The Laundry Room Makeover

This is what our laundry/mud/sun room looked like

when we got the house.

Note the aluminum siding still on what was

the original outside of the house,

and the drop ceiling, 

and carpet over concrete.

The carpet was, of course, glued down

and required scraping.

I can say scraping concrete is far easier than scraping adhesive

off wood floors.

We painted over the paneling using a color

called Witch's Brew.

Yes, I often choose paint colors based on their name.

We removed the siding and saved it for other projects-

basically the 2 new construction windows on the side of the house

that will replace the former upstairs apartment door

and the window that was made smaller for the old apartment kitchen.

Note the old ugly door.

This space was obviously a porch that was enclosed,

hence the window that looks into the bathroom.

The window was taken out and boarded up

as part of the bathroom renovation still in progress.

All the above happened a while ago.

Fast forward to this past November/December 2018.

Big E wanted to see what the original house siding looked like

under the tar shingles 

(that were under aluminum siding).

Here is the white wood siding of the house.

And here is a peek at a gray color the house was painted 

before the white. 

Oddly, a medium grey is the color I wanted the house to be 

once we get to that stage of renovations.

Next, Big E needed to build a wall of sorts.

Our water lines were just hanging there as you can see.

We wanted to be able to hide the pipes,

and have a smooth wall.

The finished wall. 

The next order of business was the ugly door into the kitchen.

You might remember, I salvaged an older door (not old in terms of my house old, but aged)

from what was the town's firehouse/borough office/community center.

If you don't remember, you can read about it here.

This was the old Borough Office door,

 and I thought it would be perfect for this doorway into the kitchen.

The pebbled glass would let in light, 

but prevent people from seeing any mess that might be in the laundry room.

Big E was not thrilled with my door salvage.

He actually said no.

But someone tapped out the pins quick,

and voila'.

(I believe in the saying "It's better to ask forgiveness than permission")

Of course, the door was bigger than the opening we had.

So it required some cutting of wood and moving wires and such.

I'm please with how it looks.

(the missing trim and cuts in the kitchen have been patched and repainted)

Then we had to remove the drop ceiling.

We planned to drywall the ceiling rather than stick with the drop ceiling.

I'm not a fan of drop ceilings.

I'm only sharing one photo- the end result-of drywalling the ceiling.

My parents came to help,

and thank God they did.

Someone surely would have died otherwise.

Most likely me, crushed under a slab of drywall.

Next came the really fun part.

Three years earlier, 

Big E and I got laminate flooring for this room at a Home Depot 

Black Friday deal.

It's been sitting in the room for three years,

and finally it was getting installed.

That's our floor guy in yellow.

Kidding.

That's our neighbor who came over to help.  

The weekend before, Big E helped our neighbor with his laminate flooring,

and the favor was returned.

This is how life in small towns should be.

Know, like and help your neighbors.

Luckily, our room didn't require any fancy cuts.

It's basically a box.

The biggest issue was the threshold.

There was a slight incline into the kitchen that they had to figure out.

That and of course the door had to be shaved down

with the added height of the floor.

It was a rainy day.

Not a shocker since all of 2018 was rainy.

The guys used the easy-up canopy to 

make a make shift saw area.

And finally, the finished floor.

We have since put back the trim.

There's still work to be done in here. 

I need to repaint the walls,

spackle and paint the drywall ceiling (and the newly built wall)

and get some accessories for the room.

What an amazing transformation!

Stay tuned!

I have a few completed projects I need to blog about!

I Smell a Project

So there's lots and lots of things going on around the house on lists of things 

that need to get started around the house.  

I'm working on my upstairs hallway project, 

I'm working on prepping Ethan's room for new paint and furniture, 

I'm getting ready to redo the redo on the upstairs bathroom

 (turns out peach isn't a great color after all) 

and I'm Big E is finally getting the laundry room started.  

Back when we were waiting for settlement on the house,

 we saw a huge deal on laminate flooring during a Black Friday sale.  

We bought what we needed for the laundry room, 

and it's been sitting there ever since... for a couple of years.  

The room needs to have a small wall built to enclose the pipes and 

cover the old window opening into the bathroom (the laundry room was once a porch).  

And other than that, it just needs the floor (that can't happen until the wall) 

and some drywall on the ceiling to replace the drop ceiling. 

 Oh, and we need to work on the doorway because 

while helping friends salvage things 

out of the old historic firehouse and community center, 

I might have found a really great door for the laundry room 

that is a little bit wider than the door that's there.

So we need a little bit wider opening, 

and, you know, some minor electrical work 

to move light switches and what not.

No big deal.

But really, isn't this door worth it?

The pebbled glass let's light in, 

but hides whatever mess might be in the laundry room.

And it's a piece of town history.

Totally worth the effort

(says the person not doing the work).

So let the work commence!

We have about a month and half to get it all completed

(before we have our Christmas Open House).

You can read about how we helped salvage stuff here

Salvaging History

Anyone who knows me, 

or who has spent any time at all reading this blog

knows that I like old things and history.

Abandoned, dilapidated buildings make me sad.

I see old dreary farmhouses, and I can see their potential.

I want to know their story

and share it.

In my town, there is a building slated for demolition

(actually for today, but not sure because of bad weather).

Part of the building is the firehouse built in 1886

(Shown here as it was originally built. 

There have been 3 additions since)

The other portion of the building was the public school built in 1901.

It was later turned into the Community Center in 1963.

Unfortunately, the buildings fell to ruin,

and the cost of repairing them was apparently

more expensive than destroying and building new ones.

So when friends of Big E and I needed help saving artifacts,

I was eager to help.

Our friends had a dilemma.

There was a large cabinet that they wanted to save, 

but it was too large to go down the stairs.

The cabinet was built in place,

so the only option was to saw it in half.

Long story short, it got cut in half, moved downstairs, 

loaded into a truck and taken to my garage to live for a bit.

(It's their story to share which is why I went for the quick overview on this part)

While all the sawing was going on, 

I commented on how sad it was that the wainscot 

was just going to be part of a pile of rubble.

Big E mentioned how nice it would look in the dining room,

but unfortunately, we had no hammer.

Until our friends mentioned they had a hammer-

and a crowbar.

So began my job of carrying wainscoting down to the first floor

to load in the truck.

The wainscot was the old type-

the thick tongue and groove wainscot

not the thin MDF type you find today.

So I carried entire sections of wainscot,

and I carried armloads of bundles.

Some from upstairs, 

some from the 1901 elementary rooms downstairs.

I was a little worried I wouldn't have enough for the dining room.

What I ended up with was a truck bed full of wainscoting.

As you can see, the entire bed is filled to just past the top of the bed.

But that's not all.

I also saw a door with textured glass that I thought would work well

as a door between the kitchen and laundry room.

While not original to the building,

the door was still on the old side and solidly built.

It would let the light in from the laundry room

(which is full of windows)

without allowing guests to see into the room

(the dog that eats everything stays there during the day,

 plus the laundry and it's also the "mudroom"- literally,

 so I don't really want people to see it).

Big E was saying no to the door though.

But while Big E was busy loading the wainscoting,

one of the people helping with the cabinet said

if I just wanted to get new hinges for it,

he could tap out the pins for me.

So, knowing if I got the door off and carried it out,

Big E would have no choice but to take it home-

I hoped-

I had them take the pins out.

Big E was a little not thrilled about the door

making the comment that it might not even fit.

But like our friend said, we can cut it down.

I love friends who think the way I do-

that old is good, that historical items need to be saved 

and that I really needed to have that door.

The door ended up riding home with a section of the cabinet,

because our truck was full

(and if it had slid and busted out the window of Big E's cap

 I'd be in big doo-doo).

The next day while I was in the garage admiring my new door, 

Big E started talking about how he was planning on redoing that door frame

when he works on the laundry room anyway

so the door won't have a problem fitting.

(this is where I smirk to myself)

So, thanks to this salvaging crew,

some local history will be preserved and used.

The cabinet and a few odds and ends are being saved 

for inclusion in a museum in the future,

and the wainscoting and the door will be used in our 100+ year old home in town.

(so look for all the blogs about that process in the future)

I'm going to try not to be too upset over the original hardwood floors,

or the gorgeous old wavy glass windows 

or the rest of the wainscoting and woodwork

that we couldn't save.

One last look out of the school windows before demolition

Laundry Room

The laundry room had some serious carpet issues.

Not only was it an unattractive color,

but is didn't smell very good either.

And it was glued to the cement.

At one time, the laundry room was a porch.

They left the siding on the former exterior wall.

This turns out to be a good thing for us.

When we convert the upstairs apartment entrance door to a window, 

we can use the siding from the laundry room

to fill in on the exterior where the door was.

So, we got rid of the old fridge and began scraping 

up the carpet backing
(we seem to do this a lot).

And from what we can tell,

we'll be doing the same thing in the upstairs.

Anyway, we scraped the floor.

After removing all the carpet and padding, 

I scrubbed the floor to try to get rid of the odor.

Nothing seemed to work with that 100%.

My thought is that a dog peed in there on the carpet

and it soaked through to the porous cement.

The game plan is to seal the cement with a primer that locks in odors.

I primed the walls,

and chose a minty green color called Witch's Brew

for the room.

Yes, I chose it mostly for its name.

So, I planned on finishing up the trim paint
and priming the floor
before posting any kind of reveal.
Then Friday, Big E got home early.

 And he decided it was a good time to rip off the aluminum siding
from the former exterior wall.

 Underneath is old asphalt siding.
If it were in better shape,
 I would have painted it white and leave the brick-like effect,
but there are too many holes.

Big E also took out the bathroom window.
We're preparing for demoing the bathroom,
which is what prompted the whole window and siding removal.

So the laundry room is not finished,
and the big reveal will have to wait until we have
fixed the back wall and closed in the window
and put down the laminate flooring. 
So much to do!