Ugh, its that darn word again. BUDGET. It always bites you where it counts when you want to take it to the next level. This year we had the opportunity to design a parade home for Gale-Rew homes. We had three months notice but thats another story for another time. Anyways, this home was going to be a parade so it had to be amazing, right? But since this home was a spec it had a pretty tight budget. Sooo we had to be really conscious of the finishes we picked while at the same time making sure it was parade worthy! Over the next few weeks we are going to have a series of posts about budget friendly finishes and how to achieve "the look" when building or remodleing your home. Today we are going to start with the Laundry room.

If you need to cut somewhere in your hard surface budget- one of the best places is the laundry room countertops. That is the one question I get asked over and over. Is it ok to use laminate in my laundry room? YES! Lets be honest, who really sees your laundry room or better yet, who do you really want to see your laundry room? There are some really beautiful laminates that don't scream at you "your grandmas kitchen". Don't get me wrong, those STILL exist but laminate countertops have come a long way. We used this one for the countertops in the above photo. It was really pretty and looked great with the white cabinets. For the flooring we added the tile that looks and feel like brick. Pretty awesome material. (Shaw San Francisco 4x8 Nob Hill) And had it laid in a herringbone pattern to give the room some dimension and texture. And then used the basic 3x6 white subway tile that is SUPER budget friendly. While this room is not your super fancy pants laundry, we LOVED the way it turned out. Like the wise say sometimes "less is more" .

Photo credit: Ann Thompson Photography