Probably the greatest transformation we’ve made in this house has been in the laundry room, a space I wanted to address in the beginning.
AGONIES
After all, the laundry room is one of the main hubs of functionality in the home…for clean clothes and linens.
Instead, Mr. Bachelor suffered for two years, then married me. 😉
After arriving to live at the house, I attempted to wash clothes…but only in great agony.
Since the dryer ran either cool, or ultra hot, I dragged wet laundry five flights in our townhouse to hang in the loft.
Insisting on a new washer and dryer, we prepped the area first by hiring a plumber from to move this pipe from where it previously smacked my head when I did laundry.
Then we hired an electrician to place another electrical outlet in a more practical location, since some cords come shorter.
He also replaced the flourescent lighting with pot lights…but I still wanted the styrofoam ceiling replaced with wallboard…along with wall boarding this opening into the utility room.
After the prep work was done, we purchased a new washer and dryer, which took 3 deliveries to get the order correct. =/
Then once the correct machines arrived, the guys refused to hook it up because we had flexible venting.
Code required rigid venting.
Why didn’t anyone tell us that? Not the inspector or the plumber or the electrician or the salesperson…even after asking each of them what else needed to be done.
Searching the internet, I couldn’t find anyone who does dryer venting, so I contacted some general handymen but got no where except tons of spam for months on my phone from people who wanted to give us a new HVAC.
Okay, what part of dryer venting in the info box confused them? =/
LARRY @ONLY BATHROOMS
During this time, we had Larry from Only Bathrooms in Alexandria come to the house to assess the bathrooms we wanted remodeled.
First meeting at the Dulles Expo earlier that year, he proclaimed he actually did more than bathrooms.
After assessing our bathrooms and providing general estimates, he curiously asked about the other obvious problems in the house…through which I sensed he really knows about overall construction. Good to know!
Soon after, the washer and dryer arrived, then Larry’s team began working on our guest bathroom.
Since I could find no one to repair the venting, I asked Larry the bathroom guy if his team could do it.
At the time Larry had one guy, Jirsen, who does everything work on our small bathroom.
While awaiting an inspection, Jirsen replaced the flexible venting with rigid and in the process found a leak from the main floor powder room to the basement powder room, next to the laundry room.
Jirsen fixed that leak, too.
Then we hired Larry’s team to conquer the master bathroom, after which we traveled a bit.
In between trips, I agonized over this icky laundry room.
Since I wanted to more efficiently store my holiday decor boxes, I had my hubby remove as much of that as possible.
Then I auditioned some of my blue paint on the walls. Yes! That small improvement was tracking with my overall plan.
Most perplexing to this inept laundry room were those holes in the walls. Why did anyone do that?
Although I loved the new pot lights with better lighting, I wanted the styrofoam ceiling to be replaced with wall board.
I couldn’t wait to hire Larry’s team to paint the walls…and remove the shelves…and create shelving in the nook…and put a wooden counter top above the washer and dryer for folding space…I had a million ideas
Finally, this January we got to work, but first we discussed our options.
PLAN A
Although I had a plan for this laundry space, I first suggested a total revamp of the space, by converting the basement bathroom around the corner into a laundry room…which would have been amazing!
That would have freed up the old laundry room for much needed storage, which would be easier to access than our other tiny cramped closets.
Mainly I was reminded of my amazing basement storage room at my previous house, where I stored homeschool supplies, our holiday decoration boxes, etc.
However my husband and Larry insisted that fourth bathroom was needed in a five story townhouse.
Why, I don’t understand, because there will never be a bedroom down here, and the bathroom has no room for a shower.
They insisted that anyone visiting me while I sew, or coming in from outside the sewing room, would want to use that bathroom.
Hmmm….I doubt that. The other bathroom is just up the stairs from the basement, across from the kitchen where they can get drinks and snacks.
PLAN B
Well never fear, the previously listed to-do items were listed on a sheet of paper that I showed Larry during his walk through of the entire basement, all of which was going through a remodel this go-round.
Our basement, which is actually a townhouse floor level but under the main floor, contains: garage, my sewing room, the utility room, the laundry room, the powder room, and a storage area underneath the front steps leading to the main floor.
For the next couple of months we asked Larry to gut and remodel the bathroom and redo the laundry room.
In my sewing room, I asked him for better lighting, a floating desk top in the nook for my sewing machine, and finish off the beadboard in the nook with trim. Stay tuned for that reveal.
Meanwhile his team would also fix busted shelving in my kitchen. Stay tuned for that reveal, too.
FINIS
In early March, the same day the powder bathroom was finished, so was the laundry room!
My hubby’s one request in the laundry room was for a utility sink.
Thankfully we found this cute small sink so it wouldn’t overwhelm the space…which he loves.
When my hubby first bought this house, shelving wrapped around the walls, making the space very tight.
Without the shelves, there is much more room and less visual clutter.
That slanted wall above the washer and dryer are the stairs to the main floor.
Although I merely asked them to paint it white, they surprised me by closing it in with wall board!
One of the crew built this wooden table top that I requested and installed it, which was quite tricky in the space.
From Wayfair I found the cute little shelves, and the lint box was purchased a few years ago from At Home.
We now have a real ceiling of wallboard instead of icky styrofoam.
Love those wooden shelves, which are mainly meant for my shabby chic sewing baskets that I previously had nowhere to store.
A few years ago I snagged this cute laundry rack (seen in header) at Hobby Lobby!
Love its 1920s vibes and efficiency!
Now all that’s left is for me to bring all the laundry stuff in from my sewing room and find a few more decorative things. Stay tuned for that post.
