Our laundry room.

When we first moved in four years ago, our laundry room looked like the photo on the left.

That was me trying to compensate for a boring room in a rental home with my addiction to accessories.

The next picture is phase two: me undercompensating with accessories.  I had just finished reading Tsh’s book Organized Simplicity.  And my well-meaning tchotchkies were driving me up the wall.  I went crazy and packed away almost everything. I was sick and tired of trying to mask the fact that I didn’t like a room with a bunch of stuff.

The problem was I still didn’t like the room when it was empty.

I’m somewhere in the middle when it comes to what I want for our home.  I want it to be relaxing and meaningful and functional but I also want to like it. But I don’t want to spend thousands of dollars and man hours on a laundry room.  Especially in a house we are renting.

Part of me told my self why even do anything to this room? It’s small, it’s a laundry room for goodness sake, close the door and forget about it.

But, I know the way we live, and the door to this room is always open.

You can see straight into this room if you knock on our front door and I open it–hello laundry room.

And, I wanted to like it.

I craved a simple, responsible look that was also creative and stylish.  And budget friendly.

And now, I’m gonna walk downstairs and take a photo of this room however it looks RIGHT now. Which could be a number of cases but I’m doing this to prove a point….

The point of this post?  This room serves me now. For two years I hated this room.  Instead in investing what it really needed to work for our family ($150 — $100 of that I’ll take when we move) I chose to ignore it and put a Band-aid on it made of thrifted stuff.

I love thrifted stuff.  But that wasn’t what this room needed.  No amount of cute stuff would hide the fact that it needed a fresh coat of paint and could benefit from some better looking shelves, lighting and a counter.

Anyway, the point is:

I don’t even think about this room anymore.  I don’t spend any time hating it or wishing it looked different.  I can move on.

I simply enjoy it.  It works for us.  It always looks pretty good, even when it’s a mess. I like being in there.  Doing laundry isn’t such a chore. Plus when we move out, someone else can enjoy it.

I’m learning about balance.  Sometimes the right answer for you and me may be somewhere in the middle.

I didn’t need to quietly hate this room for the four years we’ve lived here when spending a little bit of money (most of which we can take with us to our next house) made such a difference in how I feel about it.  Really, spending a little time and money was a gift to myself and the owners of this house.

It was worth every penny.

 Related Posts:

Breakdown of the Renter’s Laundry Room Makeover

The Organized Simplicity Effect