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The laundry room wood countertop update! Plus stain info, new artwork, and hardware!

Hello, beautiful friends!

Today, I’m sharing another update on our laundry room makeover. If you missed the other posts about this, you can go check them out right here:

Laundry Room Update Plans
Laundry Room Update #1 (sink, cabinets, countertop)

I mentioned last week that I wasn’t happy with the stain. Well, it grew on me. haha! I think I had gotten so used to seeing it unstained and light that the darker color just didn’t look right. Also, it was SO matte-looking, and that was throwing it off too. It truly needed more sheen to bring the wood to life. That is what “did the trick”, so to speak.

I’ll be sharing the stain, topcoat, and hardware we used in today’s update.

Let’s start with the AI inspiration image I began with:

Laundry Room Update #2

The photo below is before the topcoat (sheen), which the countertop most surely needed. It’s quite “dry” looking and just wasn’t right.

Before I dive in, we still need to remove the shelves and stain them, remove the brackets and paint them, and remove the light fixture and paint it. Or replace it with something else, but I haven’t found anything else we like. The paint for the brackets will look similar to the hardware color.

As you can see, we have hardware on all the cabinetry on the left, stained wood countertops, paint is complete, the built-in around the washer/dryer is done, and new artwork is hung.

On the right, however, we have not yet completed adding hardware.

These cabinets have never had hardware, so I’m excited for this. We originally planned to replace the doors with the same style as the new cabinets on the left; however, we haven’t gotten around to that yet. They’d most likely need to be made, and who has time for that?! lol Our list is still pretty long, so that is at the bottom for now.

As a reminder, the paint color on the cabinets and ceiling is: Sherwin-Williams Smoky Blue SW 7604

HARDWARE

I love this hardware! It’s got the perfect semi-rustic look with a bit of modern appeal.

And don’t ya know, I picked and fell in love with something that is discontinued. haha

I found the cupped pulls easily. These pulls, not so much!

I finally found somewhere that “had them” and ordered. But they never came. They didn’t really have them and were searching suppliers so they could ship them to me. In the meantime, I canceled, found them at a smaller company, ordered, and received them very quickly.

Here are the links in case you are interested:

Cupped Pulls
Handle Pulls

They are available in two different places, but the handles are the only reliable place that I found to get them. AND it looks like they still have stock.

STAIN (and topcoat)

Ahhh, yes, that’s better. Much-needed sheen.

I used Cappuccino mixed 50/50 with Driftwood. That was not quite it. So I came back and mixed in more Driftwood to lighten it up and change the tone a bit. Perfect!

I sat with it for a few days, thinking about what to do. And a natural topcoat is what I did.

I have multiple pictures from different angles. It was pretty hard to get a good and accurate photo of the wood countertops. I also wanted you to be able to see the sheen they now have.

Stain – Cappuccino and Driftwood
Finish – Natural (of which I did two coats, lightly sanding in between)

As a reminder, here is our original wood countertop we first built for the laundry.

Pine boards we pieced together. A little more of a farmhouse-y look.

BUILT-IN

We wanted a cohesive look in here. Purposeful, not just a washer and dryer hanging out in the room. But something more streamlined, a custom built-in feel.

So my husband built the frame around the washer and dryer.

This side of the countertop “sits” on top of the frame. It can be moved, if needed, to turn the water on/off. It’s fairly heavy and sturdy though, so not going anywhere unless you want/need to move it.

ARTWORK

And of course, new artwork!

I looked and looked for the right piece, and I kept coming back to this one. I just love it.

The colors are perfect, and so is the frame.

It’s done on boards, which is interesting too. Definitely not your average wall art.

Very impressed with this one.
You can find it here. It comes in multiple sizes also.

I’ve still got some new styling to do on the shelves. And I think I’m going to keep the baskets, but just give them a different finish. (I have two more over the shelf where the clothes rod is on the left side of the room)

Just for funsies, here is a “before and after”. Well, you know, the REAL before was this:

And now…not fully done, though. Getting close!

And yes, I did (and still do, actually) love the white “coastal farmhouse” laundry. I was just ready for a refresh. Something a bit more modern, a little moody, still coastal, but less farmhouse-ish and more along the design lines of the rest of our home.

With a sink! Yippee!! lol

Anyway, we are all enjoying the new look. And the new washer/dryer.

Hope you enjoyed the update today!
Have an amazing weekend, friends!!

xoxo