My desire was twofold:
1) It would be super functional to have a dedicated place to fold laundry straight out of the dryer. There are times when my kids need their school uniforms in the morning and I find myself doing this:
It is fine, but whenever I do this I think to myself how nice it would be to have a flat clean surface instead.
2) It would make the room look complete and polished. The reason for the baskets on top of the washer and dryer is to conceal the water hose eyesore that the builder placed in the most visible spot in this little room for ALL THE WORLD TO SEE. I thought, really?
I asked a contractor if he could make a countertop for me, but I couldn't justify his $1200 price quote even though my sweet (and frugal!) hubby told me I could have it done. It was tempting. However, I had also asked the contractor how he would address the water hoses and he said he could either make a box to cover it or make a cutout in the new countertop around the water hoses for access. Neither of those options appealed to me. They sounded less like a professional job and more like a DIY hack. So I decided to let go of the idea.
After living with this sitch for a few more years, it continued to bother me. As with most of my projects, when something bothers me enough, I will finally address it. So I did some research at the University of Google and Youtube and when the kids started the school year, I attempted to tackle a laundry room countertop myself.
Sadly, I don't have a work table or table saw or big impressive tools. When I set out to do my first DIY project, I thought it would be "one and done", so I bought one of those yellow $15 miter box and hand saw sets. These are the tools I used for this project:
This is why I have to rely heavily on home improvement stores to do big cuts for me. Fortunately, they are always very kind and willing to do them. And for free! The only thing I really have to do is plan out the fewest and optimal cuts to have made. For this project I bought the following:
- 2 4'x8' sheets of 3/4" oak plywood
- 1 8oz can of Varathane wood stain in "Weathered Oak"
- 1 8oz can of Varathane Clear Satin Water-Based Interior Polyurethane
- 1 sanding sponge
- 1 quart of interior paint in Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace (the color I used to paint our mudroom cubbies and cabinets)
- 1 bottle of Titebond wood glue
- 4 spring clamps
- 1 access panel
1. I had the 2 sheets of plywood cut to the sizes of what would be the countertop and 2 side panels. Before putting the cut pieces in my car, I used the sanding sponge I had just bought to sand the edges that were cut. There were so many splinters!
These were the three largest and most important pieces I had the store cut:
2. I cut the side panels to the correct depth and used the remaining pieces to cut two small front panels as well as three small strips to make the countertop "look" thicker than it would actually be. To do this, I used my circular saw, a Kreg rip-cut, and my miter box and saw. I wish I had taken pictures of the strips, but I honestly didn't expect to write a blog post on this until someone requested it. Sorry! :(
3. I then painted the two side panels and two front strips in Benjamin Moore's Chantilly Lace color. I had already used this color to paint the cabinets and mudroom cubbies in the room. Note: I took the following photo after I had attached one of the front strips to one of the side panels:
Tip: Instead of painter's tripods, I use plastic cups to hold the pieces I paint. It is much less expensive!
4. While the paint was drying on the side panels, I attached the three thin strips to the edges of the underside of the countertop piece to make it appear twice as thick as it was. I used wood glue to attach these strips and spring clamps while they dried.
5. After it dried, I sanded, vacuumed, and wiped the top and sides of the countertop piece.
6. I then stained the countertop's top and sides and finished it with a few layers of clear water-based polyurethane in a satin finish.
7. Next, I nailed a support beam on the wall behind the washer and dryer. This piece of wood would act as security for the back of the countertop to rest on. I had a long scrap piece of wood on hand that I used for this. I don't have a photo, but it looked something like this (only longer):
8. When all the pieces were dry, I then put them in place:
* I nailed the left side panel to the mudroom cubbies.
* I nailed the front left strip to the left side panel.
* I put the right side panel in place. It is not nailed to anything!
* I nailed the front right strip to the right side panel.
* I put the countertop in place. I had planned to nail the countertop to the side panels and back support beam.
However, after living with it for a few weeks, I decided not to. It doesn't seem to need it and makes for easy access should we need to remove it for the machines. I can always nail it in the future if it becomes necessary.
10. As for the water hose eyesore, I decided an access panel painted the color of the wall would be much, much better than having to see the hoses, have a box sit on top of the countertop, or have a cutout in the countertop around the hoses. Honestly, I love it. From this:
To this:
To this:
You may be surprised to know that the hoses are exactly where they were before this project. I simply measured and placed the new countertop right above the black hoses. I then cut the wall just enough to hold an access panel to cover the spigots in case we need to access them.
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