Evolution Of A Laundry Room

The laundry room/mudroom is far from done, but I think I'm on the right track.  Let's take a minute to show you what I started with:

I know, I know.  You're overcome with feelings of jealous rage, right?  I can't say that I blame you.  Who *doesn't* want a dimly lit, uninspiring place to do their laundry?

First things first, I needed to paint, install a couple wall cabinets, and ask John ever-so-nicely to hang a more practical light fixture.

Getting better.

I've been seeing black interior doors everywhere lately and thought it might add some much-needed contrast to the room.  Here's the 'before' of the back door leading to the garage.

During:

After painting:

Next, it was time to address that dang ol' OSB floor.  For those of you not familiar, OSB stands for oriented strand board.  It's basically a process by which various strands or flakes of boards are glued together and kiln-dried.  It results in an affordable and strong product that is most commonly used as flooring, walls and in the construction of roofs.  It might be strong, but it sure ain't pretty.  Time to cover it up.

I toyed with the idea of running the flooring that I was using in the rest of the house right up to the door, but I changed my mind at the last minute when I thought of the amount of snow that we bring in through that door during the winter.  That spot gets soaked.  In the spring, summer and fall when I'm working on the landscaping I track in so much mud it's almost scary.  Plus, I wanted to do it quickly and most importantly, on the cheap.  I decided to keep costs crazy low and go with a vinyl floor tile.  I'm planning on putting in a stone tile for that area in the future, but for now, I just needed something (anything!) other than that OSB.

I found a nice 18x18 concrete-look tile at Lowes and started the process.  The first step was to prime or seal the floor.

Done.  The next step was to let it cure.  Really?  Oh, come onnnnnnnnn.  I don't have all day for this!  The floor there is unimaginably cold.  I set up a little space heater to help the process along and after an hour or so, started laying tiles.  As a word of warning, I would advise AGAINST doing it the way I did.  The primer/sealer definitely needs adequate time to cure on a room-temperature floor.  

I laid out my tiles to see where I wanted the seams to end up.  I knew that I wanted them to overlap the subfloor's seams, so I started there and worked my way out in an offset pattern.

Once I was satisfied with the layout, I started peeling and sticking.

After every tile, I did a little bow-legged dance to really press it down and secure it to the floor.  The instructions said to use a 100lb roller and since I'm just a smidge over 100 pounds (shut it) I figured sliding around on it would do the trick just as well. 

After a few minutes (literally) I had this little section finished:

This was one of those super-fast projects that offered immediate gratification and I honestly think I need that once in a while.  It can be a real challenge to stay excited about the billions of other projects that I have to do all over this house and having a quick one to get out of the way totally helps.

Once the flooring was down, I put down an equalizer strip and then it was time to bang out the laundry counter.  Surprisingly, I took almost no pictures of this process.  I think I just got into a zone and got to work.

I started with laying out a sheet of 1/2" plywood along the length of the area that I wanted to cover.

The sheet was *exactly* 8 feet long.  That meant that I wouldn't be able to clean up the edges like I wanted, but I planned on added a bullnose the same way I did with the built-in bookcases before.

I made two support/base units out of MDF and fit them over the washer and dryer.  I made sure that they didn't actually touch the washer or dryer since the washer really gets hoppin' along when it's on its spin cycle.  I didn't want to risk damaging the base units or the counter with all of the jiggle wiggle.  These units will also be attached to the end wall, as well as the back wall this spring when we re-route the ducting for the dryer and slide the whole counter back.

While I worked on the units, I also worked on finishing the board and batten in that area - and this is where we are now:

Sorry about some of the glare-y shots.  I took some daylight ones that were just meh.

There's still quite a bit to do in this room (hello, glaring dryer plug) and I'll post a 'Review and To-Do' on this room later.  For now, let's take a quick look at that 'before' one last time:

Whew, glad the hard part's over!

Another One Bites The Dust - Part I (Before And After)

The dust is still settling on my most recent project.

In an effort to officially occupy Wall Street my house, one of the town's parameters is that my addition/renovation meet certain criteria.  One of those criteria is that the flooring be impermeable to water.  'Impermeable to water' can count as carpet, tile, sealed wood flooring, paint, etc.  Pretty much any flooring you can think of is acceptable.

I've been staring at a carpeting swatch for the upstairs hallway for a couple (or maybe it's been a few) months now knowing that we've budgeted to order it in the spring.

But I got a little antsy this morning.  Shocker.

It started with filling the gigantic cracks and knot holes with several types of filler.

Why several types?  Because I had an assortment available to me and I was just runnin' through 'em.  I started with wood filler, moved on to a larger gap filler (keep your mind out of the gutter), then finished up with a plain old spackle compound.  My goal wasn't to do a perfectbeautifulawesome job.  It was to cover the damn floor because guess what?  It sucks getting splinters in the middle of the night.  For realz.

And then, while I waited for the the fillers and spackles to dry, I did the unthinkable.

I went on Pinterest.

And searched 'painted floor'.

The heavens opened up.  Unicorns sprung from rainbows.  Fairies sprinkled glitter all over the land.

Source: roughluxeperspective.blogspot.ca via Carol on Pinterest

Source: tiltonfenwick.com via Carol on Pinterest

Source: southernliving.com via Carol on Pinterest

Source: apartmenttherapy.com via Faythe on Pinterest

Okay, can you believe the yellow and white flowers?  Seriously.  Seriously.

Remember how I said it wasn't going to be perfectbeautifulawesome?  Oh, it was on now.

But, like all good things, everything has to happen in steps.  I'm learning every day that awesomeness comes in layers.  I immediately regretted my first two layers.  I wish I would have spent more time filling in all the gaps and cracks a little better,  But, I didn't.  I wish I used a better first coat of paint.  But, I didn't.

Moving on.

I took my trusty palm sander and 100 grit sandpaper and got to work.

I went over every inch of the hallway and the haze proves it.

I swept things up, ran the vacuum and got ready to be locked out of the hallway for a couple hours.

{Hey, don't mind that bookcase.  Pretend you don't see it.  I planned on writing about how we built it later this week.  Act surprised when I show you.}

After one coat of paint, this is what I have to work with:

I'm undecided with the design that I want to paint on the floor. It's like a giant, blank canvas.  By town code, it officially satisfies the occupancy guidelines, but now it's time to take it up a level. Thoughts?  What would you do?  It's definitely an upgrade from it's previous life:

What's left to do in the hallway:

• Hang guest bedroom door
• Hang bathroom door
• Paint all doors
• Finish installing baseboards and trim
• Paint a spectacular pattern on the floor
• Hang additional artwork
• Figure out what to do with the awkward nook on the other side of the column

What about you?  Have you ever painted a floor?  Any success or horror stories?

An Orange Peanut? For Me?

My gift to you this morning.

Sometimes, It's The Little Bites

I have to be honest.  There are SO many big projects going on around here - at the same time, mind you - that it feels good to check a few of the little boxes off the list.  One thing that's been totally cramping my style is the unfinished transition from the sunroom/family room/Florida room to the laundry room/mudroom/entry.  Note to self: pick a name for these rooms, would ya?  This is one of those little jobs that took only a little bit of a time commitment  but cleared a nice chunk of mental space for me.  Does that make sense?

I was getting tired of tripping over that little edge of the flooring.  It's hard to tell, but it was about 3/8ths of an inch higher on one side.  Oh, and see that little hand there?

That was my little helper for the job.

'Helper'

I should mention that he was also the photographer for most of this project.

 Yeah.  Bear with me for this one.

I started by buying a 12-foot equalizer strip in titanium from Home Depot for about $30.00.

(image from Home Depot.ca)
(The 12-foot length doesn't come with it's own screws, so be prepared to shell out an additional $.93)

I needed to cut it to match the opening which was about 7.5 feet.  John suggested I use his "fancy, fancy hacksaw."  His words.  Not mine.

I started cutting.

My positioning was all wrong and I kept scratching the strip - which was frustrating - so I asked the resident muscle man to step in and show me how it's done.

 And show me he did.  Work that fancy hacksaw.

Once it was cut down, I brought it over to the uneven flooring fiasco and double-checked that it fit.  Normally, you would put this puppy in after you've put in your doorjambs and floor trim.  I don't always necessarily do things in the order they were intended.  I don't care.  Neither does honey badger.

via

Since I *was* putting it in before the floor trim, I wanted to make sure that I left room on each side for the baseboards.  I just used a spacer block the same thickness as my floor trim to keep things on the up and up.

I lined the strip up so that when I drove the screws in, I still left some expansion room for the floor.  I started out just trying to push the screws in with my screwdriver as I turned them.  Not ideal.  The screw kept slipping on the vinyl tile underneath and would end up pinching my fingers.  Hard.

 I figured it would work better if I predrilled a little pilot hole in each opening to give the teeny, tiny screws a some gentle encouragement to stay in one place and stop freaking hurting me.

But I couldn't find my small drill bit.

Scratch that.

I couldn't be bothered to go look for my small drill bit and I MacGyver'ed this mutha by finding a flat-head nail to use for my pilot hole.

Like.  A.  Charm.

I gave the nail a forceful lovetap (oxymoron, much?), removed it and screwed in the Lilliputian screws.

Rinse and repeat about 14 more times.

My feet are much happier.  I'm not trippin' any more, yo.  Sometimes the little bites have the biggest impact on the every day.

If You Build It, They Will Use It (Before and After)

Let's talk about big bangs for your bucks today, shall we?  Would you believe me if I told you that this built-in bookcase cost less than $50 to build and only took me an afternoon?

Well, believe it!  Let me break it on down for you.  Here's what I started with:

This is the wall separating the dining room from the Florida room sunroom family room.  Prior to demolition/renovation, there was a window on this wall.  In an attempt to open the spaces up a bit more, I chose to turn this wall into a half wall and planned on making a ledge or counter along the opening.  I liked the idea of a display space between the two rooms.

But it still felt a little too dinky as a ledge.  It needed more girth, I tell ya.  When you enter our house from the garage (which is the main way we enter), this wall is the first thing you see and I wanted it to be a little more inviting than just a half-wall with a 5-inch ledge perched on top.  And that's how the bookcase idea was born.

Using the existing wall as the back of my bookcase, I cut 5 boards and drilled three pocket holes in each with my Kreg Jig.  I also attached horizontal front stabilizers to support the vertical boards and keep them from moving around while building.  I left the pocket holes exposed on the front for two reasons: 1. It's way easier to drill from the front 2. I was going to wrap the bottom in trim at the end and would be hiding this part anyway.

The wall that I was drilling them into was drywall affixed to a solid cedar wall, therefore, I didn't have to look for studs when drilling.  Bonus.

I cut four boards and popped them into the bottoms of each shelf section using quarter round molding glued and nailed in place, then added the bottom skirt of trim around the entire unit.  Once I got the bottom shelves in place, I figured it would be a good time to paint the inside because man, I hate painting individual shelves.

Here's where the picture-taking got a little sketchy.  Using a level and tape measure, I carefully marked off where to put the quarter-round molding pieces, added a bit of glue to each piece and nailed them on.  I didn't want the shelves to be identical in height, but I knew that I wanted the bottom to be taller to accomodate larger items, baskets, books, etc.

Once all the boards were in place, I attached the 1x2 bullnose pieces to the front with the nailgun.  This creates a much thicker profile from the front with the added bonus of providing strength to the span of each shelf.

I added a coat of paint to each shelf (Behr's Polar Bear in semi-gloss) and while that dried, I cut the top of my bookshelf in the garage.

I used a half-inch-thick piece of plywood (not sure if it's birch or beech) that I already had on-hand.  I used clamps, a straightedge and a circular saw to cut the top.  Then, to add the notches at the corners, I measured and marked off my cut lines and went to work with the jigsaw.

I added another bullnose around the perimeter of the counter, slapped on a coat of stain and about 5-6 coats of polycrylic later, I had a sleek countertop.

And that was it!  An afternoon of building and painting and I have a functional piece of built-in furniture.   The polycrylic applications were spread out over a couple days, but the building and painting only took a few hours.

Now I just have to fill it up with STUFF.  Once I get it styled all pretty, I'll snap a couple more pics and share them.

What about you?  Ready to break out your toolbag and tackle a bookcase?  Or are you ready to hire someone to do it for you?