DIY Home Improvement Project: How to Decorate Your Laundry Room on a Budget

The laundry room is often an overlooked decorating opportunity in many homes. It just sits there day after day with its plain, white walls. If you're looking for ways to spruce up this functional room so you actually enjoy loading laundry and folding clothes, then I hope this article can give you a few budget-friendly ideas.

I recently decorated my small laundry room with a $100 budget. My laundry room is completely enclosed without any windows. I really wanted to brighten it up so I knew any dark paint color choices could make the room look like a dungeon.

Total Project Cost: Under $100

Total Time: 3 days (to allow paint and wallpaper to dry)

Materials Purchased: paint, wallpaper border, decorative wood accents, wood stain, wallpaper paste, new paint brush

First Step: Choose a Decorating Theme for Your Laundry Room

This first step is free! Think about what makes you happy in terms of color choice and thematic elements. For example, do you enjoy a country look? Then you could go for a sunny yellow with rustic chickens. Do your kids use the room (don't laugh!)? Then, go for a kid-friendly look like Mickey Mouse. In my laundry room, I decided that I wanted to go for a two-tone paint scheme to make the room look bigger and brighter. I'm also a cat lover so I chose to use cats for my theme.

Second Step: Measure Your Laundry Room

Now that you've chosen your colors and thematic elements, let's move on to the actual measuring of the space. Since most laundry rooms are very small, you can probably buy just quart size paint from your local home improvement store. However, to be sure, you need to accurately measure your space. If you're going to purchase wallpaper or wallpaper borders, you'll also want to order just enough.

Third Step: Go Shopping!

I decided that I wanted to use a wallpaper border for my thematic element. I choose a wallpaper boarder that featured cats doing various laundry tasks. This wallpaper border became the anchor in my room, and I chose paint colors that coordinated. I purchased my wallpaper border online for about $45 from USA Wall Paper. If you search on the website by using the keywords "laundry room" you'll find a larger selection if you don't want to go with cats! For example, you can find really fun borders for the laundry room with lines of clothes, vintage looks with antique washboards, or even one featuring missing socks.

The wallpaper border was the most expensive portion of my laundry room home improvement project.

Once the wallpaper border arrived at my home, I took a roll with me to a local paint store. I purchased 1 quart of light blue paint, 1 quart of yellow paint, 1 container of oak wood stain, and some decorative wood trim to create chair rails. The total cost for these materials was about $40.

Fourth Step: Decorate Your Laundry Room

Be sure to thoroughly clean your laundry room before painting. Clear out any clothes, hangers, or baskets. Clean the walls. Lay down some protective material on your floor in case you spill paint.

Paint your walls. If you decided to do a two-tone paint job, make a mark around your room about 1/3 from the bottom. Paint the bottom color to this line. Pain the top color from the ceiling to this line. Of course, just skip this step if you're doing just one color. Allow the paint to dry completely. Apply extra coats as needed.

Apply any wallpaper or wallpaper borders. Be sure to use a wallpaper paste as water alone will not be strong enough to stick the paper to the wall. Plus, laundry rooms do have extra moisture so you don't want the wallpaper curling on you at a later date.

If you look at my article photos, you can see that I added chair rails above and below the wallpaper border. These rails are simply decorative wood that I stained, measured, and then nailed into place. The rails add some luxury and richness to your laundry room.

Next, add any thematic elements to your room such as pictures, posters or curtains if you have windows.

Optional Laundry Room Decorating Design Ideas

Since we all have different laundry room configurations, here are some additional ways to enhance your new look.

1.If you have a window, add a curtain or valance to match your theme.

2. If you have a door, consider painting it with a mural to match your theme.

3. Consider repainting any cabinetry or containers that you have in the room.

4. Add an area rug next to the washing machine and dryer. This rug will help catch any fuzzies/drips and will keep your toes warm while doing laundry. I picked up a long area rug for about $15 at my local home improvement store.

5. If you have a little bit of extra wallpaper, you can cut out various elements from the wallpaper and apply them to pieces of wood to make wall-hangings for your room. Protect it with a clear-gloss and let dry.