Laundry Room, pt 1 - Done!

On Friday evening, Ken, Jeremy, and I assembled the cabinets for the laundry room and moved them into place. We leveled them and screw them to each other, then moved on to attaching them to the wall.

Oops. They came with this rather wimpy plastic bracket which was supposed to be attached with a screw to the top of the cabinet and then to the stud in the wall. Since we were putting a countertop on the cabinets, that wouldn't work. But.... the drawers in the cabinets left enough room that we could screw a bracket up into the cabinet top from underneath and into the wall.

Except... the back of these cabinets are pretty much just cardboard with a white laminate over them. None too sturdy. That's fine -- since they are going up against a wall anyway. But when Ken screwed through the back of cabinet to the stud, instead of tightening up the cabinet to the wall, it just pulled the backing loose.

His other concern was that the screw going up into the cabinet top was going to pop through and show. I pointed out that we were putting a top on anyway -- so it wouldn't show. In fact, a slightly longer screw might be good. Help the glue hold the top in place.

So we glued the countertop in place and clamped it. Then we retreated to bed for a good night's sleep and thoughts about the attach-to-the-wall quandary.

The next morning while I was attending to important stuff screwing around on the computer playing my favorite RTS game (Illyriad -- great stuff!) I heard Ken downstairs in the laundry room, wielding his drill. When I got down there to supervise help, I found that he had used some steel L brackets to attach things. Those cabinets weren't going anywhere!

He'd also put up the shelf standards, so I could put up the shelves. With a little caulk around the countertop and wall, the first part of the laundry room project was done!

Cabinets where The Beast used to be. 

Right side of cabinets with shelves above

Left side of cabinets with shelves above. 

Yes, there is a gap between the left side and the wall. It's about 8" wide and is intentional. First, we'd have had to use different cabinets to fill the space completely. Second, the baseboard heater goes back too far and we'd have had to work around it. I didn't want a 2" gap for the heater -- and to collect stuff that fell off the counter. Third, the larger gap is useful for storing folding tables and chairs, the leaves for our dining room table, or other tall stuff.

I wish these were better pictures, but the laundry room is rather limiting when it comes to allowing me to back up and get a wider view. Imagine me squished in against the wall by the washer trying to line up the picture without looking through the viewfinder. Ha! you should have seen some of the cock-eyed shots I got! 

Since taking the pictures I've filled up the shelves with stuff from the kitchen that needed a new home -- like the triple crock pot that we only use for parties. It takes up a ton of space and the top shelf here is a great place for something we don't use often. I also took all the rags (old towels and washcloths, mostly) off the other shelves and put them away in the drawers. I still have one drawer that is mostly empty and I think that will be the home for my tablecloths. 

Every time I went in there this weekend, I was happy. I even folded laundry as soon as it came out of the dryer because I was so delighted with having a nice clean countertop for doing so. Yes, it's the little things in life that make me smile. 

Next up on the project list for me is to finish the painting and decorating of the stud (cat) quarters. But I'm going to Colorado the end of the week for my niece's wedding. House projects on hold until after that.

Laundry Room, part 1 (cont)

The Beast is out of the laundry room and now living in the cat room. I'll get some pictures of it in its new home soon, but I was busy last night cleaning and painting in preparation for the cabinet installation.

Moving The Beast was every bit as painful as expected. First we put it on its back on the floor. We took off the heavy doors so they wouldn't swing open while we were moving it. Then we turned it on its side and slid it out of the laundry room into the dining room.

After maneuvering it around to head for the cat room and discovering the angles would be very tight, we ended up taking off the door to the cat room and the closet doors in the cat room. This gave us enough room to push The Beast all the way into the room and then turn it. Once it was near its new location we tipped it on back and then onto its bottom. We pushed it into place and replaced the doors. Then I put on two new door catches because the magnetic catches had never been enough to hold those heavy doors closed. I replaced the door pulls because we'd broken one in the moving -- and they were ugly. The Beast was moved!

Onto cleaning, preparing and painting. It really didn't take long as I didn't do the entire laundry room. I will later -- but for now the goal was to get the area where The Beast lived ready for the new cabinets and shelves. I choose Behr "Sapphireberry" in a satin finish for the walls. Because we live in a fairly dry climate and our laundry room is large with a window for ventilation, I decided satin was adequate rather than going to semi-gloss. If your room has more moisture or humidity, semi-gloss would be a better choice.

I did have to question the color name "Sapphireberry". Who came up with that?! I don't know about you, but when I hear sapphire, I think about a medium deep clear blue -- not as dark as royal blue, but close. And berry makes me think of blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, or blackberries. Again, not a light color and definitely a color more on the purple side of the blue section. But Sapphireberry is actually a muted, light blue with some green in it.





Old dirty white next to newly painted Sapphireberry  blue.

 


Boring picture of of blue walls -- but soon there will be cabinets and shelves here.


 Tonight the plans include disabling and covering the outlet that will be covered by the cabinets. I considered asking Ken to move it up the wall so it will still be usable, but I don't know if the wire would reach and Ken isn't a big fan of doing electrical work. Plenty of other outlets in the room, so I guess I can live without this one. Oh -- those other two holes are also outlets that the previous owner had disabled when he put The Beast in there.

We'll also put up the standards for the shelves since it will be much easier to do that before the cabinets are in place. No leaning/climbing over them to reach the wall. The cabinet boxes are in the back of my car (a Toyota Highlander) so we'll bring them in and maybe assemble them. Maybe. Depends on how ambitious we're feeling. Could be I'll have a date with a pina colada instead!

More to come....

The Laundry Room, part 1

We have a good-sized laundry room. It's one of the things I love about our house. It has a long L shape and plenty of storage space. When we bought the house, the walls on both sides of the narrow section had a row of coat hooks on them. There was one 18" wall cabinet above a freestanding laundry sink. There was one 24" base cabinet (which doesn't match the upper) sitting next to the sink, with a fake butcher block laminate top.

The original laundry room

In the back of the room, on the east wall in the deep part of the L, there was a very large cupboard, presumably built by the previous owner. While we've seen some examples of DIY efforts in the house that are less than stellar (note the wanna-be electrical outlets that are at the wrong height and covered with plates in our bedroom) one thing I have to say is he built things to last.

The cupboard, christened "The Beast" by Ken, is 86" high, 68" wide and 24" deep.  The doors to the beast are two solid wood 32" doors, attached to each other so you have to open both together. They take up a LOT of space when open. It's painted a not-so-lovely shade of yellowish green. It provides great storage and work space, especially since The Beast includes a pull out table for working on crafts, folding clothes or sewing. (Sewing is what I think the previous owner used it for. Me, let's not go there!)

The Beast

The first thing we did in the laundry room was replace the flower print vinyl with a neutral vinyl. No more daisies! Then I took down the coat hooks on the west wall. We put up wire shelving on the west wall above the washer and dryer, and where the hooks had been. It's messy, but functional.

Messy wire shelves -- but at least things aren't on the floor!

With everything else we (me especially) want to do with the house, the laundry room hasn't received a lot of attention and love. It's been a place for love-lorn boy cats who need to be separate from the girls. It's been the place where all our crap valuable possessions land if we need to hurriedly put things out of sight. It's been a place to give cats baths before shows. And of course, it's been the place to wash and dry clothes! But in the back of my mind, I've had a plan to put in cabinets all along the west wall where the shelving, sink, washer and dryer sit. I hadn't really considered doing anything with The Beast. First, it's perfectly good storage. Second, I suspected it would be a pain in the *** to move.

But a couple of weeks ago, Ken informed me that we were going to get rid of The Beast.The conversation went something like this.

"What? I like The Beast."

"It's in my way. We need storage that we can use. I'm tired of tripping over things."

"If I'd keep things picked up, it wouldn't be so bad in there. I'll clean."

"No, The Beast must go. We'll put in cabinets with shelves above."

"How about wall cabinets above?"

"No, they'll be a pain to put stuff in."

"But stuff on the shelves is just an invitation for the cats to sleep on it.... or worse."

Sigh.... after an extended discussion, I conceded that shelves would be okay. For now. I still think there could be cabinets in our future, but on the plus side is the fact that we already have the brackets, standards, and shelves. No cost (now) remodeling! Gotta love it! Of course the no cost designation doesn't apply to the entire project, as we do need to buy base cabinets and a countertop.

Having settled that, I broached the subject of cabinets for the entire west wall of the room. A girl can always dream. Unfortunately, the family budget director replied, "this winter." He did, however, ask me to design and price everything out -- both for The Beast replacement and the west wall.

Keep in mind that we are on a limited budget here and we have limited options for purchasing home improvement materials unless we want to go out of town or shop on the internet. Home Depot is our favorite place and after the Money Pit remodel last year, I'm VERY familiar with their stock cabinets, etc. I asked Ken whether he wanted white, hickory, oak, or unfinished (which I -- not he -- would need to stain or paint.) He replied, whatever you want.

I priced out three of the options (having crossed oak off the list). While The Beast replacement had only about a $200 difference between the least and most expensive, I could see that being multipled considerably by the number of components needed for the west wall. That was confirmed when I had the final numbers -- $1550 for unfinished (not including the paint or stain and my labor), 2280 for the white, and 2770 for  the hickory.

But numbers aren't the only consideration. (yeah, I know, I did mention that limited budget, didn't I?) I was batting around the idea of the hickory because I truly love hickory and had been considering it for the someday, in-my-dreams kitchen remodel. However, I think I've decided against them and so the idea of matching the laundry room to the kitchen is moot. No expensive (relatively speaking) hickory for the laundry room.

Unfinished won my mental debate. I've had a color scheme in mind for the laundry room for awhile: sky blue walls, with a lovely sandy cream trim and cabinets. I could see it in my head -- something light, airy, beachy (never mind that we're 500 or so miles from the ocean!) I don't mind painting and even with the painting supplies this choice would be the least expensive.

Then I suggested Ken and I go to Home Depot and look at shelving. I knew what the white cabinets look like -- no need to stop by there. We headed off to the corner of the store with the shelving, closet organizers, etc. And there is where the plan changed....

Home Depot carries a line of ClosetMaid utility cabinets that are just slightly shallower than standard kitchen cabinets -- 18 5/8" vs 24". While this might not sound like a plus, the west wall (remember those future plans?) is exactly 24" deep from the wall to the door moulding. This means that we'd have to notch the moulding to accomodate a counter top. Doable, but not optimal. The shallower cabinets mean a much easier and neater project. The only minus is that we have to assemble the cabinets ourselves. But this option is about the same cost as the unfinished cabinets, without the need for painting (or the cost of the paint). They are white -- which works fine with our white washer and dryer. And it will still look good with the sky blue walls. No sand in the color scheme, but the fresh airy look is still there.

We are doing The Beast replacement (Laundry Room, part 1) this weekend. To be continued...