Dana over at House*Tweaking is in the midst of a housing down-size. Yeah, she's got a great idea there...but really what caught my eye was her choice of tile for her master bath. It's the same tile I have in my laundry room/nook/closet.
And then I realized I have never taken any pictures of my laundry area. Harumph. Wonder why not? It was the first, and biggest yet, renovation we undertook at HH. And one that truly makes my life worth living. It was not cheap, mind you, but I really thing it was a value-ad, both in terms of livability of the house and for resale value. No 4-bedroom 3-storey house should rely on a tiny Ansko stack-able washer in a kitchen closet. You had to move the kitchen chairs aside to get at it! And as for folding, storage, drying space? Zero. Zero. Zero.
So, here's what we did. The staircase going to our third floor master was carved out of what had been a small bedroom. The closet from that bedroom remained - and it was deep one, tucked into the eave of the front of the house. It was large enough for a stack-able washer and dryer, and a bit of shelving. Fine. Perfect. Not having to move the kitchen chairs, being able to get a larger machine (it wold have to be a smaller stack-able, but not as small as the Ansko, which seriously did not hold on full set of bed linens at one time...) I was totally up for a "moderately better situation."
And then Greg came over. Yes, Greg. Sigh. My beloved ex-contractor. And he said, "No, you need full size machines and a folding counter and we can take a foot from the kid's closet and get you all that and a large opening with a pocket door that looks like to came with the house in 1898." You see why I love him now don't you?
Well, actually, it was not as easy as that, we had a lot of problem solving to do about pluming vents and what not, but he really was adamant about going to full size machines. The man has something against stack-ables, I guess. So, we went for it!
Here we have the ripped out closet mid-process, you can see how it's in the eaves, and the Bun's closet it to the right of those new 2x4s:
And here are the GlamourShots of the laundry room.
See how wide that door is? When it's open you can access the whole space. And, Greg was totally right, there is plenty of space to stand in there and fold or sort things.
The paint is Moonshine by Benjamin Moore, the penny tile is for Tile Showcase in Watertown, MA and the whole of it is fantastico!
Do you think Moonshine would look good in an area that doesn't get much light? I'd love a gray-blue for our basement, but I don't want it to read as too gray -- we have enough of that color in Seattle.
Posted by: Molly @thewaffler.com | Wednesday, October 19, 2011 at 02:13 PM
Ha! I'd say Moonshine reads much more like a gray-green than a gray blue. It seems like a Molly color to me! For a gray with a blue tinge that is good in low light, try Stonington Gray. I have that in my family room and guest room, neither of which gets much natural light.
Posted by: Holiday | Wednesday, October 19, 2011 at 05:17 PM