One Room Challenge Week 4! Paint and cabinets!

For the sake of getting our laundry room done we have taken on Linda's One Room Challenge.  In 6 weeks we hope to transform this room into a pretty and functional space.  And in the meantime we get to follow along with a bunch of other projects as well.

The hubby has been super busy this past week, and we even enlisted my mom's help as well!  Over the weekend the hubs got a knee wall built between the washer and dryer and the space that will house the laundry sink.  That, along with a support attached to the opposite wall, will hold the counter top we are putting above the washer and dryer.  We got a first coat of paint on the walls and then he got to installing the base cabinets on the pantry side.  He also built a base for our laundry sink since I needed it to be open to house the litter box.  He built the frame and I traced a template of the decorative cutout I wanted and he faced it out.  I think it looks awesome!  We were able to coerce my mom into coming and putting a second coat of paint on the walls and I feel like we can now really see how great the space is going to look when we are done!

             

Next up is finishing any trim work, building and installing the pantry shelves, installing a wall cabinet over the sink with a shelf and rod over the washer and dryer, installing all of the counter tops, installing the sink and faucet, and painting all the cabinets, shelves, etc.  The end is in sight!  And then we can put our food back in the pantry and take back our dining room!

In between getting the rest of this done I'm going to be checking in on everyone else's progress!

One Room Challenge Week 3! Floors are down!

For the sake of getting our laundry room done we have taken on Linda's One Room Challenge.  In 6 weeks we hope to transform this room into a functional and pretty space.  And in the meantime we get to follow along with a bunch of other projects as well!

So our son may not have gotten to help daddy with demo but this past weekend the two of them laid the new vinyl plank floor in the laundry room.  First we pulled up two layers of old sheet vinyl because of the holes where we took out the pantry walls.  We wanted to make sure that everything was level before we laid it.

We also have plans to replace most of the flooring throughout our house at some point.  We have the same gross sheet vinyl in the kitchen that was in the laundry and the rest of the house (other than the bathrooms) is carpet, which we are not big fans of.  It all takes time and money so it will be awhile but one of the things I am most excited about is replacing all of the baseboards when we do the floors.  We currently have really wimpy 3 inch baseboards and in the areas with carpet they look even shorter because of the pile.  Anyway, we used the new flooring in the laundry as an excuse to try out some new, taller baseboards and we love it!  It looks so much more substantial!

Now imagine how wimpy a baseboard half that size would have looked!

You can see it in the first picture above.  The new floors totally change the feel of the room and it is so exciting now to open the door when we come home!  It feels so much cleaner too!  This week the hubs is working on patching the drywall still and we hope to paint and start getting cabinets in this weekend!  It's coming along but I am so ready to be done already!  I love changing things up but I hate the chaos that ensues in the interim!

Following all of the other challenges is really helping to keep us motivated and the need to get our laundry and pantry fully functioning is making me curse our full time jobs!  But it will be so nice to have it done in time for all of the holiday cooking and hostessing!

One Room Challenge Week 2! Lots of demo!

For  the sake of getting our laundry room done we have taken on Linda's One Room Challenge.  In 6 weeks we hope to transform this room into a functional and pretty space.  And in the meantime we get to follow along with a bunch of other projects as well!

That being said, one of my 4 year old son's favorite shows is Property Brothers.  He calls them the Demo Boys, and he has decided that when he grows up, he and his daddy are going to do demo.  Unfortunately my husband is not so into demo because it is messy. . . . . and dusty. . . . . and so he has to clean as he goes (see here).

But in the interest of getting this done he tore out the old pantry closet over the weekend and began removing baseboards.  He also managed to get some of the drywall patched where the old walls met.

We went and got our sink from Ikea, and quite a bit of the other stuff we will need from Home Depot.  We hope to finish demo, get everything (including the washer and dryer) out of the room and get the floor laid this weekend (so we can get the washer and dryer back in and have clean clothes for work and school next week!)  I am hoping we can get some painting done too.

Hopefully by this time next week we will be able to see real progress but I can't wait to see what everyone else has managed to accomplish in the meantime!

Calling it Home's One Room Challenge! Let's get this laundry room done!

OK, since I posted my goals for the laundry/mudroom I have done nothing towards them.  I have been thinking about and planning this room for about a year.  It is time to get it done!  And what better motivation than Linda's, from Calling it Home, One Room Challenge!  Here's the deal, Linda provides a platform for multiple bloggers to share their progress towards the completion of one room over a 6 week time frame!  She also recruits 20 more design bloggers to share their projects as well, and you know there are some great ones!

So, I know I posted a plan for the laundry room a few weeks ago but this is the challenge I need to make it a priority.  We are going to Ikea this weekend to get some of the necessary items and will be ordering everything else we need so we can get on it.

Here's the plan:

Tear out the existing pantry closet and install base cabinets and open shelving.

Replace the bathroom vanity that is in there with a custom, skirted cabinet and larger sink with commercial style sprayer.

Install a counter top above the washer and dryer for folding and replace the existing rod with a wall cabinet and a new rod and shelving.

A new base cabinet just inside the back door to provide space to store a recycling bin.

Install new wood look, vinyl plank floors and repaint the room.

And all in 6 weeks!  I hope I get it done!  You know I will be following all of the OTHER PROJECTS too!  There are going to be some great ones!

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Finally finishing the bookshelves!

Over the long Labor Day weekend we finally got around to finishing our bookshelves.  We added some trim to the ends of the base to match some existing trim on our fireplace, and added mullion trim to the front of the shelf boxes.  We painted it all out in Sherwin Williams Snowbound, added some oil rubbed bronze pulls, and loaded them back up.

While we were at it we decided to add planking to the wall above our fireplace mantel.  It matches the back of the bookshelves now and we capped each end with more of the box trim to match the bottom of the fireplace.  We painted all of that Snowbound as well.  One day I think I want to try liming the bricks but for now the white is making the room feel so much brighter and more crisp than the former orangey wood tone.

My best friend came over for a visit and said she thought it was finally starting to feel like us.  I agree.  Now we just have to figure out what color to paint the walls!