Tutorial - Make an Ironing Surface / Table on Your Washer and Dryer, and Line a Book Case!

I have a mismatched washer and dryer and no room for an ironing board in my laundry room.  I needed to come up with a solution to make the two look more unified and give me an ironing surface.  My laundry room is a tiny multipurpose space that serves as my office, laundry room, back entry, and crafty sewing space.  So not only did I need an ironing surface I also needed a place to fold the laundry, as well as lay out any patterns for cutting and sewing.  This is what I came up with and it is serving me well!  I also love the way it looks and it was VERY simple to complete.  All for the price of two yards of fabric!

I ended up pulling an old book shelf from the garage and putting it on the end to make a little bit of a separation between the entry and the laundry area.  It will also discourage everyone from throwing things down on top of the washer as they come in the door.  I used the same material (scraps left over) to line the back of the shelves and it came out great! I am going to add a hook to the back of the shelve to hold my laundry basket but until then it is still on the back of the dryer.   I love it!  Now I have separation, more storage and a cleaner overall look.  It was a quick and easy project and I feel like my laundry room had a makeover!

So here is how I did it..
You will need :
A sheet of plywood large enough to cover your washer and dryer.
2 yards of fabric or a little less.  I like to use the thicker home decor fabric.
1-2 large bath towels you no longer need.
A staple gun.
This is what it looked like before.

 The first thing I did was measure the space that I wanted to cover.  I then (OK my husband) cut the plywood to the size I needed.  I then stretched the towels over the board to create a softer surface and stapled them down around the edges (you can see the bottom layer in the photo below).  .

 Next I laid the fabric under the board and trimmed it so that I could wrap the edges over and staple it down

 I made sure to pull tight before I stapled so that the top would be nice and smooth.

Then all I had to do was flip it over and lay it in place.  Mine stays in place, but if you have trouble with it sliding just add some sticky backed velcro at all the four corners of the board and down to the washer and dryer as well.

For the book case I just used the scraps from the project to line the back of this lackluster book case.  I simply cut rectangles to fit the back of the book case one shelf at a time.  I recommend using a rotary cutter with cutting mats and rulers to get a nice even rectangle.  Then I just used spray adhesive to spray the back of the material and the back of the bookcase and applied them one shelve at a time.  The spray adhesive is really smelly so make sure you do it outside or right next to an open door!  It doesn't stay tacky too long so I did them one at a time and reapplied under any areas that were coming loose.  Now if your shelves come out you simply do one big rectangle but my shelves wouldn't come out.

And here it is again after it was all said and done! I am thinking about adding fabric or paint to the cupboard doors on the bottom but like I said this was a quick afternoon last minute project, and the shelves were just an after thought.  I love how it completes the space a bit, and gives it a more organized feel.
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