Mine is in a closet, but yes if I had to look at it I'd have to disguise it somehow. Never heard of anyone painting or decoupaging a working one before. Seen a few turned into yard art. Interesting dilema. The biggest thing I ever had to disguise was a breaker box in the middle of my kitchen wall. I painted it with a birdhouse design. Not once did anyone realize that it was a breaker box. ha
Sorry I don't have any ideas besides building something around it and you said there is no room for that. Hope someone else will have good ideas for you. ~Anj

Oh, clever you with your breaker box idea! I'll bet that was adorable and how smart.

I'm wondering how to hang curtains around it if nothing else. I'm thinking maybe I could screw cup hooks into the ceiling and use a long straight hemmed curtain and rubber band measured out "peaks" of it up to the cuphooks, and maybe cover my rubber bands with something? I dunno; I'm at a loss.

I'm also wondering if it puts out heat and might cause a problem with anything I try to attach to it from paint to decoupage.

But it's just to butt ugly!!

I looked on google images and searched on everything I could think of. Nada. Except someone had used an old one with part of it cut away as a flower box, like you mentioned. But gee, wouldn't you think I wouldn't be the first woman to ever hate staring at the darned thing? I mean honestly, do we HAVE to put up with that? I'd rather paint it to look like a big ol' penguin that makes me laugh than see it as it is. But better yet, I'd love to make it pretty or just hide it altogether.

It's kind of like trying to ignore that elephant in your living room, ya know? My laundry room is pretty except for that bit of urban blight.

Well, you know they make water heater covers that are supposed to help hold the heat in. Might look into those and maybe add some pretty fabric or paint on some muslin to put on the outside of it. Just a thought.

It's a shame that the construction guys just don't realize how important it is to us women to have things look pretty!

One other thought is to do the ceiling hooks but use wire or fishing line instead of rubberbands (they get old and break). Maybe gather it at the top and swag it over to each side and secure it with thumbtacks.

Good luck with your project. I know you are very creative and will come up with something good. ;o)

Luvs

Oh, the first thing I thought of when you said hanging a curtain around it was those pipes that you hang up around free standing tubs (like clawfoot) to hang shower curtains from. Aren't they hung from the ceiling? May be something to check out. I also thought about wrapping a pretty old quilt around it for insulation purposes? Or do you need the specialty ones that won't catch on fire? Not sure how they work. ha I'll keep thinking on it. Maybe you have hit on a new business oportunity if you can figure something out! ha ~Anj

Okay, what about decorating sheet magnets and just putting those on the sides over the stickers? If the WH is white (aren't they all?), then I'd think some lovely floral prints, or, more specific to your decorating style, antique laundry soap ads would go along way toward dressing it up. You can make your own inexpensive prints at home with a printer and decopauge them on the magnets. That way, if the heat eventually browned the image, it's no biggie to just glue another on top. For that matter, you can find magnet sheets that are designed to be printed on directly; I've seen sheets as large as 8X10, which should cover just about any "Energy star rating" sticker.

Luvs ~~

Yes, yes! We need things to be pretty.

I never would have thought of the idea of decorating a w.h. heater blanket. What a great idea! It could no doubt use one anyway. Good idea about the rubber bands breaking and using fishing line or wire.

Seems it could be done with no sewing if I use a sheet, or maybe I can find curtains in the Goodwill bin that would work. I'm thinking if I go with a curtain it would be something like this, only full length.

{{!gwi}}

Hey, maybe I can even find some cute hooks on eBay. I think laundry rooms (where mine is) should be bright and cheerful. Thanks for the good wishes!

Anj ~~

The clawfoot curtain rods are an interesting thought. But I'll bet they're expensive and probably aren't the right shape. I wonder if copper tubing could be bent and somehow attached to the wall... but I think that would need support.

A quilt could be lovely and I know just the one... it has some ripped places that I could probably cut off or hide. I have a sheet I love, but I need to check if they go with the wallpaper in there.

I have no idea about heat and fire... I would think with a gas heater that would be a bigger worry than with an electric heater like mine? Gas appliances have open flame somewhere, don't they? My heater in the last house did. Burned down houses sure aren't pretty and I don't want to die for decor - lol. But don't water heaters have paper stickers on them that don't catch fire? I'll have to check that out and feel it with my hands... and an insulator blanket is a good idea anyway.

Maybe this is a business opportunity. Hmmmm....

Littledog ~~

What a cute idea! There are lots of adorable signs and posters for laundry rooms. Printing and decoupaging is a an option, or one could also paint. Where do you buy big sheet magnets? I'll have to take another look at the surroundings and see if I'd like the rest of the tank sticking out or not.

You folks are SO creative! I'm really glad I asked here. Thanks!

This is a picture of the laundry room with the PO's kids in the shot. The water heater is on the right front, but it doesn't show in this shot. The boy is standing in front of 5 tip-out bins that I just love.

{{!gwi}}

Oceanna, you are right about saftey before decor. I know the water heater covers would be safe since they are made for them, but you should check with a fireman or someone before you do curtains.

You have a good laundry room. Lots of storage, space to hang clothes as you take them out of the dryer, and a good space for folding things. Mine is similar, not as long and no door in it. I use my cabinets across from the washer as my craft/painting area since it's the only extra space that I have. I have hung a few cute things in there, but it is mostly practical. I think I have posted pics of it on here before.

I take it you inherited the wallpaper from a previous owner, right? I usually like wallpaper, but in this room I think it makes it appear smaller. I think removing it and adding some cute laundry room signs and maybe painting one of your designs on the soffit above the door would make it so cute.

I think there are some laundry room photos on the gallery at the Home Dec forum. And one of the posters there has a blog . She has a really pretty, fun laundry room. I'll post a link in case you would like to take a look. Let me know what you think of it, okay? The laundry room is about half way down the page.

Luvs

Here is a link that might be useful: Southern Hospitality blog

Ok, I had a different picture in my head so that helps. Nice laundry room, but you are right, a tight squeeze for whatever you do with the water heater. Maybe save your pennies and go with a tankless hot water heater instead. haha Love those bins!!

Luvs~ her laundry room is awesome! I think I might actually want to do laundry if I had that room. ha

~Anj

Hi Anj, what I liked was that she said she used things she already had from a previous home, and she laid the black and white tiles herself! Woman Power! LOL She really did make it pretty. Did you guys notice the painted window she had on the wall? Luvs

Luvs I did see the window, but I couldn't tell it was painted. I thought she had somehow used pressed flowers on there.
I must have a little Woman Power!! hahaha I've used those pre-glued vinyl squares myself. This may sound weird and probably a little hard to picture, but it looked good, I used them as a backsplash in my old kitchen. ha They worked really well and made for super easy cleanup. And I used them in a little closet off my kitchen that had concrete flooring. Caution though. When they stick....they are really stuck! ha ~Anj

Luvs ~~

I actually started the thread in the home dec gallery about the laundry rooms, and posted this gal's. I love her decorating style and am thrilled to learn she has a blog - thanks!

Yep PO wallpaper, but I'd like to re-decor that room. The southern gal's is the best I've seen. I like the Englebrecht one too.

That window on the wall almost looks like pressed flowers, doesn't it? Are you sure it's painted?

I would love to have cabinets over the flat area, with wrapping paper hung under them to make gift wrapping easy. The flat space is also great for when I sew.

Good advice to call the fire department; I'll do that.

Anj ~~

They were talking about the tankless on the home dec forum and one gal who said she had one hates it. Says it cops out in the middle of showers.

Hmm, maybe that is pressed flowers on the window. Oh well, it could be painted, or even decoupaged if you wanted.

Oceana, here are some pics of my messy laundry/craft room. You can see it is similar to yours. Excuse the glass items on the washer, this was when I was collecting glass for totems for the garden. I love having the sink in there--nice for washing paint out of brushes or cleaning up my hands. The cabinets don't go all the way to the ceiling, so I have some of my painted items on display there. This room is also where I feed my dogs and keep the brooms, mops, etc. Our water heater is in the garage, as are most washers in this neighborhood. I am glad our PO's build this room when they added the family room on. Not fancy, but pretty functional. Luvs

{{gwi:191280}}
{{gwi:191281}}

Oh, what a wonderful workroom! I can see why you love it. I love all the cute personal touches you have in there with your artwork. It looks like you're well organized there too. There's nothing like a good workroom for us creative types.

I was in Goodwill today and got chatting with a gal who told me her aunt put curtains around her *electric* water heater and the curtains caught fire. Mega bummer. I will ask the fire station too, come the work week.

I got some great finds at Goodwill. My favorite: I picked up the cutest round box, like a small hatbox. I thought it was just a decorative box. It has kittens on it and paw prints and it's very pretty. It felt a little weighty so I took the top off and much to my surprise there were four of the most darling kittens in there and they are all puppets! It appears to be brand new and my granddaughter is going to get it for her birthday. :-)

I also bought a wooden tray, which it turns out won't work for my purposes. I'm debating whether to paint it and put it on eBay. It doesn't look like they sell for much on there, but there aren't many that are painted, either. So I'm cooking up some ideas.

My computer is misbehaving. Hope I don't end up gone when I didn't want to be.

Too bad about the curtains OC. Keep thinking about it. I'm sure there must be a solution.
I love GW/TS's. The box o kittens you found sounds really neat. Paint that tray and do something with it! ha You can always put some cookies on it and give it away to someone if nothing else. :) ~Anj

Okay, GW must be garden web, but what is TS? Usually it means "I don't care."

The kitty box is adorable, thanks.

I think I'll paint the tray and then eBay it. I would gift it to my daughter but her taste is very different from mine.

As I feared, my computer was dying. I'm now on a new one that's half set up, and my son who was setting it up for me had to leave. So I'm limping along computer-wise, but at least I'm here. Turned out to be a very expensive weekend.

Sorry OC...GW is Goodwill and TS is Thrift Store.

Seems like a bad month for computers. Luvs and I both had some issues too. Glad you are 1/2 way set back up anyway. :) ~Anj

Your "I don't care" comment cracked me up, Oceanna. LOL

Sorry about your computer. I still don't know what happened to mine--was just so glad that DH and DS were able to get it working again.

I am feeling a little better, almost over this cold. Feel like I have lost five days because of it. At least I did get a few Santas cut out, so maybe I can get some painting done soon. However, I am getting tired of the Christmas decorations, so that might come first. ;o(

Talk to you later.

Luvs

Luvs, I hope you're all well now!