Renovation Reveals

It’s finally time to show some before and after pictures of our recent (last month) chaos remodeling and renovation projects. I will readily admit that these are likely to be far more exciting to me than they are to you, so just gird your loins and prepare to be underwhelmed. Or not. Your choice. 

So a little bit of back story first. Our home was built in 1963 and although we are technically the third owners, we are only the second family to live here. We’ve been here a few months short of 20 years. 

The original laundry room has remained untouched with the exception of an upgraded floor drain in 2008 and the addition of a tile floor the following year. The wall behind the washer and dryer had big cut-out holes for (presumably) different pipes and vents and clean-outs and whatnot over the years. The cats could’ve gotten through to the unfinished, drafty under-the-house section there had they tried, which to our knowledge they never did. Or if they did, they’re not talking….

So, let’s begin.

Laundry Room Before:

Laundry Room After: 

I took a long time to decide on the color, vacillating between aquas and blues. In the end I went with a light blue, which I’m thrilled with. It feels so fresh and clean. These photos make it look a bit paler than it is, but it is neither subtle nor overwhelming.

We added a low shelf that I can actually reach to wipe down, as well as an upper cabinet for laundry supply storage. The lower cabinet houses a laundry basket and is taller so that I have lots of horizontal space for sorting and folding. 

It was so fun to have room to add a few laundry and beach-themed decorations.

And this clean solution to the former mess behind the machines just makes my heart so happy. I feel as though this room, the last one to be touched by renovation in this house, is finally part of the current century!

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The Linen Closet

Our hall is a central hall off of which opens three bedrooms, one bathroom and three hall closets. The three closets were all tiny: a standard coat closet which we’ve always used as a cleaning closet with space for brooms, mops and shelves of cleaning products, light bulbs, etc. The second closet also has a hanging rack which we use for off-season outerwear. It was expanded in 2009 a couple feet outwards to allow room to store our vacuum and carpet cleaner. That post is here.

The linen closet had shelves that were a mere 11.5” wide. That’s a hard pill to swallow for any modern homeowner, but especially so for a quilter. Ever since we ripped out the hall carpeting and restored the hardwood floors in our 2017 living room remodel, the linen closet doors could barely hang properly because of bulging contents inside! 

Before:

During:

After:

Room for quilts and all the things!

An extra five or six inches in shelf width makes an enormous difference. It was not a cheap solution, but again, brings the home into the current century.

So that’s the completed projects in a nutshell. Today we finally bought a new split adjustable bed that will be delivered in mid-May. That will give me time to shop for sheets and things. It also has me thinking that perhaps this year is the time to start a bucket-list quilt for this bed: a Storm at Sea and Snail’s Trail hybrid king size quilt. It will likely be a slow, long-term project.  I’ve decided that when we have our Utah Shop hop this year, I’ll be on the hunt for just the right batiks in blues, purples and aquas.  I’m not getting any younger.