Our unfinished basement laundry room was in poor shape, but with several diy repairs and paint alone we were able to make it cozy and welcoming.

I had great aspirations for the new look of my new laundry room makeover. At that time, which was over a year ago, I wasn’t sure we’d be moving, so by the time the laundry room was finished, I knew I’d be keeping it basic. Functional was key, as was putting to use “what I already had.”

Come see how a fresh coat of paint can make your unfinished basement laundry area a welcoming, yet working room you won’t be afraid to set foot in.

With that said, here is how the laundry room looked when we were finished. Basic, functional, spacious, and clean would be my favorite words for this area in our townhouse basement.

Unfinished Basement Laundry Room Reveal:  Updates almost Entirely with Paint!!

Here is how it looked “before” (aka: Scary Basement). We could have held a haunted house down there…. 

These are the steps we took to update this unfinished basement laundry room area:

Paint projects to make this area clean and fresh

Note that the links in the specific steps lead to posts that go into more detail about how we moved the washer and dryer, repaired the floor and so forth.

• Walls, windows repaired with hydraulic cement then patch areas were painted with a waterproofing primer.
• Walls were textured with cement.
• Ceilings were prepped for painting.
• Ceilings and walls were painted with a paint sprayer.

• Several floor tiles were replace, then vinyl basement floor was painted.
• Drain pipe for air conditioner was re-routed on the floor.
• Laundry tub was cleaned and painted.

Items added to make this room function as it should

• Wooden table (canoe rental table) that I found on the curb was stained and painted and placed in between washer, dryer.

• Portable Ironing board was recovered with a diy 1 hour hand sewn cover.
• Small shelf green shelf was painted red.
• Vintage deco style mirror given a new look inspired by my trip to Maine last year.
• Small laminate, rolling cart was painted white.

One item added as a room divider

• Industrial metal shelf is painted and used for laundry basket storage and as a makeshift room divider.

Quite honestly, I could just keep showing before and afters on this part of the basement update because it was the worst part of the whole basement.

Although the unfinished basement updates turned out very nicely, they are very basic, clean and budget friendly. Not quite what I originally had planned for it in this post on my basement inspirations.

As it were, once we knew we were most likely moving, I kept the extras to a minimum, but I couldn’t have been more happy with it, nor could our tenants who fell in love with the basement upon being given a tour.

Last on the list, is the spot between the furnace and the room divider– furnace hiding-grainsack painted cabinet. Check out how we managed to use that hidden space as workshop with purpose! Here’s a clue: tools.

Update 2019: See the NEW LOOK: With dark gray flooring and Navajo white walls, the 2019 budget basement laundry room makeover.

Hope you all are having a great week ~ Amy

More Laundry Room Projects

DIY Lost Sock Laundry Sign

How to Spray Paint a Laundry Tub

Upcycled Dining Table to Laundry Folding Table