- Oh my gosh, wow.
- [laughing] Oh, snap, man.
[calm music]
- Hi, I'm Mandy.
I'm Mandy Cheng.
I'm an interior designer,
and I'm here, today,
to help Gabrielle and Marc,
transform their laundry room, in one afternoon.
- [Gabrielle] Hi, I'm Gabrielle.
This is my husband Marc.
And this is our laundry room.
- [Marc] We've been here for two years now,
and we haven't really gotten
around to doing anything in here,
so it's good to have Mandy here to help us with it.
- [Mandy] So nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you, too.
- Come on in.
- Thank you.
- This is our laundry room.
- Oh.
- [Gabrielle] Welcome.
- Thank you.
You know, I saw photos of it,
but of course, when you walk into a space,
it looks so different. - [Marc] Yeah.
- [Gabrielle] A little different, right?
- [Mandy] Photos they, like, warp a space,
and they make it feel so much bigger.
- [Gabrielle] Yes, yes.
- So it is a tight space.
- [Marc] Yeah. [Gabrielle] Pretty tiny.
- [Mandy] Tell me a little bit about this.
Like, what works for you, what doesn't?
- We love where it is,
'cause it's right next to our garage.
- [Mandy] Okay.
- This is where we park our cars.
This is kind of like our traffic-way through.
So if anyone is dirty,
they're stripping down,
stuff is going in the laundry.
- [Mandy] Do you drop stuff in here?
Like, do you drop keys?
Do you drop packages or anything like that?
- No, we do not, but there's really no place to put it.
- [Mandy] Oh, okay.
- [Gabrielle] So if there was a space,
we definitely would utilize it,
and just kind of keep our keys in the same area.
- [Mandy] Great.
- We have this great laundry chute,
which is from upstairs.
Basically, the clothes come on down.
- They sure do.
- Yes, they do. [all laughing] - Right onto your face.
- Right onto my face, stinky clothes.
- [Marc] If you can imagine,
we have a two-and-a-half year old, so dirty clothes.
[both laughing]
- [Gabrielle] Dirty, dirty, dirty, yes.
- Got it. - [Gabrielle] Yes.
- Sink is convenient,
just not very aesthetically pleasing,
- [Mandy] Sure. - you know, very like,
gas station bathroom-esque.
- [Mandy] Right. - So.
- And then, do these feel a little far back to you?
- Yes.
- I know you're taller than me.
- 100%, I am tall.
- Maybe your reach is better than mine.
- But I still do have to stand on my tip toes
- [Mandy] Okay.
and kind of, like, reach for heavy detergent.
- Okay, so this is where you store your detergent
- Yes, exactly. - and that kind of stuff?
- You don't put any of that over here?
- No. No. - Okay, okay.
And Marc, for you, how do you use the space?
What do you like?
What issues do you have?
- The first thing is, I do laundry, too, Mandy, okay.
I help out with the laundry. - I wasn't alluding to--
[both laughing]
- You not doing it. - I do laundry too.
I spend time in this space.
No, I'm just kidding.
But I just don't like the way it looks,
you know, when I come in, - [Mandy] Okay.
long day at work,
I'm running through the door,
I would like to have a place that looks really cool.
- I know someone who can help you with that.
- Yeah, thank you.
Right now, it looks a little just, I mean,
sterile, I think is the word.
- Sure. - Yeah.
- Okay. All right, well,
we have a lot to do, - Uh-huh. [laughing]
and a very small amount of time to do it.
- Yes.
- So if you all are ready, let's get started.
- Let's do this. - I'm with it, lets go.
- Excited. - Great.
[piano music]
[clock ticking]
[drill buzzing]
- We are here in the middle of their living room.
The laundry room is obviously a very small space.
So I wanted a place to stage all
of the items that I'm going to pick from,
to stage the laundry room with, once it's done.
[crew speaking]
- For their cabinet doors,
I chose to remove these,
and have walnut veneer doors made.
Luckily I was able to get some things prepared
ahead of time.
So we pre-ordered them exactly to size.
[drill buzzing]
They were able to drill those holes,
get the handles in,
so all that had to happen today,
is pop the doors in place,
and just fine tune the adjustment
so that there isn't very much gapping between the doors.
You can also make your own, you know,
whatever wood veneer-wrapped cabinet doors, yourself.
There are some that are applied with heat,
with like a special iron.
There's even peel and stick now.
So in the same way that you would do, like,
a peel and stick wallpaper,
the veneer could go on the same way.
And, you know, you can do this at home, yourself.
[energetic music]
[time ticking]
[energetic music]
Because I'm choosing a darker paint color,
people typically do the white primer,
which you can do,
but it could require more coats.
There is primer out there,
like this gray primer that we're using.
It helps, specifically, for darker, bolder colors.
So you don't have to paint five layers of paint on this.
You can probably get away with two or three.
Gabriela and Marc really loved
this mid-century, modern design.
And they also emphasized that they love blues.
So I wanted to bring that into the laundry room space.
So we are painting the walls a very vibrant blue.
It's very bold.
It will change the feeling of the space.
I think that it will have the impact
that Gabrielle and Marc really wanted.
[clock ticking]
[drum music]
[crew member measuring out loud]
I chose to change out the sink fixture.
So rather than having a chrome faucet fixture,
I've switched it out to a brushed brass fixture.
I chose this brass color
because we are painting all
of the walls like a turquoisey blue,
and I wanted the color to pop a little bit
against all the white everywhere.
- And not really getting too complicated
with the plumbing,
we kept the sink drain the same,
and we just changed out the sink faucet.
It will tie in with the decor,
and also the details in the
wallpaper, really nicely.
[upbeat bass music]
[clock ticking]
[guitar music]
[drill buzzing]
Gabrielle and Marc expressed
that the upper cabinets, above the washer and dryer,
were too far back,
and they are, I couldn't reach them either.
So what I did was, I pulled the cabinets forward.
Down, down, down, down.
[crew speaking] And the way that you pull it forward
is to create blocking behind them.
The blocking, behind the cabinetry,
is made out of two by fours.
[drill buzzing]
So we basically created a box,
and then we stabilized it.
[crew speaking]
[drill buzzing]
You need to make the box
the width of your cabinetry,
and then the depth that you want to pull it forward.
[drill buzzing]
You just want to make sure that you are installing it
into the studs.
Do not just knock it into drywall,
because that's not safe.
[drill buzzing]
And then once you put the blocking in,
then your cabinetry will drill into the two by fours,
and you have a very, very solid, strong cabinet.
[drill buzzing]
That particular wall is now nine inches shallower
than it was, and that pulled all of the cabinetry forward.
[hammer pounding]
And in addition to that,
to help with ease of use,
I took the doors off and kept them off.
So they're now going to become open shelves,
and I'm gonna wallpaper the back of those shelves.
- So there's this one.
- I know you said that you liked,
kind of that mid-century, modern vibe.
- Yeah, definitely.
- So this, it's on trend, right now.
- Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
- Whereas this one would be like triangles and diamonds.
- Okay. - And we like gray too.
- Same thing, gray.
I love the clean lines.
- I'm going to go with this one.
- I'm gonna, let's go this one.
- Really. - Yeah.
[all laughing]
- That was easy. We did it.
- Gabrielle and Marc expressed
that they really want to bring color in,
and to bring a little bit more pattern,
and just make it more fun,
and more in line with their style.
I found a peel and stick wallpaper that's perfect for this.
And I think that it will make
that white cabinetry pop a little bit,
and give us a nicer background
for all of the decor that's going on the shelves.
[upbeat music]
[clock ticks]
[calm music]
- Above their sink,
they have a laundry chute,
and right now clothes are just sliding down,
and falling into the cabinetry.
And then when they opened the doors,
all of the clothes just fall on their face.
So I wanted to get a little basket
that could catch the clothes.
So when they open it,
they have a spot that's just
for the clothes that fall through the chute,
and also frees up a little bit of shelving
for additional storage for whatever else they need.
- Oh wait. - Go up.
- For the rug in the laundry room,
I wanted to choose something that could handle
the high traffic.
So this is the rug.
And this is the rug pad,
and it's like a little Velcro situation,
and it just peels off,
and this top part can go in the washing machine,
so I think that's awesome.
Clients seem to really, really love this.
- Little more? - Back, back, back, back.
- Go on. - Right there.
I want there to be balance, with these open shelves.
The lower shelves should hold the quote, unquote, weight.
These little dryer balls in a jar.
This will probably be something that goes
on one of the bottom shelves because it looks heavy,
it's bigger, and there are dryer balls,
so they're going to use them in the dryer,
so I want them to be accessible.
For the upper shelves,
we can use smaller items,
the items that aren't really gonna be used.
So maybe it's decor,
maybe it's greens that are inside
of a cute little container,
or next to a little tray.
[energetic music]
[upbeat drum music]
- That's great. Cut the tags.
[drill buzzing]
[slow jazz music]
- [Marc] Come on, let's go.
- Ohh my gosh. - Whoa. [laughing]
- It looks totally different.
- Look at this, Gab, look at these open shelves,
we have to keep it looking so good.
Babe, this looks so amazing.
Oh, look at our-- - I love it.
- Picture. - Yes.
- In the tone of, you know,
you guys liking mid-century, modern,
having this white with walnut is, you know,
a very classic look. - [Gabrielle] Yes. Yeah.
- I accented it with brass,
changed your faucet fixture.
And then, you know,
you mentioned your laundry chute,
and how clothes just fell onto your face.
- [Gabrielle] Yes.
- So we've resolved that
with just a little, a little basket.
- Oh what? Why didn't I think of this?
- [Marc] Get out, look at how cool it's like.
- [Gabrielle] Just letting laundry hit my face.
- And now you have so much extra space.
- Yes. - [Marc] Yeah.
- Definitely. Definitely.
- So these are obviously just fillers for now,
but this is a good place for you
to be able to drop off your mail,
or things that you want to remember
to bring to your car on your way out.
- That's so cool. - Perfect.
- What about the color, Gab, you like the color?
- I do like the color. - Yeah, that wall is so cool.
- I went big, I went bold,
and you'll realize that, you know,
even though it is a small space,
and it is a dark color,
it doesn't feel smaller.
- Yeah, it don't at all - It doesn't, no.
- It feels bigger. - And it doesn't feel dark,
either, which is great.
- Pushing the machines back was very helpful.
- Yeah. What'd you guys do with the,
the stuff back there? - I know,
how come they were so far up, in the first place.
- There was truly about 12 inches of extra space back there.
- [Marc] Oh my gosh.
- So pushing those back, really helps.
So now you can reach everything up there.
- [Gabrielle] Reach, I don't have to get on my tip toes.
- [Mandy] Uh-uh, or pull out a step ladder, anything.
- Nice. And I would never even think of putting decor
in my laundry room.
[Marc laughing]
- Like he walk in, you feel good?
It's just like, just like you said,
it's just like a great way to enter your home.
It's so nice. - [Gabrielle] Exactly.
- And this rug, like, I totally never
would have picked this rug, but I mean,
it just, it goes with everything.
It goes with the decor,
it goes with the color of the walls.
- This rug is actually washable,
so you can peel. - Nice.
- So this is the rug pad. - Oh, wow.
- And then this is-- - Oh, that's like a Velcro.
- Yeah. So it's like a Velcro. - Cool.
- You did a great job. - It's so good.
- Thank you - Thank you, so much.
- You're so welcome. - I know.
- I feel super lucky-- - It looks so good.
- And fortunate.
- Yes. - I'm really thankful.
- We can't say thank you, enough.
We love it.
And now I'm going to be just super excited
to do my laundry, in this beautiful space because--
- Because you weren't before?
- No, I was not [Marc laughing]
- But now I am. - Yeah.
- I'll do some, too.
- Okay, nice. - Yeah.
[Marc laughing]
[string music]