I Just Wanted to Paint

The story of our laundry room…

So there we were, just got done ‘Phase 1’ of our house renovation plan; painting and organizing the first floor. ‘Phase 2’ was gutting the entire second floor but circumstances were not allowing that yet. So we turned to the laundry room. And this was one of those projects that I thought was going to be small but kept getting bigger…

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This was how the laundry room looked when we moved in. Not very pretty but functional. And if I wanted to cook while doing laundry, I’ve got it made. What?!?… Wait… Why is there an oven range in the laundry room?

OK, This calls for a little back story… In talking with our neighbors, we have discovered a little history about the previous owners, Dominic and Ginger. They owned this house since the 1950’s. They farmed the side field and planted numerous fruit trees. They planted two apple trees, two pear trees, peach trees, fig trees, blueberry bushes, blackberry vines, grape vines and a persimmon tree in the back yard. (I’ve never even heard of a persimmon before)

I’ll be telling you more of the stories we have heard about these two great people in future posts. But for now, This part of the story explains the second stove in the laundry room. Apparently, they did  ‘A Lot’ of canning.

We love having all the fruit trees and are learning, as fast as we can, how to care for them. But I decided long ago that canning was not going to be in my near future. I may eat these words someday, but for now I think it’s safe to get rid of the oven range in the laundry room. So out it went.

I was thinking we could do a quick re-do with just some paint. My husband had other ideas…

I just wanted to paint…

Apparently my husband was excited to do his first demo on this house. So with the help of a good friend (Thank you Phil)…Out came the cabinets. Down came the soffit. Out came the closet. Washer and dryer disconnected. And Hey! We might as well do the floor, too. Up came the floor. And then, off went my husband on an unexpected business trip. 

This was when I discovered why I love to paint so much… It provides me with the ability to change the look of a room all on my own. THIS was not going to be put back together with just paint. At least I can paint the cabinets.

So I dove into my first attempt at cabinet painting. This was my first taste of painting something other than a wall and I really enjoyed it. Even though I had no clue what I was doing, they turned out pretty good. Knowing what I know now, I’m actually amazed that they are holding up three years later.

My brother added wood framing around the drawer fronts and cabinet doors to give them a shaker look. Thanks Raymond! And then I tried my hand at distressing and glazing. My thought was if I make it look aged and worn, it’ll look OK when it gets more aged and worn. Makes sense…Right?

When Hubby got back from his business trip, we went to work on designing a broom closet and hall tree type bench. And this was when I discovered my husband was even more amazing than I previously thought. He took the picture that I sketched on a yellow legal pad (I have since graduated to graph paper) and made it come to life. 

 I just find it amazing that something drawn on paper or designed on a laptop can become a real thing. It started with a thought and became a room that makes me smile every time I enter. I included these drawings because I wanted you to see it from start to amazing finish.

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We added bead board to cover the glue that was left behind. I think it adds to the rustic farmhouse look. We found an old ladder that was left in the garage and hung half of it above the sink and the other half against the wall. They come in handy when doing laundry. The back door was painted in a distressed look.

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We found a cool light fixture that looked antique on clearance and added crystal-look knobs and hooks. The original stainless steel sink was used.(It’s perfect for clean ups after my paint projects) Added was a new faucet and counter. And the floor is a ceramic tile in a wood look.

But that’s not all…We have two other doors in this small room. One is a pocket door that leads to a bathroom. Thought making it look like an outhouse door would be fun. I played around with some creative techniques and TaDah.

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And then, Finally… My absolute favorite addition to this room…                         A Barn Door!

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We couldn’t find a door to fit this space the way we wanted so hubby made one new. Yep! He did! Then I found a stained glass panel to fit and worked on staining, painting and distressing to make it look old. I’ll do a post on the ‘Door How-To’s’ later, if you’d like. Let me know.

OK, so recap (as if this post wasn’t long enough already)

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There’s the quick before and after that wasn’t so quick. It took about two months from demo to finish. I still call out “I LOVE THIS ROOM’ when I enter. And just think, all I wanted to do was paint….

So that’s all kids! If you made it to the end, you’re either crazy or committed. You decide. I think both are good. Until next time…