Laundry Room Redo - Hiding the Electrical Panel & Hot Water Heater

09 November
I'm still plugging away on my laundry room (and having so much fun too I might add)! 😉 This weekend I worked on hiding the ugly electrical panel and disguising the hot water heater and I'm going to show you how I did it!

How to hid your electrical panel and hot water heater
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Supplies Needed to Make the Electrical Panel Cover


Here is what I was dealing with, you may have something similar. That electrical panel is HUGE and right in plain eyesight!!


Here is how I hid it! It's actually a pegboard! I got the idea from The Posh PlaceIf you're wondering why I didn't just paint it you can check out her post and you'll see why. I'll show you how I made mine.


Gather your supplies.


I had a piece of pegboard left over from my shed project at my old house that was already the perfect size.


Isn't this fabric cute? I found it at Jo-Ann's. I hadn't been in there for awhile and I was very pleasantly surprised that they have LOTS of new fabric!

I wanted something that would make me smile whenever I walked by, I think this cute fabric does the trick! 😊


This is where I started building my frame and promptly forgot to keep taking pictures. Sorry! I'm bad at that!

What you'll need to do is build a basic frame in the size you need to cover your electrical panel with the 1" x 2"s and using the corner braces to attach them together.

Once you have your frame built, paint it the color of your choosing. I painted mine the same Arctic Cotton white that I've been using throughout my laundry room redo.


Cut the pegboard to the same size as the frame you built. Lay it face down on top of your fabric and staple the fabric to the pegboard, nice and tight! (TIP: make sure your staples aren't too long, you don't want them poking through the front)


Attach the covered pegboard to the frame (I just used screws to attach it through the holes in each corner of the pegboard).


Attach 2 D-ring picture hangers on the back and hang it up on the wall!


Just hang it up like a picture then when you need to access the electrical panel just take it down (it's so lightweight that you can just lift it right off)!

When I was planning this project originally, I had it much more complicated in my head. I was going to screw the whole thing to the wall and cut out a small hinged door in the middle of the pegboard so that I could open it to get to the electrical panel.


Next, figure out where you want to hang your things and use a pair of sharp scissors or an x-acto knife and push a little hole through the fabric for the peg! (TIP: really plan this part out to avoid making too many unnecessary holes in your fabric).


For mine, I picked up this clock at Big Lots along with...


This cute little broom and dustpan set, and the lint roller.


I already had the little black basket made especially for pegboards and I found the scissors in a box of stuff left by the previous homeowners. I always need scissors in the laundry room to cut the tags off of new clothes that I'm about to wash.


And when I was in the garage searching for my pegs I found this cute little green fly swatter! It was pure luck that everything matches!


And to make the fly swatter even cuter I used some washi tape on the handle to cover up an ugly advertising logo! 😃 Dorky I know but it makes me happy!

Next up was disguising that ugly hot water heater... I mean LOOK AT IT!!!


They didn't even try to hide it! You can see it from the living room, from the kitchen, and of course when you are doing laundry!


I went back to Jo-Ann's to get more fabric but they were all out of the cute floral stuff so I found this coordinating yellow polka-dot fabric!


And I used magnets to attach it to the top of the hot water heater! Genius I know!

It was a happy accident actually. I had a small piece of the floral fabric left over from the pegboard and I laid it on top of the water heater while I was cleaning up and then thought... oh! That might be kind of cute! So I grabbed a magnet off the fridge to tack it up so I could see what it might look like and then thought... oh again! I can just use magnets!

Then I went into all sorts of self-praise... "I amaze myself sometimes", "I'm just a regular Eli Whitney"! .................HEY! I am working all alone here! Whatever it takes to amuse myself!!

Here are some super cute laundry themed magnets I found that would be fun!

LAUNDRY CHORE MAGNETS

Again... I was imagining all kinds of complicated hot water heater covers... building screens, using old fence boards, etc. Why-oh-why must we make things much more complicated than they need be?!


In this picture, you can see the labels on the hot water heater through the fabric but I think that's because I used the flash on my camera because you really can't see them very well in person.

For my laundry room, this was a better option than building something that will make this very small room feel even smaller... especially since I now have my Laundry Folding Table in there!


Here is the view from the living room.

One more thing I did in there this weekend...


I mounted my new wall-mount drying rack! I had a bulky floor standing one before but this room is just toooo small!


I used this wall-mount accordion clothes dryer.

It is very sturdy... right now I have 2 pairs of jeans, a pair of slacks, a sweater, and a blouse drying on it and it didn't even budge! 😀


I'm really happy with how these projects turned out, my laundry room makes me smile now!


I think next weekend I'll work on the lighting situation in here and maybe a couple of other small projects I have in mind!

To see more laundry room redo projects check these out:



Posted by: at 09 November Tag:

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  1. Very nice transformation! Love the way you covered the water heater. Very clever and what a difference. So simple too. You are a genius! :)

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  2. This is the cutest redo ever. Soooo clever! Wish I had a laundry room cuz I would be stealing your ideas.

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  3. It looks fabulous! Both projects were pretty simple and both are easily removable if you need to access what's under them---which is a good thing. You never know when that might be necessary. Great job!

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  4. Awesome ideas! I love how quick and easy these are and they look fabulous too - great job Tania!!!

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  5. Do you ever get tired? LOL! You inspire me with all your awesome projects! I love the fix for the electrical panel and that was a genius idea for the hot water heater. Great thinking! I love the size of your laundry room too. Mine is so small! We hope to build on a new utility room eventually and turn our laundry room into a pantry. Some day! It's far down on the list of to do's!

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  6. I feel like this place seems more streamlined. More modern?!! Not every cute thing you see is on display. Very creative and smart ideas to smart-lookingly create a great laundry room. You've worked at your projects quickly too. Love the laundry room!!!!

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    1. Thanks so much Gwen! I have a few more projects in mind for this room!

      Tania

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  7. Great job and very creative! Thanks for sharing with the Thursday Blog Hop!

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  8. Hello! Great job! Very creative ideas. Thanks for sharing.

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  9. Well yes...you are genius! Fantastic solutions. I especially like the covered pegboard. Thanks so much for sharing at the Make it Monday Party! Hope to see you again next week.

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  10. Wow.. what great solutions. It all looks great!

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  11. What super cool ideas! Your laundry looks so pretty. Almost makes you want to do the washing ... almost! So happy you found me. I'm excited to be following you now! :) Julie

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  12. What a great "fix" for your water heater AND the electrical panel...you ARE a genius!

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  13. I've been looking for a little more than a year for a rescue to my hot water heater dilemma. I think I've finally found my answer! Thanks!

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    1. I'm glad I could inspire you! I think sometimes we make things way harder than they should be! lol! I was envisioning panels and boxes build around it until I finally found this simple solution!

      Tania

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  14. Rachel RookerMay 07, 2017

    I know this looks cute but isn't it a fire hazard?

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  15. No,I don't think it is a fire hazard. My hot water heater is a standard electric one, the outside of the heater does not even get warm, only the pipes on the top which are not covered by anthing. There are no wires near the area I covered, they must be at the back where I can't reach! You can also buy insulated covers for them so I think it's fine. :o)

    Tania

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  16. Rachel RookerMay 07, 2017

    Oh sweet! My basement laundry room is a bit drab. This has inspired me for sure!

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  17. Awesome Rachel, I'm glad I could inspire!! I had also considered something else around my hot water heater... like folding shutters (kind of like the louvered closet doors you see) but I was very limited on space. If you have more room in your basement and the fabric makes you at all uncomfortable I would try something like that instead!

    Tania

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