A Multipurpose Space for Homeschool and Laundry in a Victorian Farmhouse
Note: This project was sponsored in-kind by Lowe’s Home Improvement. We are so thankful for the way they provided supplies and products to make this project possible in a house that required the full bank budget in just structural upgrades. And I’m thankful for you for interacting with content like this that are fully transparent in the process/design to allow partnerships like this in an effort help others.
We did it! Austin and I (along with loads of help from our family) got this space finished for our sister-in-law in time for the start of the school year. There weren’t baseboards when we took the pictures but they’re being installed throughout the house this week. If you missed the previous posts about this project, find them here: One | Two | Three
Laundry
This wall was the perfect spot to tuck laundry appliances, a counter for folding, the utility sink and tons of storage. The small footprint didn’t take away any of the functionality from Chelsea’s normal laundry set up. In fact, on weekends, the school table can easily be utilized for extra folding space. Having these two purposes share the same space was actually pretty ideal in a lot of ways.
Lowe’s made it incredibly easy to get everything we needed for this. Being able to have Parker and Chelsea walk through the appliance section and pick out what laundry appliances they liked made it so I wasn’t in charge of choosing something so preferential as appliances. From there, I was able to order things like the utility sink for free delivery, order cabinets from my local store for free delivery to my house, run out to the store and find beautiful styling elements like the curtain I converted to the sink skirt, etc. So much money and time was saved by sourcing everything from Lowe’s and the look we were after for this Victorian farmhouse was definitely attainable.
One of the design features that I love the most about this view is the pony wall that the plumber needed Austin to build. At first, I was disappointed to have the counter intersect with the window casing but I LOVE the look and the added storage the ledge between the counter and the cabinets creates. It feels like an architectural decision instead of an exterior wall/plumbing consideration. We pulled in the history of the home by trimming the top with wood and staining to match the existing woodwork.
School Table
How pretty is this table set up? The seating is comfortable, supportive for schoolwork and the table adds to the multi-function of the room by having folding leaves. If there’s a floor activity, it can quickly have a smaller presence and be scooted away. I’ve said it before but I need to say it again — the furniture selection at Lowe’s was shocking to me. The variety of styles, sizes, and colors made finding the right pieces easy. And of course, much more cost-effective than purchasing elsewhere.
I styled the wall behind the settee with a glass memo board, vintage pictures of their home and inherited artwork. I used frames from Lowe’s in an array of sizes and finishes to give the wall some personality and a collected feel. Sometimes a room that comes together with all new furniture and decorative elements can feel a little life-less so choosing pieces that felt “collected over time” made such a difference. This was especially important for the aesthetic and age of the home.
Chelsea’s work desk area has tons of storage between the desk and the shelves above. The storage bins from Lowe’s help keep her curriculum ready to grab and go and easy to put away at the end of the school day. The desk was refinished with a beautiful shade of light green. The brass hardware from Lowe’s make it feel more like an heirloom piece than the circa 2000s piece that it is. $75 plus materials/time to finish it was absolutely worth it. It was great to get everything we needed for this piece in one spot.
My original intention was to use a William Morris textile for the sink skirt but when I found a curtain that pulled in the black and creamy colors of the rest of the room to the laundry side, I reimagined where the fabric would go. I used a frame from Lowe’s and cut out a centered part of the fabric pattern and frame that. It was a simple way to make custom art and still incorporate a print that so feels at home in this house. I used the rest of the fabric to recover a pillow for the settee. Last minute changes to the plan are sometimes my favorite.
The shelves were an easy project with black brackets we found at Lowe’s as well as 12” pine boards we white washed. When styling for photography, I can tend to make things feel more minimal than how they’re really lived with but I wanted to show how this family’s course materials would actually look and be utilized in the homeschool room. I had Chelsea put the bins of her materials together and left it pretty much how she set everything up.
This project will hopefully inspire others to set up a multi-functional homeschool space in their home. Do you have a room in your house that could pull double duty as a homeschool space? Or maybe a laundry/craft room? Get creative with the rooms in your house and head to Lowe’s for home improvement and design elements. Thanks so much for following along in this project!
Photography by Austin Day