Rock's House Project Reveal: Laundry Room

We love when we get an opportunity to add some soul and charm back into an old home—especially when our clients have a wild imagination, a bright sense of humor, and the will to go bold.

Design: Meet West Studio

We have the privilege to be working with the proud owners of a very special 120-year old craftsman to renovate their home in a way that respects the history and story of the original owner and reflects the maximalist, vintage-loving aesthetic of the owners.

Once the farmhouse on the edge of a walnut farm, now less than a mile from the downtown Bentonville square, "Rock's House" was built at the turn of the 20th century by its owner, Aaron "Rock" Van Winkle, a former slave who became a wealthy lumber mill manager after his emancipation. Rock's mill supplied lumber for many prominent historic buildings in Northwest Arkansas, including for Old Main on the University of Arkansas campus.

The clients were expecting their first baby and needed a more functional laundry room that could handle the added loads of laundry and cleaning requirements of a newborn. With four cats at home, they also needed a spot to hide away litter boxes from their curious and enterprising pug mix, Ted.

We kicked off the first phase of the renovation with this laundry room remodel and will be totally transforming most of the rest of their 2500 square foot house starting in Summer 2022.

Project Overview

Project: Rock's House Laundry Room Remodel

Location: Bentonville, Arkansas

Scope of Work:

Replace carpet, stack washer dryer, add utility sink and storage space, plus make room for and hide the clients' four kitties' litter boxes.

Our inspiration for the space was a laundry room you might find in your cool British aunt's country cottage. — Whitney Romanoff

Design: Meet West Studio

Before

Our client's existing laundry room had plenty of room for improvement, a small 50 sq ft room with a utility closet. With thick gray carpet, which was a trap for kitty litter, no storage or counter for sorting and folding, and rough textured drab gray walls, it wasn't a room that you wanted to spend any time in and didn't add any joy to the process of household chores.

Project Inspiration

We wanted the laundry room to feel like a room in your cool British aunt's country cottage. We wanted it to be fun and playful, yet also super functional for a young family with pets and a new baby, and give a nod to the home's arts and crafts history with our pattern and flooring selections.

Source: Jungalow, Matilda Goad, and Sam Kachmar Architects

Creating the Design Concept

Our biggest design challenge was making room for a utility sink and a space to hide the kitties' litter boxes. We also needed to find a way to keep our dear friend Ted the pug out of the kitties' business. To create a space where the couple could easily wash cloth diapers and keep their four legged kiddos comfortable, we designed a custom worktable with farmhouse utility sink, wrapped in a Molly Mahon block print sink skirt that our super crafty client hand made (while 39 weeks pregnant, no less!).

We replaced the unsightly and impractical carpet with burgundy 3/4" square tile from American Restoration Tile. We added a custom white penny tile border that perfectly flanked the washer, dryer, and worktable and upped the vintage charm.

To add some much needed storage while saving on extra materials cost, we repurposed a storage cabinet from the home's guest bath that will be remodeled in Phase 2 and added open shelving for easy access. We wrapped the room in bead board paneling to add a little texture and painted it all in Farrow and Ball's Teresa's Green, cheerful shade of aqua, that coordinates beautifully with the room's real star—that wallpaper!

We chose this fantastical "flying dragon cat" Phantasia Tourmaline wallpaper from House of Hackney as an homage to Thelma and Louise, the couple's rambunctious orange tabbies. Did we mention these clients have a sense of humor? They went for it immediately, and we love them for it!

The result is a highly functional laundry space that is also the funkiest room on the block. The clients (and we!) couldn't be happier with how it turned out. We are pumped for the rest of this house to catch up with the laundry room as our renovation continues later this summer!