The Great Laundry Room Reveal!

I've been waiting for this moment for weeks. My laundry room is finally done. Actually, it's not, but it's finally reached the phase where I can share photos. The rest is "behind closed doors" things that need to be done. (i.e., I really need to get my cabinets organized.)

Let's take a quick look at my previous phases in this project!

Move-in day. Eeeeewwwww.

Notice a few things: the door to the ironing board cupboard is literally hanging on by a screw. (Sidenote: that is actually the newest cabinet in the room...how does something like that happen, unless a child was swinging from it?) Also, the large green stain on the floor. It's actually a big glob of laundry detergent. THAT was fun to clean. NOT!

Phase I - Peel down the wall paper.

I do believe that the glue from the wall-paper that was peeled played a large part in how chapped my hands are right now.

Phase II - Texture the walls and paint.

(No photos for this phase...whoops!)

Phase III - Paint all cabinets, trim, doors (and cabinet handles.)

(before)

(after)

The lighting doesn't do this transformation justice. Before, this particular cabinet was actually a cream shade (I would say Banana.) Seriously yellow. Now, the cabinets are actually bright white! It cleaned up the whole room.

Ok, let's get to the reveal. There were a couple of projects that happened, even though the laundry room was completed. I had Kennedy make me a tall table to fold on, that would also conceal Cece's kennel. I sewed a skirt for that table to make her feel all cozy in there. 

I also did a little art project to bring some color into the room. The wall paint is actually a very faint blue, but it looks white. A lot lighter than I had anticipated, but I'm not painting it again!

Phase IV - Accessorize!

Ta-da!

Here's that old, chipped-up cabinet with fresh white paint. I also took the old brass handles and spray-painted them with a bronze color.

As you can see, I found a home for my ceramic dog. Kennedy said it couldn't stay on the mantle.

And heeeeeeere's Cece! (You can see her because she's hiding, as usual. But that's her cage.

The room is not done, as I mentioned before. All the cabinets need to be cleaned, papered, and organized. The legs on this table need to be painted (but that can wait until it doesn't have a skirt on it anymore.) Maybe one day I'll feel like re-tiling the floors with something that doesn't show so much dirt. But for now, it's perfect! I think I'll go do some laundry NOW!

Project City!

That's what I'm calling our house for now. I have about 15 (bajillion) projects going on. One of which is our new dog, Cece!

This is Cece, pre-grooming. 

Cece is a labradoodle who is EXTREMELY skiddish. She is afraid of new people, and especially men. We got her for free on Craigslist. We think basically the owner just didn't want her because she couldn't breed her (see above: skiddish.)

I spent about 2 hours with her on the back patio on Saturday, trimming her fur and brushing out all the matted stuff. There was a lot. She is pretty calm once she gets to know a person, so she just sat there and let me pamper her! Unfortunately, I had to cut off all the hair on her cute ears because they were so badly matted. But it will grow back, and I'll make sure it stays brushed! Saturday night, I gave Cece a shower. Too bad the water was freezing (see last post: heater broken = cold EVERYTHING.) 

I haven't had a chance to get any post-grooming photos, as she runs away everytime I point the camera at her. There are a lot of pictures of her butt (which is, coincidentally, in a diaper.) 

So that's our project dog. Elvis loves her, but is adjusting to not getting ALL of our attention right now (only about 90% of it.)

Next project!

My wonderful, wonderful laundry room.

I chose to include the mess. That way, when I do the big reveal at the end of my renovation, it will look even more shockingly amazing! 

I have spent the weekend up until today working long, hard hours on this baby. I painstakingly peeled every piece of that beautiful wall-paper down, using nothing by my hands and a small putty knife (and a wall-paper steamer.)

I took down those horrible wire shelves. And they'll stay down! But I'll hang them in a closet, because why waste such functional storage? (But why display it out in the open like that?) Luckily, this laundry room's got plenty of storage. Above the washer and dryer, across on the opposite wall, and there's even a pretty good-sized closet in there too. Oh, the possibilities of organization that await me!

During the peeling process. This took forever.

(Cue hallelujah music and drop 'Mission Accomplished' sign from ceiling)

Oh, wait. I'm not done. That was what I like to call "Stage 1" of the laundry room project. 

Stage 2: apply texture to the walls. I won't even go into that process. Let's just say I had quite a few hiccups along the way, and I'm just not ready to talk about them. For now, I'll just refer to that as "the worst day ever," or to put it in more layman's terms, "Superbowl Sunday."

Stage 3 happened today, and it was to paint said textured walls. And I'm choosing to not share anymore photos of this project until it's completed. Why? Because I'm a witch! Ahhhhhhahahahah!

But I will share some pictures of a different finished project. Remember our flooded work-out room?

Well, it's done! (Not by our own doing, this "project" had to be hired out.)

The floors are no longer flooded, although they are wet in the picture because Kennedy had just mopped.

And a view the other direction! So far, it's "worked out" great! Haha.

Stay tuned for my big laundry room reveal! It could happen any day now...