The laundry room - before and after

It's hard to believe that just six short months ago our new laundry room was our sole bathroom and looked like this.

And it got much worse looking as the reno went along - like when they had to tear out the walls and the entire floor and the ceiling in the kitchen below due to the woefully under-supported beams.

And we won't even mention the hideous old laundry room down in the corner of the basement, with its 6' ceilings and big furnace trunk that you had to duck under.

Oh, and the floor that forced you to rewash anything that you were unlucky enough to drop en route from the washer to the dryer. Not to mention having to drag the clothes down two flights of stairs, from the front of the house to the back, and then to the front again. It was as inconvenient as it could possibly get.

Now, we have a bright, clean space for doing laundry - on the floor where all the laundry is generated, no less. I'm so happy that I didn't listen to Alan when he protested about moving the laundry out of the basement and up to the second floor.

One unforeseen advantage to reno'ing this room was the upgrade to the trim surrounding the doors at the top of the stairs. While we had beautiful wide colonial moulding all around the main floor, like in many old houses it didn't continue into the private spaces on the second and third floors. The casings around the doors and windows were plain, narrow, and kind of banged up.

Now they're much more substantial and match the casings on the doors and windows on the main floor. And replacing the old doors with pocket doors was a great space savings idea.

We tiled the floor in the same grey slate tile that we used on the bathroom floor. The doors to the two rooms are adjacent at the top of the stairs, so it was important that they match so it didn't look too busy with three different floorings in a small area.

I whipped up a couple of simple panels for curtains, and used rings with clips to put them up on the rod.

We'll probably never close them, but they add a splash of colour to the room. 

I can't decide what's the most amazing part; the new machines that wash and dry so much more quickly than our old ones did, the new 8' long counter to use for folding as soon as the clothes come out of the dryer, or the fact that there's no more lugging clothes up and down two flights of stairs.

I'm so thrilled with how it turned out. It's almost a pleasure to do laundry now!

Laundry room - bits and pieces

This weekend I managed to wrap up a few odd jobs I still had left to do in the laundry room.

One thing that was screaming out for attention was the shut off valves for the washer. When the laundry room was initially drywalled the valves were down behind the washer. I like to be able to turn off the water when we're away for an extended time, so it made sense to make them accessible. Unfortunately, "accessible shutoffs" equates to ugly.

I wanted to put something in front of the valves to disguise them, but still allow easy access. I considered hanging a picture, but it's low to the counter and a picture looked very strange there. Then I remembered that I had a number of old heat registers that we'd replaced during the reno hanging around in the fireplace (yes, it's a strange place to store them, but it's just temporary). As luck would have it, there was one that fit perfectly.

I removed two screws and the white front piece popped right off of the thick louvered part so I could hang it flat against the wall. Since the grate holes still allowed you to see the ugly shutoff valves, I wrapped a thin piece of cardboard in some white cotton that I had hanging around in with my sewing supplies and used the glue gun to attach it to the back of the register cover. Then I hammered in a couple of nails and hung it on the wall.

It looks so much nicer than the gaping hole with the red and blue valves in it, and it's still easily accessible for us to shut off the water.

I also hung two more pictures up above the counter, on the end wall next to the door.

These are Matthew's and Cal's first pairs of shoes that I framed a number of years ago. Matthew wore those red doggy shoes every day of life when he was a baby. They're an adorable reminder of how tiny their little baby feet used to be.

I also managed to get some handles on the two top cabinet drawers. I was taking advantage of the beautiful, record-breaking weather this weekend and was spray painting a chair on the front porch, and noticed that the doors from two of the uppers that we'd removed from the kitchen were sitting out there. So I pulled the handles off of them, and installed them on the upstairs cabinet.

They're not cup pulls, but they're the same finish and they look pretty good. I may decide to look for matching handles at some point, but these are fine for now.

And finally, I was at Homesense last week and came across these awesome jars that are just the perfect size for holding our laundry soda and brightener.

I recently switched to Nellie's Laundry Soda and also use the Oxygen Brightener for whites. I love the stuff! It cleans all the stains out of the kids clothes, but my favourite part is how compact it is. The giant Costco-sized vats of Tide cluttering up the laundry room used to drive me crazy. Now I just use a tablespoon of the soda per load. So much easier (and prettier) to store!

So that's all the small jobs finished up in the laundry room. The only remaining task is to hang the drying racks, which I admit I'm procrastinating about. I think maybe I'll have our contractor come over and take a look and give me some advice before I tackle that job.

Laundry room - update #4

What a crazy week it's been. It's always hard to get back in the swing of things after a couple of weeks off, and to add to the general chaos the boys have had a lot of homework this week, with some of it pushed up a day due to the teachers' strike day tomorrow.

The laundry room cabinet is put back together (except for handles on the top drawers) and provides a lot of extra storage space. We started out with this mismatched cabinet with newly-made drawer fronts

I primed and painted them with an alkyd-based semi-gloss the same colour as the baseboards.

It really unifies the space. I still need to buy some handles for the two top drawers - we had to use one of the cup handles down in the kitchen so I'm short one. I have to run out to Lee Valley Hardware to see if I can match it or purchase two new handles to coordinate.

The drawers provide so much extra storage space. The two top ones are now home to all the odd socks that come out of the laundry. It's nice to have space to corral them so that once every couple of weeks we can take a few minutes and match them all up. The other drawers store an assortment of odds and ends; vacuum bags, kleenex, laundry and cleaning supplies.

The space between the washer and dryer is housing the three drying racks until I figure out how to hang them on the wall. Ultimately that space will store a step stool that we can use to make it easier to hang the clothes above the counter.

I love my new Electrolux machines. Our old washer had an extra large capacity drum that took forever to fill with water due to our really crappy water pressure. The new high efficiency machine cuts the wash time in half. With two grubby boys that equates to a pretty significant time savings!

Laundry room - update #3

It's Friday evening and our week of peace is just about over. We're picking the boys up tomorrow morning so that we can get back to the city in time for Cal's 1 pm hockey game. Life will return to normal after the two week break - it's hard to believe how quickly it flew by!

I spent a few hours over the last two days putting all the Christmas decorations away and cleaning up the 10 billion needles that fell from the tree when we dragged it out of the house. It was really nice to have a chance to get things all straightened up with no children underfoot.

I've made progress in the laundry room, as well. The cabinet box and drawers are all primed, and my poor bathroom is filled up with renovation stuff again.

The walls and trim in the laundry room are finished and everything looks all clean and shiny-new.

I'm really happy with the accent wall colour. I went with Benjamin Moore "blue jean". It's a great match for the fabric I chose for the curtains.

On the long wall adjoining the bathroom, I hung a collection of clothing tags. Alan's grandfather owned a fancy menswear store in Hamilton for close to 60 years, and a few years ago I used small shadow boxes to frame some of the old tags that I found squirreled away in a drawer. 

These used to hang in our living room, but they were on the wall above the french doors connecting the living and dining rooms, so they weren't very visible. I love that they have a new home in place where we'll notice them every time we walk in the room.

Laundry room - update #2

It's unnaturally quiet around our house today. While the boys are  off school for the whole week and the University is closed, Alan and I both have loads of work to do. Luckily, our parents agreed to watch the kids for a couple of days apiece so that we can work. And since the University is closed and likely really,really chilly as they turn the heat down for cost savings over the two week vacation, we're working from home.

In turn, since staying home saves a total of 60 minutes usually spent walking to and from work, I decided to put that saved time to good use this morning and got a second coat of paint on all the trim in the laundry room. I still have to prime and paint the cabinet, but I want to use an alkyd base on it to ensure that the finish is durable.

I have all the pieces needed to complete the room now. I picked up a curtain rod with glass finials that coordinates with the chandelier (which I am sure that Matthew will also construe as "unnecessary")

and I have chrome rings with clips to hang the curtains. I think that I'll use them to "fake" a pinch pleat.

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There's a great tutorial over at House of Hepworths for how to do this.

The one part of the room that's going to take some thinking is the drying racks that I plan to put up over the counter. We air dry a lot of our clothes, so racks are a must. When the laundry was down in the basement, we had three big drying racks to hang clothes on. I hate them; they take up so much floor space, and there's no space for them in the new laundry room, anyway. Plus, I love the look of the wall mounted racks.

Before Christmas I found these bamboo and chrome drying racks at Costco. They're meant to hang over a door, but I plan to mount them on the wall. I thought about building my own using wood, but these ones seemed too good (and easy!) to pass up.

The wood matches the countertop perfectly, and the shiny chrome bars match the curtain rod and chandelier.

I ordered three of them so we'll have drying space along the length of the counter.

The wall behind the washer is very strange. There's a large brick chimney running up the center of it, as well as the plumbing stack in the corner behind the drying rack, so there are no regularly spaced wall studs to attach anything to.

Initially I was thinking of building wood frames to mount the racks on the wall, but now I'm thinking I might use the hooks that are meant to go over the top of the door to hang them from a piece of wood suspended from the top of the wall by chains. Whatever I go with, it needs to be good and strong because the weight of wet clothes can add up pretty quickly.

Luckily, since they used blue board because it's the laundry room, the location of the studs in the wall is still visible through the primer as you can see where they patched the screw holes. I'm going to take advantage of this and mark the location of the studs using some painters tape on the ceiling and countertop, which will make my life much easier when I go to hang the racks. If anyone has any suggestions for a simple or clever way to hang them, I'm all ears!

Laundry room - update #1

I made some pretty significant progress in the laundry room yesterday. We got the new light hung with very little trouble. Thank goodness, as I have quite a few other fixtures in the house that need to be changed, and a willing husband to help with those changes is necessary.

The chandelier looks great. As you're walking up the stairs to the second floor you look straight into the laundry room, so a pretty light on the ceiling was a must.

Matthew thinks that the chandelier is a little over the top for a laundry room, but (not surprisingly) Cal loves it. I think it's perfect for this room - it's simple and clean, and with the shiny chrome it looks like it was made for a a laundry room or bathroom.

The countertop is also finished. I sanded it down and applied three coats of clear gloss polyurethane. I debated using satin or gloss, but went with the gloss in the end. The room is really small, and I figured that the light reflecting off the countertop will brighten things up. It's a beautiful, smooth surface for folding clothes now.

Today I need to go and choose a paint colour for the walls. I have this fabric that I plan to use to make curtains.

I think I'll get something along the lines of the darker blue, and paint three of the walls Cloud White and the wall behind the countertop the accent colour. Off to Home Hardware I go!

The laundry room

Today is the day that I'm finally going to tackle the laundry room - and I'm posting it here to make sure that I feel pressure to actually make some movement on it.

There's a fair amount of work to be done. The ceiling is painted, but the walls are only primed and some of the woodwork is still bare. The wood countertop (from Ikea) needs to be sanded smooth and then varathaned. And I plan to put up some drying racks on the walls over the counter. Something along the lines of these ones.

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Our laundry room is long and narrow - approximately 8' x 5.5'. It's hard to believe looking at it now that it was our main family bathroom for 10 years.

While we were renovating the family room/kitchen I decided to get the 36" gas range that I had been lusting after for years. This necessitated the removal of the base cabinet between the fridge and the stove. It was replaced with a unit half the width of the original bank of drawers and we reused the drawers in the laundry room. We had to use one of the drawer faces in the kitchen, so our contractors replaced both drawer faces on the unit with MDF so that they match each other. I plan to paint the cabinetry and trim all white, so they'll be unified.

We will, of course, be replacing the beautiful bare-bulb light fixture.

With a shiny chrome chandelier that I picked up at the Habitat for Humanity Restore.

I though it was great as is, but when I got it home and unpacked it, there was sparkly bling to hang on it.

Now comes the hard part - luring Alan back up on the ladder to hang it for me with the last light-hanging fiasco still fresh in his mind!