A little laundry nook makeover

When we moved into this little 1900 dutch colonial, we knew we had our work cut out for us. The "to do" list was miles long and right up there at the top was this back room space that included the laundry. Since those first days, our laundry room has gone through quite a few changes. When we moved in, it looked like this—scary. 

And then during the big mud room/laundry nook/bathroom renovation project, it looked like this... not sure which was scarier, the before or the during.

Then finally, the walls were up and ready to move the washer dryer into their final place that we have dubbed the laundry nook.

And we topped it with these stained wood boards to create a finished countertop. The only problem is that the counter became a dumping place for just about everything and it often ended up looking like this. We decided it was time to tackle the laundry nook clutter.

First I found these Akurum cabinets at Ikea. The size was perfect to fit on each side of the window and the price was right at $37 a pop. 

But shipping was close to $50 so into the swagger wagon we went in search of cabinets with my little helpers.

Finally it was time to hang those babies up. After a quick half day instal project, voila!

We checked out some possibilities for a closed cabinet to go above the two side cabinets, but since it is a shallow space, we opted to build our own open shelf to sit above the cabinets. I kind of love how the dark wood crate and baskets look on the open shelf above the white cabinets.

What do you think? Makes all the difference in the world and I especially love having closed storage for my laundry and cleaning supplies!

Now to the rest of the "to do" list...