Our Fixer Upper - Laundry Room

When we started looking for houses this past Spring, I wanted an older home that I could fix up and make it my own. Our home in Abilene was brand new and we loved it, but we bought it after all the design details had been made. It was hard for us to make it our own when everything was done.

We did manage to add in some projects that were catered to us...

Bunk Bed

Entertainment Center (with cabinet doors)

Mirror

We eventually decided on this sweet home. When I say we I mean I saw it by myself and told Jonathan I liked it. We put an offer on the house before he even saw it! No pressure...

*Disclaimer* There will be "before", "in progress" and "functioning" pictures. In this stage of life I get a project to "functioning" status and then life happens. The whole completely done "afters" just aren't happening right now. Check back in 10 years... 

Let's start this crazy whirlwind in the laundry room. At this house I wanted my deep freeze in the house and not in the garage where it was hot and I had to walk around cars everything I needed something. So I decided to stack my washer and dryer and put the freezer beside them. I wanted to rip out all the built in cabinets on that wall and certain family members opposed pulling down perfectly good cabinets... :) So we compromised and cut them in half to make room for the stacked appliances and still have some shelves. 

Before:

In progress:  

Functioning:

Still to do on this project - paint the cabinets

The next phase in the laundry room was combining a pantry and closet into one big pantry. The existing pantry was so deep and dark that it wasn't really functional for this short, prego momma. So the demolition started! 

Before: 

I removed the shelves, doors and door frames. Then the fun part...busting out the drywall! 

 We added a header just to make sure it wouldn't all crash down when we removed the middle wall.

The next thing we had to do was bust out the tile that was in the closet part so the new pantry floor would all be the same. My brother and brother-in-law put a lot of sweat and too much blood (for my preference) into removing that tile. I ended up taking the rest of the tile up in the laundry room too. 

Then came framing the new pantry out and adding the drywall and new shelves. I also bought a pre-hung double door with the trim already attached and we installed it. And then added door knobs. 

Functioning: 

Still to do on this project - paint new door and trim, install new flooring (when I decide what new flooring will go through out the entry, kitchen and laundry...)

I'll also scrape the popcorn ceilings, paint the ceiling and install a new light fixture...one day. I have some big plans for making this laundry room bigger to add a sink and mudroom area in our 5-10 year phase. 

So far this has been really fun and really frustrating. But that's what you get when you decide to buy a fixer upper and live in it during the renovations. Oh yeah and there's the whole being pregnant and homeschooling and soccer and community group things...