When I moved into my house in September of 2007 the only thing that had been updated in the house was the addition of a crazy warren of cabinets in the laundry room/back entry. There was a full kitchen's worth of cabinets crammed into the small space. I had other things to worry about, however, like evicting the racoons in the walls and getting electricty upstairs so I painted the cream walls green and left it alone for several years.
I finally got around to working on things removing the crazy waste of space cabinets and replacing the flooring in the back entry area over my Christmas break three years ago. Then last fall I taped and mudded the drywall, added beadboard to the back wall and built a storage shelf. I still need to build a shoe storage bench in that area, replace the light fixture, add trim to the window and get everything painted, but I think it will definitely be a better use of the space than before. Here is a then and now:
Back up in the laundry area I decided to keep most of the cabinets. They were not my style with the 1980s oak look, but they were in okay condition and provided some nice storage. Here is how the area looked in early 2008 after I had painted the walls but done nothing else.
I did decide that even thought I was keeping the cabinets I wanted to paint them white to match my cabinets in the adjoining kitchen. I also used oil rubbed bronze spray paint to paint the hinges and added knobs to match my kitchen knobs.
When I decided to replace the flooring I discovered that the area was built up on a second elevated floor to lift the area level to the kitchen. There was almost no headroom in the laundry room so I decided to remove the elevated floor and bring it back down to the original floor. This means that I have some exposed drywall that is in very rough shape that I need to finish now. I taped and mudded it and now I need to sand it down, repeat, prime and paint. Here is where I am at right now in the process.
I have a long way to go but I am excited to get back to working on this area of the house. Because the upper cabinets will now be a bit high over the lower cabinets due to removing the elevated floor I plan to hang a rod from them to hang clothes. I also plan to add crown molding to the tops of the cabinets plus a few other things which I think will be fun. I can't wait!