Laundry Room Reno

When we bought the house about 3 years ago our laundry room looked like this. Complete with green and yellow cabinet doors.

 

And multi-colored shelves in the closet.

I painted the cabinet doors awhile ago when I just couldn't stand the green and yellow any more. And in preparation for the rest of the renovation Andy removed the old sticky-back vinyl tiles and repaired some of the drywall.  The plan was to get new vinyl flooring, paint the walls and trim, replace the utility sink, and get a new washer and dryer.  We would love to replace the cabinets and possibly even enlarge this room at some point in the future but this first round of renovations became a necessity when we decided it was time for a new washer and dryer.  The old ones still worked (barely) but they were quickly dying and we wanted to have time to do some research and look for sales before one of the old ones died and we didn't have a choice.

I was very happy to see the old sink get removed!

Ready for for paint and flooring.

Andy painted all of the walls and trim a few days before the new flooring was scheduled to be installed so that we didn't have to live without a washer and dryer for too long.

The flooring was installed and the next day the new washer and dryer were delivered. 

Andy got the new utility sink hooked up and we managed to get the rest of the room put back together the following weekend. We found a cantilevered sink so that we could get rid of the legs in the front and open up the space under the sink for storage.

This is where Kodak eats so he thought he needed to help take pictures just in case it was dinner time.

I like the new vinyl floor but it is very light.  We new we wanted vinyl since this room is a dumping ground and we wanted something easy to clean.  The rugs help keep some of the dirt off the floor and out of the family room.

The closest didn't get re-organized but it's just nice to have shelves that are all the same color.

And some day I'll make/buy a window treatment for this window.  I think I'd like to make one but I haven't been able to find any fabric that I like.

Fire Rated

When we bought the house and completed the walk-though with the inspector he told us that the door in the laundry room that goes out to the garage didn't meet current code.  The hollow door is not fire rated and should be replaced.  It also was very drafty.  We knew we wanted to do some work in the laundry room and also replace other doors in the house so we figured we would do it all at the same time.

After the new front door was installed last year, Andy thought he could replace the garage door himself.  The problem -- as with many things in this house -- the door is not a standard size and a custom made steel or fiberglass fire rated door was extremely expensive.  Andy took the trim down and did some investigative work from the garage to determine that we could enlarge the door opening a bit to make a standard sized door fit. The storage above the door would have to be relocated but that was a minor detail compared to the price difference between and standard and custom door.

After lots of research and discussion with the Township we finally made the decision to order a new steel fire rated (90 min) door and when it got delivered Andy was quick to get started with the demolition.

The header above the old door was non-load bearing, so Andy was able to remove it and raise it to a height that accepted the new door.

He used his handy Kreg Jig to create pocket holes/screws to attach the new header without having to remove the existing drywall.

With the new opening framed out the door went in easily.

Spray foam insulation was added around the door to make it air-tight and even though it still needed paint and trim the new door was a huge upgrade.

Laundry Room Wall Warts

These next few posts aren't too exciting but I want to be able to remember everything we did last year so you'll just have to bear with me. 

As we were planning to start work on the laundry room Andy found an old dryer vent cover that he wanted to patch with drywall and so we decided it was time to start removing the rest of the old intercom system around the house.  Since he was going to be patching and drywalling he wanted to do as many rooms as possible.  He removed the old intercom in the laundry room, guest room, both offices, and upstairs hall bathroom.

Good-bye intercom!

Good-bye painted over dryer vent cover.

This is the old vent outlet in the garage.  New vents must be vented outside so this change was made before we bought the house.

Finding more apple wallpaper.

The work created a temporary hole into the garage.

Which was quickly insulated and ready for new drywall.  We hope that taking the time to do some drywall work and fix some of the existing wall warts helps make the room look more finished in the end.

It Took You How Long?

Remember when our laundry room cabinets looked like this? I started the painting process way back in February (that's embarrassing to even admit!).

 

Well, after 3-4 coats of paint on the fronts, then and little sanding, 3-4 coats of paint on the backs, and another 3-4 coats of paint on the edges they were finally ready to be hung.  (I think that whole process took about 2 months because it was a real hassle.  Each coat only took a few minutes, but the trouble came from not being able to do them all at once and then having to clean the paint sprayer each time. We also hit some cold weather that kept me from painting in the garage for a few weeks.)

After they were all painted and dry we realized that we had a problem with the hardware.  I think these cabinets were built by the previous homeowner and he tended to use whatever he had around the house which meant that we ended up with different size door hinges.  We talked about re-routing and puttying some of the hinge locations to keep them all them same but decided against the extra time and effort.  

After a lengthly search few new hardware in satin nickel instead of brass we were ready to hang the doors.

 

Much better!! Now I can work on painting the walls!

This is the picture that best shows the different hinge sizes.  The one of the left is a standard door hinge and the one of the right is a about 1/2" shorter.

Let the Painting Begin

If year one at this house was the year of demolition and remodeling then year two will be the year of painting. We have a ton of work to do!  We are just about ready to prime and paint the new drywall, so I figured I should get started on the laundry room first.  I bought paint for this room a few months ago, but haven't found the time to get to the painting. It is time to get rid of the green and yellow.

After the doors and hardware were removed I had to find a new home for all of this stuff.  Apparently we didn't give much thought to organization when we moved in.  It fit and was behind the cupboard doors -- good enough.  The entire right side is all dog stuff.  Maybe Kodak needs to help!

And after everything was removed we could see our nice yellow cabinets.

Soon to be white...

 

After the first coat.

I also had to work on the doors. Ready to be cleaned and painted.

I thought green and yellow were bad, but apparently these things were blue, orange, green, and some form of gross olive green in a former life.

I took them outside and scrubbed them down first.

Then we setup an area in the garage to spray the shutters.

After the first coat.  Unfortunately, these are going to need more than two coats and the fronts and backs both need painted.  I'm hoping to get them done over the next few days