Laundry!

Nope, not posting about the HUMONGOUS mountain of laundry I am tackling today (wait...that's everyday!). Instead, I have a question for you:

Do you have a room in your house that is the bain of your existence? A room you despise?

Oh, I do! I nearly didn't buy this house because of that one room! I loved just about everything else, but nearly put the brakes on the sale after seeing the laundry room. It's awful! I had just drawn up my dream home house plans with this fantastic laundry/studio space and had spent months tweaking them when I got REALLY sick with my third pregnancy. We were living in a condo with people on all sides with two little boys, planning to build. I began to feel the walls closing in and threw in the towel to just go ahead and buy a house.

Now, I immediately want make one thing perfectly clear: I am incredibly blessed to live in the house I do and to even HAVE a laundry room! I grew up with very humble surroundings and didn't even know anyone who lived in a neighborhood (small town, country girl). So, it doesn't take a lot to make me happy. My childhood made me incredibly grateful for how I grew up and for what God has blessed me with today. I certainly did nothing to deserve it. In fact, probably quite the contrary! I am trying hard to instill that gratitude in my children as well, so I don't want to complain too much.

That said, I have great plans for my laundry room. We've lived in this house for nearly three years and I've been hoping I would grow accustomed to it. I haven't. Every blessed time I walk in that room, I get frustrated! The people who built this house (previous owners) decided to expand the master closet into it, thinking it would be big enough. WRONG! Seriously, I've seen campers with more space in the laundry area.

Want to see it? (I can't believe I'm going to show it to you...and in it's current state!) Forget getting "large" images. Small is bad enough!

See that metal box at the top right? That's the alarm circut box- EYE/Forehead cracking height!

To give you some perspective, those are 12x12 tiles = 23" space from machine front to wall!!!!!

Like my bead board panels laying on top to give a little more work space?!

The alarm box/light switch are methodically placed....by a sadist!

See my trash can? It has to sit on the counter next to the sink...no floor space.
Nice cabinets...if you can reach them (I'm short).

Garage entry door with laundry door to right and hall way with alarm control panel and outside light controls on right.

UGH! Words don't begin to describe my frustration! Honestly, I can't believe they even got the machines in there. If you look to the right, you'll see a nice, sharp metal box corner right at forehead height for me. That's the burglar alarm circuit box. Lovely! Can you imagine trying to squeeze into that laundry space and bend over while 9 months pregnant (and I get ridiculously big...straight out).

So, every time I walk in that room, I'm scheming and planning how to redo it on a basically non-existent budget. The hubs doesn't see the problem. Then again, he hasn't done a load of laundry in years! When I informed him one day I was going to paint the room pink, he looked at me funny and asked "Why?" To that I responded, "Because I am the only warm body that ever enters that room and I want a girly room somewhere in this house of testosterone!"

Here are some laundry room pics I've saved that I love in one way or another. The first is almost identical to what I had planned on having in my dream house - studio/laundry/mudroom with tons of natural light!

I love this room although I am not sure I'd go with the blue green cabinets.

This is probably what I'll be doing to hide the washer and dryer under a counter top.

I like how the machines are hidden by cabinetry.

I just love this dog washing station!

Great counter with skirted bottom in entry.

Love this mudroom/entry with cabinetry, counter top, windows and mini cabinet on right.

Not a fan of these colors, but like the sink and cabinet layout. If money were no option, I'd probably do
something like this in there and rip out the old stuff.

I'm in love with these colors and the drying racks! It's Sherwin Williams "Rainwashed" by Rabaut Design.

I've warned hubby he may come home one day soon and I'll have taken a sledge hammer to that wall separating the hall from the laundry room! (NOT joking!)

O.k. want to see how my mind works? Warning: It's scary -my brain is ADD! Here's the plan:




My Olioboard "mood/design board".

 

Martha Steward Ballet Slipper Pink

Raymond Waites Fabric (I think)- Gorgeous!




My inspiration - I love the color of these pink pearls a friend gave me!



 Before I can do anything, I have to get the alarm people out to move the control box and an electrician to move the gazillion light switches on that separating wall.

1. Take out the wall separating the hall from the laundry and turn it all into one big mudroom/garage entry/laundry room.
2. Take out one (maybe both) upper cabinets inserting shelving and 
3. either stack the machines to allow more floor space for a laundry sorting station (right now my deep sink acts as the sorter!!!!) and trash can or put a counter across the machines with a curtain that can be drawn to hide the machines.
4. Put in a wood threshold to bridge the two floorings until I can afford to rip it all out and put in some slate tile.
5. Put up a thick chair rail backer board with routed edges and bead board wainscoting all the way around the room and now exposed hallway.
6. Paint the walls Martha Steward's Ballet Slipper Pink

That's what I've thrown together over the last few days trying to put my thoughts onto an idea board. I honestly get so many ideas, I can't act on them all nor even remember all of them! This summer, my little brother (who did lots of construction while in college and while career hunting) is coming up one day and we're going to attack
this room.

Miss Bee