I spent almost $30,000 upgrading our garage to a dreamy laundry room. Now, doing laundry for my family of 7 feels peaceful.

“I had enough money but not enough time.” That’s what my stepmom said, multiple times through her two-decade journey with metastatic breast cancer. At 68, she finally passed away, leaving me, her two other young adult kids, four sisters, and friends.

My mind was on how much she’d never get to see, and how to live differently myself, when I got the call that she’d left me money — and quite a bit of it. I hadn’t expected a single thing, aside from a few mementos from her home to remember her by, and a boatload of childhood memories.

I realized converting our small laundry room and garage into my dream laundry room was the answer.

For a few months, I debated what to do with this money. I have five young children, and it would put a good dent in one of their college savings accounts. I could pay off a car or part of my house. I could go on an extravagant trip. But her common refrain about not having enough time to use the money she had saved rang in my head. Putting it into a savings account for decades down the road didn’t quite feel right, but neither did blowing it on a single experience.

I started letting myself dream about ways the money could be used for good, to make life easier, better, or more functional for my family. A pool came to mind, to make memories and enjoy every sunny day. I sat folding another mountain of clean laundry and thinking about it on what had been dubbed the “laundry couch” when it came to me. I’d build my dream laundry room to make my house more functional, liveable, and organized, where the garage then stood. We got to work.

We budgeted around $20,000 for the project and got to work.

Anyone who has added on to their house or converted an entire room knows it’s no small deal. After paying down a few debts and putting some money in savings, my husband and I budgeted around $20,000 for this project.

We worked with a longtime contractor friend’s family business, and learned we would need to break down the wall that currently separated our tiny laundry room, where you couldn’t even stand comfortably with a laundry basket, to open it up to the garage space behind it.

I can now sort laundry while I watch my kids play.

The garage door became a solid wall with insulation, and I invested in a big, beautiful window with a view of my backyard. After my stepmom’s death, I paid more attention to small pleasures, like watching my kids climb the swingset while I sorted laundry.

A lot of thought went into the design, and in the end, we spent close to $30,000.

I picked wild, beautiful tiles to go above and below the cabinetry that housed clear pullout bins, where my family could sort their laundry into their own labeled bins. I purchased a second washer and dryer, and all four appliances are running every day, for much of the day, as my kids explore the forest and get muddy, come back from sports practices covered in sweat, and live their busy lives. Nearby, the “drop zone” holds their backpacks, shoes, school papers, socks, and things to keep safe, with an open locker-style cubby for each kid.

In the end, we dipped into savings because cabinetry is much more expensive than you’d think, especially a room full of it. With appliances and extras, the project pushed closer to $30,000.

Now, I actually enjoy doing laundry, and I have my stepmom to thank.

Laundry used to be the bane of my existence. Now, I stand at a large folding table my contractor friend built by hand, in a peaceful room designed for my large family. I chat with my kids as we sort piles into the designated bins. I watch them race through the room after school, chucking their bags into their cubbies and barely murmuring “hi mom” before racing off again.

Sometimes, I just hide from the chaos, fold my clothes, and remember. I can sense her spirit in the room, and a small heart pillow she had on her bed that I keep in there is a nod to her presence and part in building this space for our family. At those times, I know she’d be proud of how I used the money and of the life I’m building.

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