Make an electrical box into a magnet board

This week, I’ve been sharing ways to disguise something ugly. First, I hid the outdoor A/C unit and now I’m hiding an ugly electrical box in the laundry room.

Yep. Back to the laundry room. (Check out our laundry cart for our first DIY upgrade.)

This is what the laundry room looked like before. Not exactly easy on the eyes – but beggars can’t be choosers when you are living in a barn. But, boy oh boy, was this a huge pile of ugly.

While I’m not ready to share the full room yet – mwahahahahaha – I obviously painted. And spoiler – it looks so much better.

But while I was painting, I started considering ways to “hide” that ugly electrical box. It obviously needs to remain accessible, but I wanted it to blend in a bit. So, I started by painting all the way around the edges to match the walls.

Then, I tried to figure out a way to hide the door. My first thought was to add a picture frame to make the door into art.

 

But then, I remembered that this was a metal door – so why not tap into the magnetic power of metal.

I used an extra piece of drawer liner (from the DIY laundry cart) and stuck to the front of the door. I simply folded the edges over to the back, since most people will never see it anyway.

That added a tiny pop of pattern, which covered the door. Then, I just added a couple magnets – one picture of the three of us, a pretty piece of art (that used to be my notebook cover) and a printable laundry guide from Grace and Good Eats.

 

It isn’t elegant, but it makes the door become something useful and even cute.

I’ll be back to share the full laundry room (just a couple more things to do). But isn’t this a great way to maximize this space?

Have you ever hidden something ugly in a room?