Laundry Room : One Room Challenge – Week 4
We are speeding right along in the One Room Challenge– I just hope we’re moving fast enough to get the space totally finished, as we’re running out of precious time. There have been BIG changes since last week though… check out cabinetry(!), tile(!), countertops(!), and more progress from Week #4! Click through for the full update…
In case you missed the first three weeks, don’t worry! Catch up here: Week 1 (before images and the design plan) // Week 2 (demo, subfloor, plumbing, electrical, designing the dog crate) // Week 3 (drywall, floor tile, rug selection)
I gave a bunch of it away in the intro, but let’s rewind… the first thing you’ll notice is the cabinetry (at least I hope). That’s the biggest change from my previous update. The custom cabinets are installed, the dog crate is in, and the room looks more spacious and functional that it ever has! I’m beyond excited with the layout and floor plan- it makes SO much more sense than the previous closet and floating shelf.
It’s looking a lot better, right? This week gave me a glimmer of hope that I might actually be able to do laundry in here again someday. Something about cabinetry installation really gets me going- it’s that point in the process where the vision is finally coming to life.
In order to use every square inch of the space, we did have to shift the laundry units over about a foot. That doesn’t seem like a big deal, but we had to move the dryer vent- which ended up being a bit of an ordeal. See the nice new electrical & plumbing exposed in the image above? If you follow along on Instagram, you might’ve watched Emmett drilling into the side of our house to add a new exhaust. He rented this super enormous tool and is now begging me to buy one after using it. His argument was this, “How many homes do you think we’ll renovate? I’m not even 30 and I’ve already rented this sucker three times; I’m planning to do a lot of renovating”… well played man, well played. Maybe that can be a Christmas gift. Haha!
The final result turned out really nice and is certainly more functional in regards to the laundry room. Shifting the units (even if only 12 inches) gave us that much more cabinetry space.
If you’re wondering where the old hole went… we ended up hiring a mason to patch it. That saved a lot of time and now we won’t have to worry about the exterior looking shabby on account of the newly renovated interior. Matching and patching 60 year old brick and mortar wasn’t a project either of us wanted to take on. Especially since our backyard is looking so nice- that was the last thing we wanted to chance messing up. Hey, you gotta know when to hire or DIY! Check out the before and after below- he did a fantastic job.
Meanwhile, back inside… You’ll also notice a couple other big additions: the gorgeous soapstone countertop and marble mosaic backsplash tile. I’m not going to zoom in just yet and give those pretty details away! I’ll talk about them in depth during the reveal.
I did finish some pet-related items on my to-do list this week. Again, check out Instagram (saved to my highlights) for the real-time DIY, but I transformed ugly (yet functional) dog storage containers.
They slide perfectly into the bottom section of the cabinet and will eventually have cute little labels marking which food belongs to which dog (to make it easier for pet sitters). I designed the labels and am having them cut out of vinyl… hopefully I can get those applied next week. I like those little details! On a side note… did you guys know my first job was at a sign shop? I’ve applied a LOT of vinyl graphics to things over the years. That’s actually where I first started practicing graphic design wayyyy back in high school.
Back to the details, I’m having a custom dog bed / crate mat upholstered for the bottom of the built-in crate. I selected two super durable Sunbrella (outdoor rated) fabrics… the darker one is for the boxed cushion body and the lighter one will be for the contrast welt or piped edge.
Basically, it will be a washable, outdoor-rated slipcover that fits over a memory foam pad for the pups. Of course I want to make sure they’re comfortable in the new crate! They don’t spend a ton of time in there anyway (because I work from my home office), but I can rest easy knowing they have a soft pad to lay on when they do.
Well that’s it… another week, another update. The ORC is slowly draining the life from us, but it will be worth it to have a totally finished space in a short period of time. To see the other guest designer spaces in the challenge… click the logo below: