Before we built the shelf we first had to remove the lovely wire shelf the builder left and repair the walls, the damage meant we had to paint the whole room. Above you can see the before, and how there was literally nothing in the space as far as storage or work area.

Once the holes in the wall were filled and sanded, we painted the room a fresh clean white. To do this, I tried out the Wagner Smart Flow Roller and I have to say, this made painting the walls a breeze. This tool eliminates the need for a roller pan, cut down on mess and make painting faster as it holds reserve paint in its handle.

What's so great about this is that it is powered (by included batteries) so you flip a switch and it draws the paint in the handle, then you flip a switch as you paint and the paint is pushed out through the roller.

The trick to filling tube (the plastic tube in the paint can) is to apply pressure so that the Smart Flow Roller tilts slightly backward, I found this worked the best while simultaneously pressing down gently so the paint would load in.

It takes less physical energy and makes the painting go so quickly. I estimated each coat took less than 15 minutes, it made painting a breeze.

The room looked so much better once it was painted, I went with white walls and shelving because I prefer laundry rooms to be functional and clean looking. Our next step will be to add cabinets on the wall above (those will be colored to add some fun), tile the floor and then add decorative touches so the room will look a little more interesting by then!

The biggest improvement after the fresh look of the paint is the folding shelf we built. My husband helped me do this. I like to be able to fold clothes right as they come out of the dryer and then pile them into individual baskets for my kids to put away. My preference is to have a front-loading washer so that I can make use of a large workspace on the top.

To build this we picked up a cabinet grade sheet of plywood at Home Depot and had them cut it down to size. My husband fastened some 2x4s to the wall to support the shelf (we used leftover wood from our garage shelf project) and then added some extra 2x4's underneath on top of the washer and dryer for extra support in the middle.

We tacked a piece of painted lattice across the front to finish the front of the shelf off.

I added an inexpensive shelf to store detergent etc. and to make it easy to access. I made sure to measure the shelf since it is just a bit taller than the washer and dryer, our shelf is 42" off the floor. The small cubbyhole next to the washer will hold a hamper to store dirty clothes.

All in all, this was a very affordable way to create storage and workspace. We worked on it over a 4 or 5 day period because life was going on around us but if you had everything in place this could easily be done in a day, especially with cutting the painting time down to next to nothing thanks to the Smart Flow Roller.

This sponsored project was created by 11 Magnolia Lane. Head to the blog for the full post and details.