Laundry Room Ideas Using Vintage Accessories

A laundry room can sometimes be a forgotten room when it comes to decorating. It is a room most of us don’t want to spend a lot of time in. However, it is a space that does require a lot of our time. When all of my kids were home, I felt like I was constantly doing laundry! Because so much time needs to be spent in there, I came up with some laundry room ideas to make it at least a little more pleasant.

Have you ever noticed that antiques have a way of adding comfort to a room?Because of that, I like to use them wherever I can. One fun and easy way to decorate a laundry room is with vintage accessories. If you go to any flea market or antique store, you will find lots of fun items to choose from. There are vintage ironing boards, irons and wash boards for obvious choices. But, you can also find tin buckets, watering cans, old clothespins, and even detergent boxes or old soap containers that work well in a laundry room. These ideas will offer a little inspiration for warming up the laundry room.

Vintage Laundry Room Ideas

laundry room ideas

You can find so many fun vintage laundry items to use. Because most of them are made of wood or galvanized metal, the look is always rustic and warm. Things like old ironing boards, wash boards, buckets, and vintage laundry detergent containers are usually pretty easy to find. All of them are perfect for displaying in a laundry room. Whether you place them on shelves, hang them, or use the above cabinet space, there are plenty of ways to show them off. The displays work especially well to enhance a farmhouse style home.

You also don’t have to stick with only vintage laundry items. Other antiques look nice in a laundry room as well. Pair some of the vintage laundry items with an old egg basket or watering bucket. Besides real antiques, you can also create your own vintage inspired accessories. I made a label for one of my laundry baskets that is reminiscent of old typewriter keys.

Vintage Inspired Laundry Basket Label

vintage inspired ironing label

SOURCE: Creative Ideas For Laundry Rooms

I painted a label on cardboard to look like vintage typewriter keys and then attached it to my basket with bark covered wire. Since I had a vintage theme going, I figured I would make my label vintage looking.

How To Make The Label/Sign

1. First I cut a piece of cardboard to size and punched two holes at the top to weave my bark covered wire through. I traced four circles and painted them brown. Then, I applied Weathered Wood to the background.

2. For the background, I used opaque raw umber acrylic paint and white wash paint to paint over the weathered wood medium. This gives a nice distressed wood look.

3. I adhered letter stickers to each circle to spell out the word “iron”.

4. To create the border of the vintage inspired typewriter keys, I used a paper mache circle lid that was just a little bit smaller than my painted circles. I used that to dip in cream paint and stencil on an uneven trim circle around the letters.

5. Once the label was completed, I inserted my bark covered wire and attached it to my basket.

laundry room ideas

To go along with the vintage look, I made a quick window treatment in a homey way. I simply hung and old table runner on clothesline. And, of course, I used clothespins to attach the runner to the line. To see other unique ideas for windows, see these creative DIY window treatments that don’t use fabric.

More Laundry Room Ideas With Vintage Laundry Decor

I found a lot of laundry room ideas that use vintage decor in a variety of different ways. Here are some of my favorite examples.

vintage laundry decor

SOURCE: Knick Of Time Interiors

All of that yummy warm wood really stands out against the rustic white walls. This room has a mixture of an antique clothes wringer with other vintage items. There is also a vintage inspired sign to complete the look.

vintage ironing board shelving unit

SOURCE: Grandma Creates

Besides simply displaying vintage items, you can also create things with them. Here, you can see that an old ironing board was converted into a decorative shelving unit. It’s perfect for displaying more vintage laundry decor. For a practical use, store laundry necessities on the shelves.

vintage laundry room wash tub

SOURCE: Faded Charm

A vintage farmhouse style wash tub is the perfect accessory to add warm charm to the laundry room. All of the other vintage accessories just tie it all together.

vintage laundry room door

SOURCE: Table And Hearth

In keeping with all of the vintage laundry room decor, it only makes sense to have the entry door be vintage as well. I’ve always liked the idea of replacing interior doors with vintage ones when appropriate. This is definitely appropriate and I love how the laundry sign is made.

So, whether you use vintage accessories or vintage inspired decor your laundry room will be a little more warm and inviting with a pull from the past. If all of these laundry room ideas are leaving you wanting to see more farmhouse style ideas, check out these 60 DIY farmhouse decor ideas.

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Creating rustic styling on a budget by giving new life to old things and using the beauty that is already found in nature. Read more about me.
3 comments
  1. where did you buy the cabinets

  2. Thanks so much for the inspiration! I just decorated my laundry room with vintage finds, I loved the old wooden ironing board you put on top of your cabinets so much that I found one and did the same thing.

    Hugs,
    Robin

  3. I love your laundry room, here is the South many of us have our washer and dryer in the garage since we have no basements we are so short on room! If I had one in the house i would love to decorate it vintage!!

    Carol

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