$30 DIY Laundry Pedestal

Do you ever get involved with a DIY project that just snowballs? That’s exactly what happened when I ended up making a DIY laundry pedestal that I had no intention of making. (Or I should say, that my husband and I made, since he did a good portion of the work) But! It turned out to be one of my favorite DIYs we’ve done.

The backstory: I had wanted to spruce up our godawful laundry room/closet space since we moved in, and finally decided to add cabinets above the washer/dryer and give them a nice coat of paint.

Here’s the space before. Isn’t it hideous? It was also non-functional, as you can see by the clutter.

But, while I was testing paint samples on the wall behind the appliances, my husband decided the whole setup would work much better if we had the washer/dryer on a pedestal. And then he realized he had enough scrap wood in the garage to make said pedestal. Twenty minutes later, we were making a pedestal.

We started out by building a rectangular box frame with 12″x1″ wood boards, and adding support beams made from 2″x4″s to each corner, as well as to the center of the box, which you can see below. We then added a top to the box with a sheet of plywood (we ended up needing a little more than a sheet and cut a section from another scrap piece).

Once that was done, I decided it looked a little too basic, so I took some leftover wall trim and cut it with a miter saw to make three boxes on the front of the laundry pedestal to mimic drawers. I attached them with a brad nailer.

Then, I gave the whole thing a coat of paint, and drilled pilot holes for dummy drawer hardware.

Last but not least, I attached the hardware. This was the only thing I actually had to buy for this project! They were simple brass pulls that I got on Amazon (similar here).

Here is our DIY laundry pedestal in place, before I finished painting the wall (which I should have done before we got the pedestal and washer/dryer in, but you live and you learn).

And here’s the after again! I was a little nervous about the pedestal holding the weight of the washer/dryer, but so far so good. We’ve done some aggressive loads of laundry (you know the ones where the entire washing machine is vibrating…) and it’s held up!

I also think it elevates (no pun intended) the entire space so much. It feels more built in and custom than simply doing the cabinets.