transformations: the laundry room

We're just going to knock out a few rooms tonight... hope you don't mind!

The laundry room is actually more of an area, since it is really just a nook in between the kitchen and rest of the hallway. The functionality is great, though, and I actually like the fact that it's so open and easily accessible. Anyway, here's where we began:

 Pantry (closet on the left) and cabinets. I think we were trying to clean and air them out!

 Directly across were washer and dryer hook-ups and a precious/dirty ironing board built into the wall.

 Just in case you wanted to see the ironing board in action. This was probably the last action it ever saw!

Right after we moved in, we tore out the lineoleum floor (covering up the hardwood!) and primed the walls.

Then, we did nothing. For over 3 years.

Last year, we finally decided to tackle this space, after we got a great idea/vision from my mom. We hated the fact that the pantry took up the one hall closet, and that there was no storage around the washer and dryer.

 So, we ripped out the existing cabinetry and the shelves in the closet, headed to the salvage store, and bought a bunch of unfinished cabinetry.

 We had to improvise a few times. We used the set of drawers from the old cabinetry to save money, but changed the hardware and added some leftover beadboard to the side. Then Curtis ingeniously used an extra piece of kitchen countertop to keep us from having to buy any! He added wood trim around the edges, which I painted. It turned out looking incredible.

After lots of sanding, painting, and installing, we ended up with a fabulous laundry/pantry space!

The closet is now a real coat closet, which is unbelievably nice to have. The tall pantry cabinet is, as the name suggests, our food pantry. The drawers/counter space are super functional as well.

The wall cabinets above the washer and dryer are perfect for all of our laundry needs, with extra space for other random stuff. We even built shelves in between to provide easy-access space for the detergent and such. It's so handy!

The second tall pantry cabinet is filled with serving dishes, pans, small appliances... basically, everything that used to take up all the room in my kitchen cabinets. I love it!

 As great as it all was, there was still the matter of these random peeling sections of the ceiling. Just last month, Curtis took care of those. I pulled the "I'm pregnant" card and got out of it. :)

Lots of scraping.

Lots of mess.

 He definitely got the job done! Unfortunately, he then had to sand it, put drywall mud on it, sand it, repeat the process, and then paint it. Whew.

But in the end... beautifully done. And, finally, it's all REALLY done.

Even doing laundry is tolerable in a room like this!