SCARY BASEMENT INTO DREAM LAUNDRY ROOM MAKEOVER REVEAL DIY Slat Barn Door

Hello YouTube fam, welcome or welcome back to my channel. If you're new here, my name is Tina and I make videos on lifestyle, home and DIY projects every single week. In case you missed the last laundry room video, we did an overview, I showed you guys my plans and then we built a faux built-in hack. I'm so proud of it and I'm just really excited to work on it again today. You guys gave me so many good ideas so I'm incorporating it into the laundry room and this is just the start of the basement makeover. We have the laundry room, we also have a bedroom down there which I'm still trying to figure out what to do with and then we have the main entertainment area which I'm hoping to make into a fun little movie room. A lot of you were dying to see what was behind these mysterious planks that we have on the walls so today we're going to open it up and see what we find. I'm actually quite terrified of this and I also want to quickly thank Skillshare for sponsoring today's video, I'll talk a little bit more about them later. For now, let's get down there and get these planks off. Back in the laundry room and right now I'm using this for work stuff. Probably not a good idea but it's the only space I have. This is the area that we're working on today so here are the scary planks that we're about to take out. Depending on what we find behind there, that is going to dictate what we do with this. So fingers crossed it's not anything crazy and then down here I'm going to do a countertop and then more cabinets over here. So this will be a fully functioning folding table and then panning over, as you guys remember, the water heater is here. A lot of you had concerns about covering this and I'm not going to do two doors to enclose this completely. I just want to do one door to hide this, that way there's plenty of ventilation over here and then we'll use this area as some storage as well. And of course, how could I forget our beautiful built-in faux cabinet that we did. I am so in love with this color and I'm so glad that you guys love it too. We're going to paint this whole area so that it's really cohesive and looks amazing together. That is the current game plan for this week and now for the moment we've all been waiting for, time to get rid of these. Okay guys, let's see what's behind here. I can see that there's a frame, I feel like I'm going to pop it out. Oh my god. Oh, it is a frame. Oh, the whole thing's going to go. Oh! Boo! Wait, this is not that bad. Oh my god, that is actually terrifying. Holy crap. Boo! Wait, this is not that bad. My heart just sank. It's a huge crawlspace. What? I cannot go in there. Oh my god. Wait, what is this? Oh, this is the addition. Hello? Wait, is it frozen? No. Oh. I don't know if you know the answer to this, but we just opened this area in the basement that we didn't know what was behind it because there are these planks and it's literally like the crawlspace of the addition. So do you think I could just cover it completely? That should be fine. Will I ever need access down here because there's no pipes, there's no vents or anything? No, you do want to cover it up. But worst case scenario is water collects in there and like starts building mold just to make sure there's no water buildup. But if it's dry, yeah, just seal it up. You're fine. You can turn it into a party room. First of all, it's like not even high enough. It's like probably four feet. Oh god. Peace out. Ryan's going to give you guys the tour of the crawlspace, so have fun. I'll be on the outside. Hello, you guys. So here we have a few hungry friends. You may see a handprint. That is not ours, but it literally is an empty space. And for reference, this is how big the hole is. And it's kind of high off the ground. You're so brave, honey. Get me out of here. That was so unexpected. And I'm glad that I talked to my cousin, Brian. He's in construction. So I'm glad that we are OK to just cover it up. If you wanted to, you can always use this as storage. But I really don't need that storage right now. In the almost year that we lived here, we've never had to access this or do anything with it. And I just feel more confident in this decision in just covering it up and making it look a lot nicer. All right, your turn. No, I'm not going in there. OK, let's go get some supplies. On my list today was ShipLab, which I found a whole panel. And I thought that'd be so easy to install. But I just ended up getting LVL ShipLab to create our feature wall. Then I got into the kitchen area to find a countertop option. And these were looking really good. And I also found an in-stock cabinet, which was pretty affordable and will allow us to DIY it. And then we also grabbed some MDF panels and wood to get cut for the DIY barn door. You have no idea how relieved I was to know that we were A-OK to cover up this terrifying hole. My cousin, Brian, basically said that people use this for storage. But personally, I already have a storage room, so it would be better used as our laundry folding area. So this is getting covered. And this ShipLab that I'm using is a tongue-and-groove one, which means that there's an overlap between the panels so that everything is going to be evenly spaced out with our nail gun. And since this wall is a lot shorter, I'm putting it up vertically to help add some height to the room. Plus, I just personally like vertical ShipLab because it doesn't look super nautical to me. I have all my ShipLab here. I just cut it down and got it ready to go. So I'm just going to brad nail them. You can use paneling adhesive if you'd like to, but these are pretty short and lightweight. Plus, I want this to be easy to remove if anyone in the future wants to access this space, so just brad nailing is going to be enough. If you're anything like me, you probably find that tackling a big project like this is really intimidating, so I'm just making it more approachable and just taking it bit by bit. I'm not pressuring myself to finish this all in one go, but I want to get it to a good place where I'm happy with it. And after I created the faux built-in, I was just able to visualize the space better, and I'm so glad that so many of you could see the vision that I was really trying to create in here. I know to some people, a basement laundry room might not seem worth it to put in a lot of effort, but to me, I really want every space to feel more intentional and to also make us feel more at home. Currently, the basement just does not feel like that, and it's just important to me that this area flows well with the rest of our home. The last piece! That looks so good. It already brightens this area up so well, and I love how it looks with the blue. I'm going to fill out the holes, caulk above, and then I'm going to paint everything, so the shiplap as well as this trim up top. For the shiplap, I'm using leftover paint from previous projects. This is Night Blooming Jasmine by Behr. It's just the most perfect neutral white. I've used it in multiple spaces in my home, and I think it's just going to really help brighten up this whole area. Okay, so the cabinet is secured to the wall. I put that in so that it won't move at all, and now I'm going to cover this area with MDF so that it looks like one complete piece. As you saw, I added in that wood frame as a support for the back of the cabinet. It also will space it away from the wall, and then I'm adding an MDF panel on this side, and this is going to close up the gap. All I had to do was to cut out these little notches so that it would fit and really make this look like a built-in cabinet. Okay, I'm convinced there are no straight walls in my house, but I got it done. Lots of finessing, but it fits. I really wish I didn't cut out this notch because it literally would have fit, but you guys can see there is a gap. But that's okay because I know that every DIY cannot be perfect, so we will just mend it how we can. I'm going to prime this, paint it, and also paint the rest of this trim and then all of this as well. ♪♪♪ It is starting to look so good down here, and now I'm going to take a quick lunch break. I'm actually going to catch up on my Skillshare class and also do some mock-ups. A lot of you have asked how I make my mock-ups, and I actually use the program Procreate on my iPad. I've been using it for a couple years now, but I still feel like a beginner. So right now I'm taking a class on Skillshare called Intro to Procreate with Brooke Glazier. This class is teaching me so much that I didn't know before. It's getting into all the nitty-gritty, and now I know how to properly workflow when I'm working on a piece. And this class is laid out in a way that's just so easy to understand, and if you're making digital art, I would highly recommend this class to you guys. They also have classes from business to photography to graphic design and just about anything else in between. Personally, there are so many amazing classes that I've taken, and if there's a new skill that you want to learn, Skillshare is a great place to start. They are actually giving the first 1,000 people who click on my link a free month trial of Skillshare, so be sure to check that out below. And now let's get back to the project. As for the rest of the trim and walls, we're going back in with the gorgeous blue color. This is Charcoal Blue by Behr. I was looking for a perfect dusty blue color, and this is definitely it. I'm sure a lot of you were iffy about this color from the last video, but let me know if after seeing this makeover, if it changed your mind at all. This is a very different color for me, but I'm just loving it, and I'm so glad that a lot of you are too. It's a breath of fresh air to introduce a new color into the house and really has pushed me to get out of my comfort zone. I've really only used whites and neutrals and greens around the house, so once we get this all over the laundry room, it's just going to totally change how it feels in here. Paint is just one of the easiest and most affordable ways to give your house an update, and going with a moody color like this is going to instantly transform it. I also want to note here that this is actually a cabinet-slash-door paint since I'm using it on the cabinetry in here, but I'm just using it all over the place because I got a gallon of it, so it's going to make the walls and the rest of the trim super easy to wipe down as well. How's all the painting going? I'm literally sweating from painting. I don't know if that's ever happened before. You think everyone's going to love the color? I hope so. I think it really elevates the space, and it's definitely a new color for me. A lot of people said they liked it, so I'm glad that they're open to a new color. After all this painting I did today, y'all better love it. Today we're building a door. Originally I actually ordered a barn door to cover the water heater, but I didn't realize that it was going to be way too tall because our basement is already short, plus that little cutout is really short, so I can't find anything online. So I decided that we were just going to DIY it, and this project is inspired by this one right here. This is from the blog House on Longwood Lane, so if you guys want to check it out, I'll link it down below. I'm basically just going to adjust it so that it fits my space and my preferences, but I'm excited to get started, so let's get to cutting. To create this slatted look, I'm going to use these pieces of wood. This is pine, and it's kind of a rectangular piece. We actually had to cut these in stores because they're a lot cheaper than buying a square dowel. Those could be probably $4 per piece, whereas these are probably $2. Prices on wood are still crazy, but I wanted this custom look, so it was worth it. I'll have my measurements on the screen here, but I'm just going to cut these straight up and down. I'm starting off this door by cutting down all the wood pieces, and this is going to fit my design perfectly, so all the vertical pieces will be 50 inches and then 36 inches wide, and I'm just going to cut that down with my miter saw. Depending on your own door dimensions, you can totally customize this to really make the design your own. Okay, so I have my plywood here. These are the wheels for the barn doors, so I already mapped out where I wanted to put them. So this gives me a good idea of where I want to lay everything out, so I'm going to do one longer piece up here and then use these over here, and I'm actually going to start from the middle and go outwards. That way, I don't have to measure too much, and I'm also going to use this piece of trim as a spacer. That way, I know exactly how far apart to brand-nail everything and that it's all evenly spaced out. Do you want me to do it? No. I really love the simplicity of this design, and I also love that there's a lot of vertical lines going on here, which will make this tiny area feel a lot taller. As you guys can tell, the ceilings down here are pretty short, plus this already is a long hallway, so I'm avoiding adding in a lot of horizontal lines here and really sticking with the vertical ones. I've actually been loving coming up with some of these creative solutions for unsightly areas of our home, like creating a barn door, for instance. If we didn't have this issue, I don't think I would have put a barn door anywhere in our home, so it really just goes to show that a lot of awesome surprise projects can happen when you're making over an area of your home that you just don't like, and I feel like there have been a lot of those in this house, like creating shelves around exposed venting or patching up a hole with removable wallpaper. Having some of these challenges in my home has really pushed me to think more creatively, and I would actually like to hear from you guys what DIY solutions you've come up with to hide some of those ugly spaces in your home. I would love to hear all about them in the comments, and I'm sure that I'm going to read some really amazing ideas that I'm probably going to take and use for my own future projects as well. After our design is down, you just want to fill up all the holes with some wood filler and then give everything a really good sanding. It is done, and whoever looks good while DIYing is lying because I have sawdust all over the place, and my hair's looking crazy. You only have one hair out of place. Perfect. Before staining, I like to add on a coat of wood conditioner. This will avoid any blotchiness that might happen, and you want to let that dry for about 30 minutes before you go in with the stain. If you've been following along on my channel, this probably comes as no surprise to you, but I'm going to mix up my stains here, so I'm using Early American first, and then I'm going to wipe Hazelwood on top. The Early American is a lot richer and darker and warmer, and I find that adding the Hazelwood just gives me a nice, neutral wood finish, and it really tones it down. And of course, after that dries down, you want to make sure that you add on two coats of polyurethane. Okay, it is time to install our barn door. I found this kit off of Amazon, and you can buy a custom size for your own doorways. So first, we have to attach the wheels onto the door, and this was really easy. You just have to drill the holes straight through the door and then add on these bolts and tighten it. And then it was time to add on the tracks, and even though this is quite a large opening, I just want the door covering half of it and then leave the other half open for storage and plenty of ventilation for our water heater. Not gonna lie, I was pretty nervous to install this, but I found it to be quite easy. All you have to do is to drill some pilot holes and then attach the screws into these spacers. That way, there's ample space for your door to slide back and forth. So if you've been wanting to add a barn door to your space, definitely go for it. This is a great beginner-friendly project that you can easily do in one weekend. Okay. Turn! Pivot! Oh my gosh! Woo! We built a door, you guys! Oh my God, this is amazing! I'm so happy right now. I never thought that I would have something this cool in my house, and I'm in love with it! So I grabbed this stock cabinet from Lowe's, and this is basically an unfinished cabinet. It comes with a drawer and then also a door underneath, so that's super nice for extra storage. And it's basically raw wood, so you can finish this however you want. Plus, it's also a lot more affordable. We're gonna paint it that same blue color, but first I'm going to prime it, give it two coats, and then also add on some new knobs. So originally, I actually planned to create a countertop with some plywood, but after making the wood barn door, I just went for this formica countertop with a marble design, and this is honestly so convincing. It looks just as good in real life as it does on camera here. Plus, I got it on sale, so it was really affordable. So if you're looking for something like this, I will link it below. I just think it's so perfect for a laundry room, or maybe a bar, or just any type of space that you want the marble look without having the same price tag of marble. And you're able to DIY and just cut it down to any length that you need. So as you can see, we're using brackets here, and this is holding it up really well. This countertop actually is not too heavy, so I found this to be enough for us, but I would definitely recommend adding additional support along one end if you need something a little bit more heavy duty. We are not planning on putting anything heavy on here, so we were fine with this setup. Okay, does this look like real marble or what? I can't believe how affordable this was, and it looks amazing. This is gonna be so nice to fold laundry up. It is super sturdy now. I'm gonna put a shelf right across there, get everything back in, and then we can complete the space. To finish up our brand new cabinet, I'm adding in these same brass knobs to tie in with the cabinet on the other side. And all I did was measured everything out, drilled a hole, and then added those in. The edge of this actually comes unfinished, so I got an end cap kit, and it basically just allows you to put a faux end here, so it looks like one big slab, so I'm just going to quickly put that on. We're gonna cozy things up in here with a runner rug, and this one is actually from our kitchen upstairs, but I actually wanna do a refresh up there, so I'm relocating it down here, and it was perfect just to pull in some of those blue tones. On our countertop, I added a small lamp for additional lighting and also a couple of pieces of decor. And of course, I'm adding a faux plant in here. This area really gets no light, so this is gonna bring in some life to the space. Underneath, I added a couple of baskets for additional laundry, and lastly, I added in some hooks to maximize vertical storage. Okay, guys, let's take a look back at what the laundry room looked like before. This was a huge waste of space that just felt cold and so uninspiring. After building a barn door, some custom storage solutions, and bringing in some color, this is now a room that I'm so proud of. So without further ado, here is the new and improved laundry room. I feel like I say this after every makeover, but I truly can't believe this is even the same space. Like, it honestly feels cozy down there. I don't know if a laundry room can feel cozy, but it actually feels like a part of the house, and that was the whole goal with this makeover, so I'm really pleased with how it came out, but I would love to know what you guys think in the comments below, and who knows, maybe I'll start doing laundry because I just love it so much. I'm actually so relieved that it's done because this is an area in the house that I actually hated when we first moved in, so it's just looking so much better now. There's still more projects that I wanna do in there in the future, but right now, I'm really happy with where we're at, so we're just gonna keep it as is and live with it until we come up with new ideas for the next phase. Thank you again to Skillshare for sponsoring this video. If you guys want a free month of their membership, make sure to click on my link below. I really hope this gave you some good inspo, and if you do recreate anything from today's video, make sure to tag me over on Instagram and also give me a follow. I post on there every single day, and that is it for today's video. Thank you so much for watching. Stay inspired, and I'll see you in the next one. Bye!