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Our Laundry Room

Sink and faucets provided by Vintage Tub & Bath

I showed you the final design plan already, but now I can finally show you the finished room!

The red washer and dryer that we bought when we moved in look better than they ever have, but I think it’s the giant utility sink and double faucets that make the space.

That’s pretty much my dream sink and if we ever leave this house, it would be one of the things I’d miss most. I have a little plant (cyclamen) in the window, and a gray and white striped towel hangs from a red hook to the right.

There are still things I’d like to do. I’d like to replace our rickety drying rack and hang a clothes rail from the wall or ceiling. I’d like to find some cute laundry baskets instead of the cheap plastic ones we’ve had forever. There are a few touches that I really like though, like the art. The droplets print from Summersville brings in some color and pattern, and I love that it’s screenprinted on fabric. It’s perfect for the laundry room.

I have to say, I think this room may have made me a ‘blue’ convert. It’s not normally a color that I like to use, but the laundry room is so cheery and fresh. That octagon tile makes me happy too. And three cheers for an old-fashioned swinging door! It makes me think of my grandmother’s kitchen.

It’s nice to have a non-scary place to do laundry.

Basement, Laundry Room • 102 Comments • April 19, 2011

Laundry Room Design Plan

April
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Our red washer and dryer are the only things left in the basement from before our remodel. Everything else, including the existence of a laundry room, is new.

The floor in the room slopes toward a drain (required by code because our tankless hot water heater is there). We needed a small-scale tile that could handle the dip, so I chose octagon & dot with charcoal gray grout. The exterior door opens out to the backyard, and it has been painted in Benjamin Moore paint that was color-matched to Martha Stewart’s “Sparkling Brook.” The wall color was also a Martha color (“Cumulus Cloud”), matched to B. Moore’s “Whirlpool.”

The giant utility sink is amazing. And I feel like I should say that I like the built-in soap dish on each faucet because it’s functional, but I really just picked them because they looked good. (Thanks again, Vintage Tub & Bath, for providing the plumbing fixtures.) I bought a red hook to go above the sink, and I’ll hang a striped hand towel on it. The window above the sink will get a few accessories, like this blue pitcher/vase that picks up on the color of the door.

I loved the look of the Samson stool, but had wished it was counter-height. So I got to talking with a friendly fellow over at Industry West about providing seating for the basement (they’re in!), and it turns out they’re in the process of manufacturing a taller version. They’ll be sending one over as soon as they’re available. It will sit next to a black sideboard that will serve as storage in the room. Above, I’ll hang this Droplets Screenprint, framed in black.

We already had a folding drying rack and garment hanger that we’ll probably reuse for now. They’re both pretty flimsy though, so I would like to replace them with something more sturdy in the future. As the laundry room comes together, I’ve been thinking of it as a version 1.0. As we use the room more, I think it will be easier to see what needs to be improved upon.

Basement, Laundry Room • 29 Comments • April 7, 2011

The (Mostly) Finished Basement

March
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Ta da! Does it suddenly feel like December again? Because that’s when all of this was supposed to be finished. Here’s the floor plan:

Let’s head down the stairs to take a look around.

And now a before:

And after:

Before:

After:

That’s as good as it gets for empty basement ‘before and after’ photos, because once we reached this stage we started moving in all of our stuff. Witness, we couldn’t even wait at this point to start filling up the storage area.

The play space used to look like this:

Now it’s a play room, and it looks like this:

And of course, we have the bathroom and laundry room sneak peeks you’ve already seen:

Our house feels so much bigger now. I think we added about 600 sq. ft. of living space to our existing 1400. Now it’s on to the fun part: decorating it!

Basement, Bathrooms, Laundry Room, Play Room, Studio • 133 Comments • March 15, 2011

The Blue Laundry Room Door

March
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The laundry room looked like this a couple of weeks ago.

There is still a bit of work to be done before I show you the finished room, but it’s looking much better now that the back door has been replaced. It’s been painted a beautiful robin’s egg blue too!

I picked up a couple of matching accessories when I was at IKEA last weekend. I don’t remember where I picked up that little geometric mug, but isn’t it cute? It’s more orange than the red washer and dryer, but close enough.

Now I’ll need something to put in those pots. Any recommendations for houseplants that survive neglect?

Basement, Laundry Room • 120 Comments • March 10, 2011

The Laundry Room Sink

February
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Sink and faucets provided by Vintage Tub & Bath

While I was out having a baby, the basement has been inching toward completion. The laundry room sink went in last Monday, but the contractor used PVC pipes underneath. I had to go ask him if he could change them to chrome, and he looked at me like I was a little nuts. I just want some pretty pipes — is that so weird? (Yeah, probably.)

I last saw the sink Tuesday morning, a few hours before I went into labor. I’m supposed to be taking it easy and avoiding stairs, so I hadn’t been back down to the basement until today. The pipes had been switched out and the chrome looks so much better! Of course, I realized after coming back up and looking at the photos that I snapped that I completely missed the underside of the sink. There are still a lot of tools in the way, and I had August in my arms, so I couldn’t get a good angle. You can see one of the faucets here though.