The Ugly Utility Sink ...

One more piece of the Laundry Room project ... the utility sink. Its old, paint splatted and despite heroic efforts, no cleaner will help it. I decided not to replace it because what I really want is side-loading machines with a counter that goes all the way to the wall and a regular sink rather than a utility sink. So, what is here is temporary. That meant I also didn't want to spend $90 for a custom made ruffled sink skirt no matter how much I loved it. Instead, I paid $13 for cafe curtains (on clearance from JC Penny) and made my own sink skirt.

Stunning? No, but I like it a lot better than before. I would have liked to make it pleated rather than straight, but I did what I had time for.

Speaking of time, I haven't posted much lately because I'm still trying to catch up on everything I had to do that was put off by the snow storm, delays, school closures, etc. I'm hoping that I'm finally starting to catch up now.

Oh, one more thing ... My mom pointed out that the cabinets look crooked. They are totally level. The reason they look crooked is because the washer (on the left) is actually crooked because the floor slopes down into a drain beneath the washer that isn't visible. This is the reason I had to paint the floor in that area rather than lay the peel-n-sticks there.

Have a good weekend!

Laundry Room - Phase III

I finally managed to escape to the snowy roads and we got our new Ikea cabinets installed.

A "before" reminder ...

I am planning to make a sink skirt to hide the hideous sink (and our bucket storage). I've also decided against a backsplash for now. I realized that if I ever buy side-loading machines and have a counter installed, that it could be a potential problem with an existing backsplash. I'll install the backsplash someday when I get new machines.

Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day!

Laundry Room - Phase II

More progress pictures. You've already seen the cabinets and paint we did on the back wall of our laundry room.

Here's a more expanded view. We attached the small cabinet (Lowes) to the stainless steel table top (Ikea) and added a shim under the table on the left to support it on the "booze fridge". The stadium "artwork" is going to be replaced but I haven't received the print yet. Its probably lost in the snow somewhere with other packages I'm expecting. I didn't paint the gas meter because Mr. T told me that it belongs to the gas company and freaked me out. I've convinced myself that it matches the grey in the floor.
This ...

... is still unfinished thanks to the storm which prevented me from shopping for cabinets and other supplies but at least its painted.

I'm not done with the sink and I know the window, dryer vent and radon pipe aren't so great but its better than this ...


This ...
Now looks like this ... The drying rack is open here.

And here's how the drying rack looks closed.

I need trim for the vent and one of the tiles came down over the door but I decided to keep it down so I can shop for more of them that I need for other parts of the ceiling.

I realize that the floor by the sink isn't ideal, but its so much better than this ...

I replaced 2 bare bulbs hanging from the ceiling with these simple, inexpensive fixtures. I have one more to do but its in an area that needs to be drywalled first.

Our laundry usually isn't done until Tuesday but this week, its already done! I guess progress happens when laundry is done in a room that isn't frightening.

I ventured out today and things here were pretty bad. The streets were eerily deserted. Many stores are still closed but I found one that was open so I picked up some staples and came right back home. We're also expecting another 5" on Tuesday night. This may put my project on hold indefinitely. Must. Go. Shopping!

Oh, and thank you to Kimba who featured my laundry room on A Soft Place to Land. Welcome to anyone who found me through her blog!

Who goes there?

Check out my newly painted door ...


Here's how it looked a few days ago ...

Its really amazing how just painting that door added brightness to the space, but what I really wanted to share was what is on the door ... (Sorry the pic is blurry. I need to follow my cousin's advice and invest in a tripod.)

Check out what happens when you hang something on the hook ...

My dad (the retired sanitation worker) found him and somehow I ended up with him. I've had the little guy for years and always thought, "Maybe I should get rid of it." but there was something about him. I kinda liked him. Of course, I also considered painting him but I just can't bring myself to do it. So he moved all over the mess. See him here among the disaster?

I was curious about it and started checking him out and found writing in another language on the back. Turns out that its Polish. The owl was handmade in Poland in 1977 but that's all I can make out with Google translator. Maybe he was someones souvenir from a trip? I can't imagine its worth anything, but we joked that we really need to take him to Antiques Roadshow to find out more about him. At least he has a new home now.

We've taken down the cabinets in the first picture so I'll be painting, painting, painting again today. We're expecting 10-18" of snow starting Friday night, so there will most likely be a snow delay in my project since I probably won't be able to shop for new cabinets. Luckily, I have a lot of other things to do here anyway.

Laundry Room Progress - Phase I

Okay, I mentioned that I was going to have to do this project in stages just because of the sheer amount of stuff we have and the amount of work involved ... painting just about everything, flooring, organization, cabinetry, etc. ... but things are moving along.

So, here's one section that's nearly done. Before ....

And, After ...

I have to tell you, I'm loving the results, but I'm really not enjoying this project. Normally, I love painting rooms, decorating, and seeing it all come together but there's certainly been some "ick" factor since this is a basement and there are scary corners. I'm looking forward to being finished. I hope its not too long before I have more to share. I'm working on it!

Oh, and Katie from Le Beau Paon Victorien really made me laugh with a comment about her "Silence of the Lambs" basement. Katie, you're a brave girl. I'm such a chicken that I don't think I could have bought your house!

I'll be linking up to Metamorposis Monday and DIY Day. Have a good week!

Snowing Outside/Sunny Inside

Its been snowing here all day and its been beautiful. It was a nice surprise to get 3-5" since we were expecting an inch or so. My little ones had a blast outside with Daddy sledding down the hill in our yard.

I stayed inside working on the laundry room with yellow paint and flooring to lay. Huge difference already. Progress pictures to come ...

The Scariest Place in my Home

I can't believe I'm going to post these pictures, but I've convinced myself that they will make for much more dramatic "after" pictures. The really frightening part is that I've actually gotten rid of a lot of stuff. Without further ado, cue the Psycho music ...

All that paint in the foreground was in a cabinet under the shelves that I just gave away. The furnace is on the right. I have an idea for hiding that. Oh, and the Bills fan of the house is finally going to have to find another place for his decor.

The washer and dryer. I keep hoping the washer breaks so I can get a side-loading but the thing is incredibly reliable. I suspect those cabinets were part of the original kitchen from the 1960s. We're replacing those.

See my paint samples? That little panel next to the cabinets was part of an old intercom that I thought was fun, but it never worked. We removed all the other panels in the house.

This is something I will probably not be able to hide. We have a radon gas system and a dryer vent exiting through a window.

Ahhh, and the ceiling ... You see, the ceiling wasn't that bad at one time. To the right, you can see the tiles that used to be there. If they were still there, I could have just painted the ceiling and be done. But, no. The Great Flood of 2007 occurred (thankfully before our kitchen remodel). One night, we awoke to the sound of running water. We came down to a kitchen filled with water. One of those flex-tubes under the kitchen sink had burst and all the water was dripping through the floor into the laundry room. We had to take down the soaked drywall and tiles, lost some items in storage, but we didn't have major damage thanks to a drain in the floor nearby. I plan to drywall the hole. (A little tip if you don't want to end up with a flood - Get a flex tube for your sinks/toilets with a safety valve.)

Speaking of the drain, that brings me to another problem. I had originally planned to paint the floor, but then I thought of the pictures above. How in the world would that EVER be possible? We simply cannot empty the room. Our kids would be all into all that stuff if we put it elsewhere. Plus, there is zero ventillation here. I would die from the oil paint fumes.

I came up with a new plan. From left to right below ... new tile I'm laying, the original 60s tile, and a bare spot where the floor slopes down into the drain where the original tiles have broken away. I'm not going to lay tile where the floor slopes because they will just break up again so my plan is to lay the tile up to the broken tile and just paint the sloped part. I think I can manage the fumes if its just a small area.

I wish I could have done ceramic tile. These peel-n-sticks cost $1/sf and you can get ceramic for that price, but the problem is installation. Ceramic isn't hard to install, but its time consuming and there is the additional cost/hassle of the wet saw. I'm going for convenience here. Its still amazing what a little cheap flooring can do.

Oh, and a change in the paint ... I decided to go with a color that's slightly less electric. From Summer Harvest to Pale Daffodil.

Because of all the "stuff" in this space, its going to have to be done in stages. This weekend, I'm going to focus on the area in the first picture. I'll take down the shelves, paint that wall and finish the floor in that area. I have purchased some cabinetry ( some of which needs to be exchanged) so I'm hoping to be able to organize a little before moving on to the next area.

That's my plan. Have a good weekend!

Two Projects/Two Paints

I stopped by Home Depot today to browse the paint chips and ended up bringing home two samples. I really loved the Behr Ultra paint when I used it in my half-bath so I'm going to use it again particularly because I need some serious coverage on the walls there. I also picked up a color sample for our office (another project on the horizon). So, what's inside?


Yellow (Summer Harvest) for the Laundry Room and a Turquoise Blue (Balmy Seas) for the Office.

I've already tested the yellow on the walls and I really love it. The turquoise looks great too. The office is the darkest room in the house and it needs something to bring it to life. Its not much but its a start ...

Speaking of Yellow ...

Have you ever seen Sarah's House? Sarah Richardson is a designer who buys fixer-uppers and ... fixes them up! I don't normally watch home shows (where are the cottage, country or vintage style shows???) but I happened to catch this on Fine Living a few weeks ago and I was hooked beause the first episode I saw was the renovation of a basement laundry room. I had to watch because that's on my list for this year - in fact, the very near future. The before and after was amazing but I fell in love with the vibrant yellow wall color she chose ...

Yesterday, I mentioned the pale yellow in my living room. I chose the color because I heard somewhere that yellow adds brightness and I can say that's certainly true. So, what better color than yellow for a dark laundry room with almost no natural light like my basement laundry room? I did some shopping for this project starting with 3 of these inexpensive lights to replace the naked bulbs that hang there now.

I considered one of those nifty ironing boards that come in a cabinet and mount on the wall, but they're not exactly cheap, the board is small and it would take up space I could use for additional storage. Instead, I got this very reasonably priced hook ...

And, I got this drying rack, that folds up completely. Not too inexpensive, but I'm in love with the idea of having no rack on the floor and something that completely disappears. I'm looking to eliminate as much clutter as possible ...

(Both items/images above - Container Store)

"Before" pictures are probably something I should post ... and I will ... eventually. Really though, my laundry room is frightening between the storage issues and the work involved in this project. Step 1 is LOTS of priming and LOTS of painting. Wish me luck.

Laundry Room

The laundry room in our house is a scary place. Unlike the beautiful, convenient spaces of new construction homes, our laundry room is in the basement. We're actually lucky in that we have a nicely finished basement and the laundry room is a separate dedicated space. Most of the houses we saw when househunting were much worse.

We started planning earlier this year for what we'd like. There will definitely be paint - LOTS of paint. We have some interesting closet doors that were converted to shelving (by some previous owner) at the moment. That will be replaced with a wall of cabinets. Still, we had no vision. Has anyone ever managed to make a basement laundry room a space where you WANT to go?

Alas, an article on Country Home has brought my dreams to reality.


This is what they started with. This is pretty much what we have except packed with a lot of stuff that needs organizing and donating.

Now we know it can be done. We just have to get around to doing it. With a bathroom under construction and the holidays approaching, this is going to have to wait until we originally planned - next year.