This Would Make Doing the Laundry So Much More Fun by Betsy Skagen

Let's face it, doing the laundry would be so much more fun with a retro pink washer and dryer.

Stashing a bottle of wine in the basket of clean towels, like this happy homemaker has done, probably wouldn't hurt either.

Thanks to the pairing up of Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts and Canvas Corp Brands, those of us who can't have a life-size retro pink laundry room can at least make one in miniature. Heck, with a little ingenuity, we can even have a sink bursting with bubbles!

How to Make a Retro Pink Laundry Room

Begin by creating your room base. I created a room from three squares of 9" x 9" foam core because I wanted a little bigger set, but  you can opt to assemble a Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Room Box if you put fewer pieces of furniture in the room.

It is easier to adhere the floor and wall covering with a matte medium before gluing the room together. Use 7gypsies paper for wallpaper and faux white pine cardstock to create the floor. Then cut faux wood strips from the 7gypsies Architextures 8 x 8 paper pad and adhere to your wall panels to create a baseboard.

Paint a Window 4 Panel with white acrylic paint. Place a rectangle of  Blue & Ivory Mini Dot Reverse behind it and glue to the wall. Add some curtains by scrunching some pink and white scrap fabric with a hot glue gun.

It is easy to stick on and even reposition the vintage laundry starch sign with nifty Architextures removable ephemera.

The Table

Next assemble the  Tile Top Table using a strong adhesive. A lot of people wonder what to use for this kind of assembly. My personal favorite is Beacon Fabri-Tac because it is thick, dries quickly without me having to hold pieces in place and doesn't have nasty fumes.

Paint the table an off-white color. When dry, give the table an older, distressed appearance by accenting it with brown ink. Next, take one of the green pieces from the 7gypsies Architextures Junque Pack Attic and cut apart little squares and adhere to the top of the table, creating miniature tiles. Cut two rectangles and add to the front of the drawers and add small brads for drawer handles.

The Washing Machine

Find a small round plastic container to reuse (I used a micro bead container). Center the container on one of the 3-inch cube panels (Coming to Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts soon) and trace around it.

Cut this out, but err on the side of cutting too small a hole because if you cut too big a hole, you are, shall we politely say...screwed. Finish the hole with a file or sandpaper so that your container snugly fits inside it.

Remove the container, assemble five sides only of one of the 3-inch cubes, placing the round hole you made in the front and keep the bottom panel of the cube off. Prime the washer with a coat of gesso.

Take the remaining panel and instead of placing it on the bottom as intended, glue it to the back of the cube with approximately 1/2" sticking above the cube to create a panel.

Give the washer two coats of pink acrylic paint and a final coat of gloss gel medium. Punch starbursts from silver foil tape and adhere to the top panel. Cut a larger circle from the silver foil, adhere to panel and add a black bead.

Insert the clear plastic container and hot glue into place. Open the container and add small pieces of fabric to your "wash load".

The Dryer

Take one panel from the second 3-inch cube set and cut out a door. Sand the edges of the door and the panel so the door will open and shut smoothly. Prime all the pieces with a coat of gesso.

Punch a hole so that you can later insert a brad door handle. Use linen tape to create your door hinge and adhere one side of the hinge to the interior of the door and the other side to the panel interior.

Assemble the cube, placing the door hole you made in the front.

Give the dryer two coats of pink acrylic paint and a final coat of gloss gel medium. Paint a brad silver and when dry insert it into the door.

Just like you did with the washer, punch starbursts and cut a circle from silver foil tape. Adhere these with another black bead to the front of the dryer.

Cover both a plastic flexible straw  and metal nut with silver paint. When dry, trim the straw down and glue the flexible edge into the hole of the nut.

Decide where you want to place your washer and dryer. Center the straw/nut combo with the middle of the dryer and glue to the wall. 

 Washboard, Laundry Hamper & Sink

To make the washboard, adhere silver foil tape to both sides of a thin piece of chipboard and cut into a small rectangle. Run this through a corrugator paper crimper. Cut strips from the "crates sheet" of the 7gypsies Architextures 8 x 8 paper pad and adhere to both sides of chipboard. Make the washboard top, sides and bottom from these strips. 

To make the laundry hamper, cut four 2 5/8" narrow wooden dowels; six 1 1/2" dowels; and four 2 1/2" dowels. Hot glue the six dowels to the four 2 5/8" upright dowels. Then glue the 2 1/2" horizontally in place.

Cover with silver paint.

Cut a 6" strip of fine mesh. Lay a thin nylon string along the top edge, fold the mesh over and glue in place. Do this without getting glue on the string so that the string can still move freely. Repeat on the other end with the same piece of string. Glue both sides together to form a bag with a drawstring closure. 

Repeat to make a second bag and fill the bags with small bits of fabric.  

To make the sink, I actually altered an old wooden dollhouse sink. Paint the interior of the sink and cupboard white, the exterior pink and the faucet silver. Cover all with gloss gel medium. Cut a curtain from Canvas Corp Pink & Ivory Mini Dot Reverse. Cut a wavy pattern along one edge and punch holes along the opposite edge. Thread a narrow dowel through the holes and insert into the cupboard as a hinge.

Fill the sink with miniature antique glass beads and glue in place. Coat lightly with gloss gel medium and sprinkle with Twinklets Diamond Dust.

It's all in the Details

Bringing the laundry room together is all the little details. You can easily make the Happy Homemaker, vintage laundry boxes and the jar labels (and a whole lot more) from retro papers I designed.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the tutorial. I'm off to do the laundry. -Betsy

Great Stuff

3 inch-cube (two) Coming to Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts soon!
Tile Top Table
Window 4 Panel
9" x 9" squares of foam core (three) or Room Box set
7gypsies Architextures Junque Pack Attic
7gypsies Architextures 8 x 8 paper pad
Canvas Corp Blue & Ivory Mini Dot Reverse
Canvas Corp Pink & Ivory Mini Dot Reverse
7gypsies Trousseau 8 x 8 paper pad (retired)
Vintage Laundry #1
Vintage Laundry #2
Retro Pink Household
Beacon Fabri-Tac
Twinklets Diamond Dust
Glass jars
Set of unlabelled jars, bottles and tins
Metal mouse
Small plastic container
Silver foil tape sheet
Starburst punch
Assorted beads
Assorted miniature items from personal collection
Matte medium
Gloss gel medium
Brads
Narrow wooden dowels
Fabric
Fabric mesh
White nylon string
Thin chipboard
Acrylic paint
Hot glue gun
Corrugator paper crimper