before and after mud room

Nothing quite as exciting as a mud room, huh? Ours is a work in progress. This is our most used entrance, from the garage, through the mud room, and into the house. It's a little cramped (especially when there is lots of laundry on the floor (which I will not be showing you)).

When we first moved in it was pretty plain jane. Nothing wrong with it, just a little boring.

We painted the walls a long time ago (this was the only room that I actually painted, as in me, Rachel, painted, myself). And yes, it is the smallest room in the house. I don't remember what the color is called and I can't for the life of me find my paint swatches right now.

I painted some old ikea frames black and threw some photos I took of laundry in there, as well as some family rules subway art I made (a "clean" version of this one).

Dan painted the cabinets for me. The finish isn't perfect so he's going to come back this week and sand and put another coat on. I bought some satin nickel handles I'm going to add when that's done.

This is the door that leads into the house. I want to do something with that ugly utility sink. Maybe fashion some kind of "skirt" around it? Or take it out altogether? Any other ideas?

This is the door that leads to the garage. The file rack is from Ikea and each kid has their own file. I store important documents in there before they get filed away in their "keep forever boxes". That shelf over on the right is something that the previous owners added, and is a total crap catchall. I am always hiding stuff there to deal with later. (See also: old florescent lightbulbs standing in the corner).

This is the floor. Yeah, it's boring. I bought some big 18x18 vinyl square tiles that are a little darker, and I think will look great. They are going to hopefully be installed (by somebody other than me) soon! As soon as the new floors are in I think I'm going to go shopping for a new washer and dryer. Our washer is fine, but our dryer is probably 17 years old and really doesn't work that well. Plus, it's noisy, and doesn't know how to dry on "cool", everything is "high heat" as far as it's concerned, which I'm pretty sure isn't good for your clothes.

I keep thinking that black blob on the right is a rat. It's not, it's the wheel to the laundry hamper.

Chris replaced the ugly old florescent light fixture (before he broke his pelvis) with  a new "oil rubbed bronze" boob light (2 for $20 bucks at Lowe's). PS: Do you know how hard it is to take pictures of a light?

What do you think? Do you like the black? I went back and forth between the black and the white. I like the black, but I think the white would have made it brighter (it's pretty dim in there now), so you never know, maybe I'll change it. But I do like how it ties into the black garage door (seen opened here).

Also, anybody have any washer/dryer recommendations? I'm thinking I don't want the front loaders since I've heard they get stinky if you don't leave the door propped open, and this is a pretty main thoroughfare for us.

***Update*** I got a new washer and dryer (but not new floors). Check it:

linking up with Thrify Decor Chick!