There’s a reason “doing laundry” is classified as a chore: It’s boring. (Well, at least to most — if you find thrills in washing and drying, more power to you.) But if you’re someone who dreads laundry day, having an attractive and organized laundry room can help make it just a little bit more bearable to tackle load after load.

Before Tahira Nagori (@the_aesthetic_side_of_homes) set out to renovate her laundry room, it wasn’t just a boring space — it was non-functional, with just two builder-grade shelves to corral necessities (and out in the open, no less). “It became a dumping zone for my family,” says Tahira. So she set out to make it both pretty and functional.

“The small size of this room was very challenging, but I love to design challenging spaces,” says Tahira, who took on this project as part of the Fall 2022 One Room Challenge.

First up, Tahira hired a plumber to move the washer and dryer connection and drain to a different wall so that she could stack the washer and dryer — a smart space-saving move for such a small room. Beyond that, it was all a DIY endeavor.

To create her storage-rich cabinet setup, Tahira purchased cabinet boxes from IKEA and created her own shaker doors to fit. Then, she painted them a gorgeous teal blue — using a sprayer for a super smooth finish — and added pretty vintage-inspired hardware.

Using the same teal color to paint the beadboard wainscoting helps the room feel cohesive, even with a bold floral wallpaper installed above it. Tahira lets the same paper peek out from a couple of the open shelves, too.

A new sink is a practical addition to the laundry space, but Tahira made sure it was beautiful, as well, choosing a fluted apron-front sink and a vintage-look shepherd’s crook faucet. Behind it, she installed a backsplash tile in a palette of dreamy blues.

A bold-yet-classic black-and-white checkerboard floor brings everything together. But that’s not newly laid porcelain — instead, Tahira used peel-and-stick tile to get the look for a fraction of the cost (and the labor).

This was a big transformation for a tiny space, with the total cost coming to about $5,500. Every ounce of effort was worth it, says Tahira, who notes that the room turned out exactly how she had envisioned it. “It looks so beautiful, and now I have tons of storage,” she says.

“I poured my heart and soul into this room,” says Tahira. “This room tested my limits to the max, but I am so proud that it turned out better than I expected with every single detail. I will cherish this room and the DIY makeover experience forever.”