Welcome back to my home renovation blog! This series is about a major renovation project we are working on while we live in the home. If you'd like some background on this project and to see the rest of the remodel, start here.
The laundry room in this house was originally on the main floor, beside the kitchen. The side entrance opened into it and there were a number of cabinets and closets in the large area. At first, I considered turning it into an amazing butler's pantry, but if I opened up the kitchen to the den like I wanted to, wall space would become too little for major appliances. The decision was made. The huge laundry room area would be added to the kitchen.
Since all the bedrooms are located on the second floor, we decided to move the laundry room upstairs. But where?
When we purchased the home, the main/master bedroom suite was a series of rooms. First, you'd enter what I call a "sitting room." It had one closet and a window in it, so technically it could be another bedroom. Through the back door of that room, you entered a "dressing room" that had two closets with a dormer window. To the left of the dressing room was a bathroom, and behind the dressing room was the main bedroom. We turned the sitting room into an upstairs family room, so it's a common area for us.
The dressing room seemed unnecessary since the bedroom already had four walk-in closets. We measured one of the dressing room closets and it was exactly the size we needed for our washer and dryer.
We decided to take out that closet and have the area plumbed for washer/dryer hookups. Thankfully, we didn't have to pull up the subfloor to run the new pipes because the kitchen ceiling below was already opened up. That saved us some money.
We also closed in the second closet in this area and opened it up to the bathroom behind it. Dedicating so much wall space to closets meant that there was little space for dressers or chests, and we found a number of them inside the closets.
This closet below is the one that was removed for the washer/dryer. Removing these two closets brought the total number of closets in the main bedroom area down to seven! I figured we'd be okay with a few less.
So, demolition began!
We built a new wall where the closet doors had been. We used a special kind of drywall made for wet environments.
It was a good day when the washer/dryer hookups went in. However, seeing the closet out and the new drywall in, I got a little nervous that the washer and dryer wouldn't fit. It looked too small!
When they put down the new flooring, they had to use a floor-leveling compound to prepare the uneven surfaces. We also had to find some new trim to match where we took out the closets. When the new paint was done, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. My vision was coming together.
We painted the walls Benjamin Moore Edgecomb Gray, which matches the sitting room and the bathroom. The washer and dryer actually fit perfectly!
It is done! New light installed, paint and trim done, and it works wonderfully. We added a simple gray cabinet from Target above the washer and dryer for storage. It easily holds our laundry detergents and some cleaning supplies. I got this cute gradient gray rug from Amazon. It goes well with the white and gray luxury vinyl tile flooring. I love the texture of this non-slip LVT. Plus, it's water-resistant in case of leaks. The washer and dryer are our old ones from the previous house. I appreciate the large-capacity feature. With a family of five, it really helps save time and energy.
A fresh coat of paint and a new curtain rod and curtain really helped update the space. I love this drying rack that I found on Amazon too. On warmer days, I can open the window and the fresh air helps dry the clothes that are hanging up!
This cabinet was in my office at the farm, and now we use it to keep odds and ends. We recently painted a gold, metallic arrow pattern on this wall as an accent. With all the neutral colors in this space, I decided it could handle a little shine. I welcome suggestions for more way to spruce it up!
I wasn't sure how I'd feel about having my laundry room right outside my bedroom door, but it turns out that it's wonderful. Even if we run a load of laundry at night, it doesn't disturb me. It makes life a lot more simple. I'm really glad we made the decision to move it. Now that the accent wall is done, I especially enjoy the view from my spot on the bed. It really picks up the gold in the light fixture and makes me smile.
This one project was a lot more involved than I expected and budgeted for, but it was the best decision. I cannot imagine hauling our laundry up and down the stairs and across the house constantly. It's also out of the main flow of traffic, so even in the middle of laundry drying all over the place, no one has to see it but us. No more scrambling to make sure my bras aren't hanging up to dry when people stop by. Yay!
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