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Homeowner: Sallie Hobbs
Location: Toowoomba, Queensland
The project: a low-cost laundry set up
The budget: $1000
Sallie’s top tip for renovators: “Start with affordable basics and personalise with paint and accessories.”
The laundry is the unsung hero of a home. Hard-working and practical, it is a room that also can be forgotten when it comes to aesthetics.
However, for better or worse, we spend a lot of time in our laundries and with a bit of thoughtfulness and hard work it can be a beautiful and effective space.
This laundry is big on style (but small on budget) and was created by Sallie Hobbs, who cleverly adapted and painted the Practa flat-pack range of cabinets to create a calm haven for washing, drying and everything in between.
The house, which is located in south-east Queensland, was a new build – a kit home Sallie and her husband built under owner/builder licence. It was an investment project for Sallie, so she was conscious of fitting it out to position it for sale, without overcapitalising or going over budget.
The semi-rural location also meant that local design stores were non-existent, so she decided to stick with off-the-shelf options from her local Bunnings, adding a few personal touches of her own.
While she has a few renos under her belt, Sallie says she has never done a full house before, just kitchens and smaller areas.
She says she is largely self-taught when it comes to building work, drawing inspiration from online sources, social media and movies.
“I live on Instagram,” she explains. “I don't have much of myself on social media, but I do love to see what everyone else does.”
“I love the American style of decorating. I always say growing up in the nineties on Nancy Meyers movies (Something’s Gotta Give, The Holiday, Father of the Bride) was almost my favourite thing. I love the cosiness of the homes. I love home to feel like home, not just a staged place.”
The laundry was designed to reflect the interiors throughout the rest of the house, which Sallie says has a “modern cottage kind of vibe”, with feature walls of VJ (vertical-join) panelling throughout, complemented by a Shaker-style kitchen.
Working with a strict budget, Sallie decided that her best option to create the laundry was to use the Practa range for joinery that was cost-effective, but added personal touches in terms of colour and accessories.
“We wanted something to keep within the budget, but still look a bit more custom-made,” she explains. “We went with a mix of flat packs and Practa, just off the shelf at Bunnings at our Toowoomba store. Then we chose a custom colour [a soft green] that we made through the Taubmans app.”
“The colour was mixed through the White Knight laminate paint and primer, so we spent lots of time prepping all the doors and painting them to get the colour right.”
Almost every part of the room was sourced from Bunnings, she says.
“It was just the Practa basic laminate worktop and the Practa pantry,” she says. “However, we took out the drawers at the bottom of the pantry unit and made space for laundry baskets for ease of access.”
Sallie also went to Bunnings for the tile splashback in the laundry, laying them vertically for added interest.
“We're pretty rural where we are, so our options are very limited,” she explains. “We don't have major tile shops around us, and freight costs would kill us if we looked further afield. In fact, freight was more than double what the tiles were worth, so our options were limited to Bunnings.
“We started with what was in stock and what we liked, and I wanted to keep a bit of texture in it. I just think the final decision worked really well.”
After Sallie personalised the Practa pantry cabinets by painting them, she replaced the bottom two cupboards with removable wicker baskets. She also opted not to include overhead cupboards, instead choosing a hanging rail, which offers practicality and a drying area at a lower cost.
“There was already so much storage in the laundry, so we didn’t need more,” she says. “With the baskets I was trying to find something that would fit nicely, and with a sculpted edge. I couldn't find something that was perfect, so I ended up just putting slats in and using them for the laundry baskets I already had. They happened to fit perfectly.
“I use the baskets all the time, and if I've got people coming over, I can chuck all my laundry in there, and then it’s not noticeable. Functionally, it's easy to keep the room looking neat as well.”
To see more of Sallie’s projects, visit the Bunnings Workshop community. You’ll find projects including Sallie's kitchen renovation, an ingenious upcycled timber vanity as well as her laundry makeover. Or, read more customer renovation stories and start planning your next project!
Asbestos, lead-based paints and copper chromium arsenic (CCA) treated timber are health hazards you need to look out for when renovating older homes. These substances can easily be disturbed when renovating and exposure to them can cause a range of life-threatening diseases and conditions including cancer. For information on the dangers of asbestos, lead-based paint and CCA treated timber and tips for dealing with these materials contact your local council's Environmental Health Officer or visit our Health & Safety page.
When following our advice in our D.I.Y. videos, make sure you use all equipment, including PPE, safely by following the manufacturer’s instructions. Check that the equipment is suitable for the task and that PPE fits properly. If you are unsure, hire an expert to do the job or talk to a Bunnings Team Member.
