Laundry Room

Kitchen Dreaming

Posted by Lindsay C on Apr 4, 2010 in Design, Featured Articles, inspiration, Kitchen, Laundry Room | 2 comments

I really, really, really want to change my kitchen.  It’s very small right now, but we have the space to expand it and fit our needs a lot better.  And we could really use the storage…and the dishwasher.    So I’ve been playing with CAD today to make sure Glenn and I are on the same page – because by just talking about it I find that we often have COMPLETELY different ideas.  And I’m very visual so this helps…

Here is my idea – new L-shaped countertop with a breakfast bar with cabinets above and below in the existing dining room (where the striped wall is if you’re familiar with my house).  This is at the top of the drawing.

Then we’ll bump back the laundry room wall (4 feet back) into the garage and add a wall of pantry/floor-to-ceiling storage, and we’ll move the fridge there.  This is at the bottom-right of the drawing.  See – not a crazy change, just expanding above and below.  Plus we’ll add some new flooring to the entire kitchen space to unify it.  I can’t wait!  Oh, and I want a new door to go out to the ‘South Alley’ – one that is almost completely glass because this is the only Southern facing wall in our house and that is where the most light comes in.  Bring on the sunshine!!

Hello.

Posted by Lindsay on Mar 8, 2010 in Design, DIY, Featured Articles, Laundry Room, Wallpaper | 2 comments

I have a problem.  I start a blog post, but don’t finish it.  I find 1 good inspiration image, then I get stuck.  My draft list is getting longer and longer on here.  I try to squeeze a post into the free moments that I have, but it’s not enough time.  I have a ton of photos on my camera that never make it to my computer.  And then I have 5 client projects I’m working on.  And calories that need to be burned.  Where was I going with this? 

So I’m going to stick in one or two (okay, 3!) images of a cool product that I’m actually considering for my own house…because I am so excited that the wall between my garage and my laundry room will soon be a distant memory, and it will be replaced with another set a few feet back.  And it will be the new home of my refrigerator and my new pantry.  Because putting food on the open shelf above my washing machine isn’t cutting it anymore!

Beadboard wallpaper. Oh yes…because who can stand to paint brand new wood?  Because I want it painted.  And who can afford to run it floor to ceiling, like my inspiration image.  I saw this image (below) and have saved it for my laundry room.  And I’m a bad blogger and don’t remember where I got it.  Sorry!  I think it’s Martha Stewart, but I’m not sure.  Please let me know if you know!

Cool glass containers should go above my washer and dryer.  Not food.    And I found the cool wallpaper while browsing the latest Land of Nod catalog.  They’re now offering wallpaper (I love the paintable textured options) and eco-friendly Mythic paint from their catalogs.  I’m sure I’ve seen it before, but I forget about things with so many options!

$30 for an 11 yard roll (20.5″ wide). And my mother-in-law can hang wallpaper.  And I am getting a tax refund.  And I’d like to spend it on my kitchen…what are you spending yours on?  Home related or other?  I am excited that our big kitchen plans might be coming to life sooner than expected!

Have a great week!!

-Lindsay

Airing my dirty laundry!

Posted by Lindsay on Feb 11, 2009 in Appliances, Design, Laundry Room | 0 comments

Yippee! Our new washer and dryer are here and they’re in!! Now the rest of the room looks…umm…unfinished and uuuggglly! But aren’t they pretty??

Our new washer and dryer in our laundry room!

Our original thought was to install a countertop over the set (I love that look!) to have a folding surface and storage surface…but as you can see, our plumbing is installed too high on the wall and that won’t work:

Laundry room plumbing - exposed!

I think we might purchase the pedestal drawers for them to sit on.  That will raise them, hide the plumbing, and give us more storage.  Here were some of my original sketches (before they got here), but I think we might do a combination of the 3. I’ll do a new sketch soon:

My current laundry room. (Click to see the larger photos).

We use this room as a “mud room,” so I think what we need is some shoe/boot storage and hanging hooks for coats and dog leashes.

Pottery Barn "Brady" Entryway Storage

This type of storage would be perfect!

Functional, yet beautiful!

Posted by Lindsay on Feb 5, 2009 in Appliances, Design, Kitchen, Laundry Room | 3 comments

I love a beautiful laundry room. I have no idea why, but I suppose if you can have a beautiful utility space, I am smitten! In my new home, we actually have an actual laundry room which I am so excited about! Not that I LOVE doing laundry (I don’t mind the washing, it’s the folding and putting away that gets me!), but I am dreaming of the day that it is painted, new cabinets are installed, and it is organized and beautiful! Ours is right off the kitchen (it’s sort of a glorified hallway) and you have to walk through it to get to the garage and the side door. So I guess it’s a laundry/mud room which is perfect! We actually use the side door a lot to enter the house, so it’s a great place to dump your things and take off your dirty shoes. We actually plan on someday bumping the wall back that it shares with the garage, just far enough to add a long counter top and upper and lower cabinets, as our kitchen is pretty teeny and this would add a sort of butler pantry for extra storage – something that you can NEVER have enough of! So eventually this will be a pretty amazing room for organization nerds like me!

Here is pretty much what my laundry room looks like now:

Laundry Room "Before" (Bleh!)

But my new washer and dryer are in! We are going to go pick them up on Saturday – woo hoo!

My new beauties!

And here are some laundry rooms I admire…drool…

Organized Laundry Wall

Organized small space (I think that might actually be my new set in the pic!)

Beautiful laundry room (linked to flickr)

Another flickr find!

Another one - apparently on a budget!

Small space, but so cute!

Maybe this will motivate me to keep up on the laundry…for once…