plan. There had to be a way I could get what I wanted and impress him with my money saving powers. After some time on our favorite pinning website, I found a few blogs about pipe shelving. Did you know black pipe is cheap? Like … cheap. I went back to his office and said, “Boyfriend! If I can redo my laundry room/office for $100 or less, can I do it?”. He laughed and said to get after it.

Sweet, sweet permission! Which means in the land of wives … that he is now contractually obligated to assist me in my before mentioned scheme when I needed him! {Insert evil laugh here}

 

The boys helped … well, sort of.

I took everything out and did a quick cleaning with my Norwex {thanks, mom!}. Grabbed a gallon of True Value Easy Care paint in grey and got to work! Within an afternoon, I had the paint done and was ready to head to the shop and prep this “cheap” black pipe.

*** Note: If you like the clothes you are wearing, don’t have an inner farm girl to pull out or just generally don’t like being covered in unknown substances … wear gloves and change your clothes. Black pipe is covered in, well, black. So it’s messy!***

I measured my space and laid out the shelves. I decided to use a piece of pipe to hang from my ceiling so I could dry clothing on! Genius! Once I came up with that plan, I decided to add another piece over the top of the washers to hold the empty hangers. Wow! Life. Changing.

 

Yes, the boyfriend did help. He hung a new dog gate that is attached to one side of the door, which helps a lot. We LOVE the new dog gate! It’s metal, and when our rotten little Bella jumps on it and unleashes her inner crazy, it stays right in place. {I am pretty sure the BF helped solely because he was certain I wouldn’t hit the studs, and he would have a bigger mess to fix later … but hey, whatever works!}

Want to know one of the best parts of this black pipe shelving? It’s Cheap! Oh wait, I said that. No really, it’s already cut into lengths! It’s a project you can do in an afternoon usually. Measure, purchase and build! With floor flanges, pipe pieces and end caps; you are golden!

To be perfectly honest, I did this $100 laundry room makeover a few months back. Now, I keep re-thinking that maybe I want to paint the cabinets? Hmm … I haven’t picked out new hardware either because I simply can’t decide. But, I love the new shelves and hanging spaces. I don’t always remember to think outside of the box and use places like ceilings and higher on the walls, but I am headed to look around my house and see where else I can put some pipe projects!