a) the laundry room was dark and dreary

b) due to its apparently flammable nature, we decided the old washer might not be the safest appliance on the block

c) because our dryer was nearly as archaic as our washing machine, we figured we may as well buy an entirely new pair (my first ever new, and not just new-to-me, appliances – yay!)

d) see point a :)

The whole shebang ended up seemingly taking for-ev-ver.  There were (rather expensive) decisions on new machines to be made (read about that HERE.)  And then there was the sad sad moment when I noticed a scuff on top of my brand new shiny washing machine (I whined a wee bit about that HERE.)  I even succumbed to some Pinterest-inspired daydreams over what my little laundryroom could look like (HERE.)  And then there was painting and patching and shelf-hanging and all that fun stuff in between.

BUT, I’m happy to say she’s done.  Well, done-ish.  Our little laundry room doesn’t look A THING like my inspiration images (I’m blaming the smallness and lack of windows for that!) but it looks a lot better.  :)

Here’s where we started (prepare yourself for overall laundry room ugliness)…

Ack, eh?  Not a pleasant (little) room for doing ANYTHING, let alone something already as arduous as laundry.

A couple coats of Benjamin Moore Gossamer Blue paint (leftover from my dining room painting project – aka free paint), a shelf, and a few other additions later (baskets!  I love baskets!) and it’s a far more pleasant place to be…

For the record, the room is TINY.  In case you’re wondering why all of my laundry room pics only show a few feet of the room at a time.  Without removing walls (which I’ve considered, but I don’t think Sweetie would approve) this is just the way it is!  Here are a few other angles (for the really ambitious, I’m pretty sure if you cut and pasted all of these pics together, you’d get a pretty complete picture of the room!)

I painted the wooden pedestal our laundry tub is perched upon (and bolted to, we found out!)  Just made things look a lot cleaner (Snowfall White paint fixes everything!)

The shelf is just a piece of knotty pine that Sweetie picked up and put a routered edge on for me (that Sweetie is pretty handy, you know!) and then I gave ‘er a good painting.  It’s amazing how a little organization can make a laundry room a much friendlier place!

I repurposed a couple old jars (leftover from my pre-Slom-ed pantry) to hold paint brushes and that sort of thing.  And the white basket holds extra roller refills quite nicely!

And, of course, no room in our house is complete without a picture of one of the cats.  (We’re a little weird like that.)  This picture was taken over 10 years ago (when Jacob was just a young lad!) with our very first ever digital camera.

I hate ironing.  A whole lot.  But at least my ironing devices are nicely organized in the newly organized laundry room.  It almost makes me want to iron.  (OK.  I’m totally fibbing.  The room could be clad in marble and platinum and I’d still avoid my iron.  But at least it has its own spot now.  Where it will probably stay, untouched, for a really really long time.)

As the wife of an electrician who seems to collect electrical stuff throughout the day, I was constantly making little piles of marrettes and screws and other random electrical things (ie: I have no idea what they are, but I’m pretty sure Sweetie uses them for something) on the washer.  Oh.  And piles of change too.  Because apparently electricians carry a lot of change around in their pockets.  These jars (also leftover from the Slom-ification of our pantry) have meant the end of the random change/doodad piles.  Thus making me a rather happy electrician’s wife!

We even replaced the light in the room (er, rather, the naked hanging lightbulb) with a sweet (and inexpensive – I think the globe part was only $5) light fixture.  I don’t have any pictures of the light installed in the room itself (since, well, that would involve turning off the light, which would plunge the room into darkness, which would make picture taking a bit of a challenge!) but here she is before Sweetie got all electrician-ish and got her all functioning and stuff…

(I think the design kinda looks like lace.  Prettiest $5 light ever!)

And there you have it!  My tiny little laundry room (divided up into many many images.)  I mean, I wouldn’t want to hang out in there for HOURS, or anything like that, but it’s better at least, and (quite importantly!) neither dark, nor dreary now (such a pretty paint colour could never be dreary!)  The best part (I guess, from a practical position) is that we are pretty sure this washer will operate sans fire.  (Excuse me while I go knock on wood.)  And it gets to do so in a cheery little room (because I’m sure that having pretty teal walls makes my washer happy too.)

Have a great weekend all!

Hearts for the laundry room I heart :)

How perfectly laundry-room-ish eh?  Can’t wait to put this on the wall (once the shelves are up and stuff – my replacement washer is coming today I think [yay!], so hopefully shelves will go up next week!)  Purchased from etsy-seller honeytree (did I mention I’m an etsy addict?) just a few days ago (click here for more of her work!)  shipping was crazy super fast, and it was packaged sooo nicely.  This is what I was greeted with when I opened the envelope…

I love pretty packaging :)

So simple, but so cute.  I almost didn’t want to tear into that little kraft-paper-tape heart (but I did.)  :)  Now I just have to find the perfect laundry-room-art frame for my pretty little print!

(Aside: I never thought I’d get so excited about my laundry room.  I think this might mean that I’m officially grown up.  Or just weird.)

Happy Friday!  :)

Scuffy-wuffy was my washer

Yes.  That’s right.  My washer was scuffed.  (Insert a very sad sigh here.)  Right on top.  Right near the front.  Right about where I would be looking EVERY SINGLE TIME I do laundry.  Like the mean old movers had dragged something rough and metal across my lovely and perfect new washer.  :(

I won’t lie: some tears may have actually fallen over my now less-than-perfect-washer.  I KNOW…  it’s just a machine.  And I know… it’ll likely get banged up over time, but this is the first time I’ve EVER (ev-ver) had my own, brand spanking new appliances.  Purchased full price (kinda, minus the sale), not scratch-and-dent, not hand-me-downs, not new-to-me.  New.  And perfect.  At least until I noticed the scuff.  I kinda freaked out just a little (shhhh…  don’t tell.)

To my rescue?  The fine folk at Home Depot.  One rather sheepish phone call later (during which I admitted that the scuff is only about an inch long, and mentioned that my hubby thought I was a little OCD for getting a wee bit upset over a scuff) and I have a replacement washer being delivered next week.  Yes.  Really.  :)  Brenda, the Home Depot appliances-section lady: you are my hero.  She empathized with me.  She stated that new appliances should be perfect when delivered to the customer.  She agreed that the scuff-spot could rust over time (my main concern.)  She was awesome.  She has a big hug coming her way the next time I venture into HD.  :)

In the meantime, we were told to go ahead and use the new (slightly imperfect) washer.  And I’m loving it.  Loooooving it.  We actually stood there and watched the washer go through the entire wash cycle with our first load of laundry.  (Yep – we’re big huge losers like that.)  It’s stupidly quiet, and sings a happy little song when the load is clean.  I do the laundry dance every time I put a new load in (um, yeah… really.)  I’m so in love with these melodious and fantastical machines.  And will be even more in love with the non-scuffed version of my washer coming later this week.  :)

In the meantime, here’s a quick peek at the laundry room progress to date.  Shelves still need to go up above the machines, and the new light needs to be installed still too (the hanging bare light bulb just isn’t fitting for such pretty machines) but the walls are coated in lovely Gossamer Blue-ness…

Laundry room loveliness to date

Big happy sigh.  All’s well that ends well, right?  More progress updates to follow.  :)

Just to give you the pretty before the ugly (to lessen the shock a wee bit), here are a couple pics of what I’d like my laundry room to look like…

Lovely laundry room courtesy of Cameras and Chaos - looove the wall colour and chandelier

One Nutty Girl's practical (and pretty!) laundry room - definitely going to add a drying rod in there somewhere

Annnnnnnd here are a few pics of my tiiiiiny little laundry room as of this morning (be warned – she ain’t pretty and I didn’t do any staging or anything pre-shoot [but likely should have]):

This is what you're greeted with when you open my laundry room door...

If you look to your left, here sits the offending washer machine that started this whole project. And the cat carrier filled with cat towels.

And to your right is the dryer (aka the landing place for miscellaneous stuff) and some pieces of drywall. Because the laundry room is the obvious place for random drywall bits.

ACK.  Frightening eh?  I suppose I could have tidied up a little pre-camera (ignore all the stuff on the dryer – not even sure what all that is.)  At least I spared you shots of the litterbox that’s hidden in the corner of the room (you’re welcome!)  All in all, the room is ridiculously small.  Maybe 5 feet wide (maybe) by 8 feet long (also maybe.)  And it’s dark (oh how wonderful it’d be to have a window in there!)  And icky (painted concrete floors and primed-drywall walls aren’t particularly inviting.)  And not at all pretty.  But I’m hoping for a quasi laundry room miracle here!  The new (again: lovely!) machines will help lots.  And I’m planning to slap leftover BM Gossamer Blue paint (from our dining room redo) on the walls, which should definitely up the prettiness factor by, like, a gazillion.  Add a few white shelves above the machines, and clear out the army of paint cans all over the floor (oooooooh!  Sudden inspiration: or hide them under the laundry tub with a pretty little under-laundry-tub curtain!) and I might actually have a pretty-ish room.  Fingers crossed!  I have SIX DAYS till the new machines arrive.  SIX.  Doable, no?

Kinda excited about all this.  Dreary laundry room, be gone!  Poof!  (Waving imaginary magic wand…)

(Crap.  It’s still there.  K.  Off I go to paint.)

So last Saturday’s events inspired Project Laundry Room.  Project Laundry Room has taken up the better part of my (non-working/-sleeping) week.  Project Laundry Room has two parts:

1. Find functional (and, well, pretty LOL) washing machine/dryer combo

2. Make laundry room a happy cheery place

It’s been a long week of appliance shopping/researching.  Washing machines are hard!  I’d much rather shop for a nice refrigerator or a snazzy stove any day.  Washers and dryers aren’t nearly as fun.  With a fridge, you can kinda tell if it’s going to meet your needs just by looking at and in it.  Open the doors.  Are there shelves?  Great.  Are they spillproof?  Awesome.  Does it get cold when plugged in?  Perfect.  Sold.  The same is true for stoves.  (Does it get hot?  Yes? Ok – it works.)  Washers and dryers are way more complex.  There are front loaders.  Top loaders.  Energy efficient machines.  Motors that are belt driven or something else (can’t remember the term, but let’s call them not-belt-driven.)  Machines that do something (not sure what) with steam.  There are a gazillion different functions (got the plague running rampant through your house?  There’s a “sanitary” setting for just that!)  It’s pretty crazy.  And the price points vary so much too.  Don’t care if your machines are energy efficient or have decent ratings online?  You’ll pay waaaay less.  Unfortunately (for our pocketbook) Sweetie is an electrician (and therefore all about energy consumption/saving) and I’m a closet environmentalist (same consumption/saving dilemma), so in the end we went with the best machines, with the best reviews, we could afford (spread over 12 monthly payments, interest free, of course.  :)  Got everything all set up last night purchase-wise, and they arrive next Saturday.  CAN’T WAIT.

Here’s what we got…

My pretties :)

They’re by LG (which every sales person we spoke with said were absolutely awesome machines.)  They aren’t the high-end LG machines (holy pricey!), but the reviews online for this set were really encouraging.  Just in case, though, we got extended warranties on them both (I’m the front-load guinea pig for my family), so if they self-destruct in the next 5 years, we’re covered.  And the motor on both is covered for 10 years, so I think we’ve pretty much wrapped ourselves in warranty-bubblewrap with these machines.

We didn’t get the pedestals that are optional with the machines.  At $200 per (so $400 for the set) (I rock at math btw) we couldn’t justify the extra cost for options that basically just make the machines sit up higher.  I’ve seen blog posts about making your own pedestals (which could absolutely be an option down the line if we find we hate stooping to get into the washer) but for now, we’ll risk it.  We stoop right now to get into our dryer, so I can’t imagine we’re suddenly going to develop back issues from the second stoop per load.  I’m most worried about Sweetie (did I mention he’s 6’4″?) but he says he’ll be fine, so we’ll test the waters sans pedestals for now.  Plus the pedestals almost make the machines too high to use the top for folding on and such (which, with our tiiiiiny little laundry room, is a necessary function.)

I’ve never ever had new appliances of my own.  And I’ve never had matching appliances either.  I kinda want to just pet them a bit.  I’m in love.  :)  I mean, ter-rust me, I’m in sticker shock too.  But mostly I’m in love.  Sweetie says to look at these as an investment.  It’ll increase the value of our house (when we go to sell in a couple/few/several years.)  And he’s probably right.  The old (50% busted at the moment) and mismatched washer/dryer definitely weren’t a selling feature when we bought this house.  Hopefully someone will fall in love with our tiiiiiny little laundry room when we eventually list.

Which segues really nicely into Part Two of Project Laundry Room: make the tiiiiiny little laundry room pretty.  Part One accomplished, I start Part Two today.  So off I go to take before pics (brace yourself for my before pics btw.  NOT PRETTY.  Kinda scary in fact.)  Photos and details to come.  :)