Our basement laundry room moonlights as extra storage for odds and ends.
Before the contractors showed up for the second half of the house renovation (when porch, dormer and dining room were added), I came upon the above cabinet on one of my excursions into the city. I mention this because despite being in construction mode, I couldn't maintain the will power to abstain from decorating-mode.
I thought the old country cabinet would be perfect for the laundry room as it would add some nice old-fashioned character as well as provide some extra storage for my collections of transfer ware, flower vases and all our extra Martha Stewart white ware pieces (our everyday dishes).
I like having something that is enclosed so that dust is kept to a minimum and there are no critters lurking about when I need to retrieve something....this includes the ocassional field mouse, lizard, frog, salamander or eek, spiders....all of which have been sighted at one time or another. But really, it's the spiders, as I am one of those people who abhor spiders, yet can't bare to hurt them.
The cabinet also provides extra drawer space for items I don't use frequently.
At some point, we'll completely enclose the laundry room from the rest of the basement and perhaps add some heat so that doing laundry this time of year doesn't require wearing a hat or gloves. We also need to fix some parts of the old drop ceiling as it was disturbed when the electricians and the plumbers swept through with their updates.
To give the laundry room a more comfortable cozy look, I got a nice chunky jute rug for the floor. It was also a really cheap option I found at Home Goods — only $30. For its size, I thought it was a lot more charming than the synthetic rugs you get at Home Depot or Lowe's.
xoTrina