How to Install Wall Cabinets in Laundry Room
Inexpensive laundry room wall cabinets and laundry shelving ideas to declutter your small laundry room
In our home, we are always looking for easy ways to help organize our space. One day when I was doing laundry in our small space, I looked up and realized there was a ton of dead space above our current cabinets. I knew I needed to find a way to create DIY laundry wall cabinets and shelving for above our washer, dryer, and utility tub.
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What are the best laundry room cabinets?
You could spend a lot of money and get a custom-built laundry room. One day we may end up making our laundry room larger and we may reconfigure the whole space. But for now, this was a budget laundry room storage idea. I chose to get two 30" x 36" height cabinets to fit our space above our washer and dryer.
We figured stock cabinets were a great way for us to get the height we wanted, but also a way to make this project pretty inexpensive. The quality of these cabinets is what you would expect.
However, I do like the look. Since these were only for our laundry room, I think they worked out well. I would not recommend these upper stock cabinets if you were using them in a kitchen or other high-traffic area since parts are still made of particleboard.
Our new washer recommendation
We had to purchase this new Maytag washer (which we absolutely love) after our old Samsaug washer went kaput.
We were not happy as that was the highest-rated washer at the time, but eventually, it was the model that had all of those recalls. I am so happy that we replaced this washer, but now it was time to really do a DIY laundry room upgrade.
We really are happy with our Maytag and it did match the dryer that we already had. We really didn't want to purchase both, if we didn't need to.
How to cheaply makeover a small laundry room?
After the new washer came, I started to look at how to improve our space. We debated about adding cabinets across the whole wall…
but thought that would make using our utility sink a little difficult. Therefore we can up with our laundry room storage idea of two taller stock cabinets and DIY open laundry room shelving above the utility sink.
What are the dimensions of our small laundry room?
For reference, you may want to know that our laundry room is approximately 7 ½ ft. by 6 ft. We are able to just fit our new washer, dryer, and utility tub on the length of the wall with a little wiggle room in between. We do have large-capacity appliances, so I am sure we would have more space if we had a smaller washer and dryer.
How to paint wooden stock laundry cabinets?
Full disclosure, I ordered a paint sprayer and totally wanted to try using it on this project. But I was using the same paint color on rollers for our bathroom vanity and oak railing makeov er. Therefore, I ended up just using brushes and foam rollers like I did when I painted the bathroom vanity cabinets.
I do think that these cabinets would have probably turned out a little better if I had sprayed them. The cabinets were not nearly as forgiving as solid wood oak cabinets that I was also painting at the same time.
While these worked for our laundry room cabinets, I would say they are far from perfect. I may even end up having to sand a few areas and try to retouch some areas that seemed to take the paint inconsistently.
Steps for painting laundry room cabinets and shelving
1. I did not think I needed to do this and I regret it. I would lightly sand the cabinets with extra-fine paper any rough spots you see. The doors had some wood shavings or extra particles on them.
2. Wipe down the cabinets before priming with a damp rag.
3. Use a primer (we love SW latex primer) with a brush and foam roller to completely cover the areas you need. I did not prime and paint the parts of the cabinets that I knew would not show.
4. Once dry, start painting the first coat of enamel paint. Use a brush and small roller (or if you are more daring this inexpensive paint sprayer that I have read great reviews on and have to try to soon).
5. Propping doors on 2 x 4s will make this easier for you.
Also, I highly recommend storing your brush and roller in a Ziploc bag when you are not using them. This works as long as you are finishing your painting project in a timely manner.
6. Once they are dry, you are able to hang your cabinets.
Read & Watch More>>>>>>Step-by-Step Tutorial For Painting Cabinet Doors with A Brush and Foam Roller (With Video)
Where else have we used this charcoal blue color paint?
We cannot believe that we were able to use this gallon of paint on several DIY painting projects throughout our house. You can see the whole list of charcoal blue painting projects.
and be sure to out how awesome our painted bathroom vanity turned out!
How to hang laundry room cabinets above your washer and dryer?
1. Remove any existing cabinets or shelves. We had to take down both, but luckily we repurposed the old shelf and added it to our garage for extra storage! The wire shelf may need to get sold on Facebook using my tips.
2. Use a stud finder to find studs.
3. Use 4' level to mark the line where the bottom of the cabinets will be Determine the height of cabinets or how much room there will be at the top of the cabinets.
Learn from our laundry cabinet hanging mistake
At first, my husband just assumed putting the cabinets all the way to the ceiling would be a great idea. Luckily, I was easily able to see that I did not like the current height before my father-in-law and husband did too much work.
Make sure that you are able to reach your items while leaning over your washer. I realized I wouldn't be able to reach the top shelf or even a lot of the bottom shelf if they stayed that way. You don't want to have to get a ladder out to reach most of your items.
4. Put up and hold up cabinets while a second person puts 4' level on the face of cabinets vertically to see if they will be plumb.
If they are not plumb, use wood shims to plumb (you might have to do this if the wall is in/out). Luckily, our laundry room was pretty square and we did not have to do this!
5. Use a cordless drill and 3.5" screws to anchor cabinets to studs. Each cabinet ideally would be anchored to two (2) separate studs that are typically located 16"s apart.
6. The big trick is to use a tape measurer and your brain to transfer the stud location from the wall to the inside of the cabinet. You have to subtract the thickness of the cabinet's sidewall.
7. Once cabinets are hung drill horizontally behind the doors to attach them to each other.
8. Put the doors back on the cabinets. You can also try to put the painted doors back before hanging, but we just thought this way was easier.
**Optional: Add hardware to your cabinets or leave them without. We loved the look and price of the hardware we used in our recent bathroom vanity makeover, that we decided to order those handles again.
8. Use drywall mud to fix any spots that previous shelving may have left and paint the room or touch up with the existing color. I love this color of Temperate Taupe by SW.
How to build extra laundry shelving with cabinets?
The main reason I did not want cabinets going all the way across the wall is because I normally buy a large container of laundry soap with the dispenser. I like when the dispenser can hang off the edge of the laundry shelf and over my utility tub. This makes it way easier to quickly add soap.
Yes, you could transfer soap or put it in a pretty dispenser container (yes I know this is meant for drinks, but would be awesome in a laundry room). While I love how that looks, it just isn't practical or worth it in my opinion. And if you read about some of our other projects, then you will know that practical and inexpensive are important to us!
Supplies needed to build extra laundry shelving with brackets over utility tub
We decided on these brackets to help create two shelves above our utility sink next to the upper stock cabinets. These brackets come in a variety of sizes and we chose the 9.25" width where we could cut 1 x 10" to our desired distance.
After cutting the boards, we primed using SW latex primer and the same latex enamel paint that we used on the cabinets.
My husband made sure to attach the brackets to studs using anchors and the hardware provided with the brackets.
Once the laundry shelves were completed it was so nice to get them completely organized and ready to use. The only dilemma that we have now is that we need to decide if the brushed nickel hardware pulls go with the black farmhouse type brackets?
What do you think? We figured we will live with this for a while before we try and decide if we should use spray paint to make the pulls match.
I like the idea of this hammered black spray paint to change the color. It is such an easy fix and we really got those pulls for super cheap…
so I am not worried.
Need more small DIY laundry room ideas? Check out our list of 12 clever laundry room ideas.
Other laundry room accessories
We used to have a standing drying rack that we used regularly. The problem is that really didn't fit in our space. Therefore, we decided to try to find a wall-mounted drying rack that we could attach to the wall opposite the dryer. We will see if we feel that we have more space once we start using this.
We figured we would be able to even add a fun hamper or hampers in the corner. I don't know about you, but my kids (and husband) are always just throwing clothes on the floor in there.
In addition to the rack, we have just a simple white hook unit we use to hang clothes or other items on. I am sure eventually we will add or make a better hanging rack. And I am currently looking if I should add artwork or make my own signs for the laundry.
What is your favorite way to add extra storage or organization to your home?
I couldn't believe how much more storage I had in these DIY laundry room cabinets and that my shelves were no longer overflowing.
I am so happy that we are finally using all the extra space in our laundry room for storage!
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How to Install Wall Cabinets in Laundry Room
Source: https://thediynuts.com/diy-laundry-room-storage-idea/