Hi! I have a lot of other things I need to share but this really can’t wait, I’m too excited about it. If you read this post you know that I really wanted to come up with a way to hide the ugly laundry room cords. Well you guys… WE DID! This project was really simple and we think it looks great! Much better than before… That’s all that matters, right?!

After we had made some big (easy) changes in here, the room was nearly perfect. I loved the wallpaper, the shelves, our faux marble countertop, all of it. I just hated the cords sticking out of the washer and dryer. The room didn’t look finished to me. I thought of making a curtain to hang under the shelf, sticking a picture over it, adding another shelf, painting the cord, etc. There were lots of ideas. But when I started to plan how I would execute each option, it either wouldn’t work or I didn’t think it would look right. The electrical cord is big/thick so nothing could sit directly on the wall to cover it (or I’d have to cut a hole out of it to make it work). Then I figured hey… Why don’t I make a sign but somehow hang it from the shelf instead of hanging it on the wall.  TA DA! It worked! To make it even better, I also figured out how to cover the water hoses in a matter of minutes using leftover materials I had on hand. Winner winner chicken dinner.

Okay, enough of my chatter. If you like this look and need a way to cover your cords, here’s how we did it-

What you’ll need for the hanging sign:

• A piece of wood cut to size – we used a 10 x 36″
• Optional – wood stain – I used Early American + Dark Walnut by Minwax
• Lint-free rag/cloth
• White paint
• Black paint
• Paint brushes (large and small)
• Sanding block
• 4 small hooks
• 1 chain – we bought about 4-5 feet at Home Depot just to be safe
• Optional – computer printer + tape OR you can free hand your design
• Ball point pen

What you’ll need for the hose cover:

• A piece of fabric, enough to wrap around the plastic hose cover (I used leftover drop cloth from the little ruffle curtain I made attempted)
• Optional – hot glue gun

What to do (sign):

• Optional – stain the piece of wood. I did this because I knew I wanted to sand it to give it more character and didn’t think the natural light wood color would give enough contrast to show through the white paint. I used the same stain that we used for the shelves (Early American) with Dark Walnut in some random spots because I wanted it be a tad darker (again to contrast with the white paint) and had both of them on hand anyway.

• Optional – While the stain was drying I created my design on Photoshop, printed it out, and taped it together to create a stencil for myself. In the perfect world I’d have a Silhouette or Cricut to do this with but for now I just have to spend some more time doing it this way. If you want to use the same design, print each of the links I’ve included below and then tape them together like I did.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

• Paint the wood white – just use whatever you have! I used a custom white color I had from another project. I painted the entire board with white but didn’t completely cover it (unlike if I paint a wall, for example) so that it looked worn. If you want it to look more finished, give it a full coat. Let it dry completely before giving it another coat or moving on with the next step.
• Once the paint is dry, center the stencil on the board and tape it so that it doesn’t move.

• Using a ball point pen, trace the outside of the letters on the paper while pressing pretty hard into the wood. If you peel up the paper to see underneath, you should see an indent where you marked with your pen. If you don’t, press harder while you trace.

• After you have traced the entire design, remove the paper and using the marks in the wood, paint the design with the black paint. Let it dry completely.

• If your chain and hooks aren’t the color you want them to be, spray paint them and let them dry.
• Sand your board to give it character. I asked myself, “If this board was really old, where would it look most worn?” and sanded accordingly. Typically I sand heavily along the edges and sides with a few worn parts on the front.
• Determine where you want to hang your sign and attach 2 hooks to the top of the board and 2 hooks to the bottom on the shelf.

• Attach your chain and enjoy!

What to do (hose cover):

• After you have chosen your fabric, cut the fabric so that it will completely cover the hoses and also have enough room remaining on the sides to tuck it behind the cover.
• Pull the hose cover out slightly, place the fabric over the hoses and wrap it around the cover. Push the cover back against the wall. You can also hot glue gun the fabric to the plastic cover if you wish. I didn’t and it’s staying there just fine. Isn’t that pathetically easy? It looks so much better though!

As for the useless countertop (I’m more of a fold while getting in some TV time kind of girl)… We bought this lamp base a couple of months ago for another room but it was too small. After we found this precious lamp shade in Target yesterday, I knew exactly where it belonged.

I hope this helps if you need a way to hide your laundry room hoses and cords! As always, let me know if you have any questions. Thank you for your support!

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Easy Laundry Room DIYs

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