We loved this house when we moved here 17 years ago, but little by little we have been making changes to make it more "ours." One area that has vexed me since the beginning was the laundry room and guest bath. The laundry room had indoor/outdoor carpet that smelled like dirty diapers. I tore it out early on, and painted the plywood subfloor, but it was impossible to keep clean and looked horrible. The bathroom had a tolerable linoleum floor, but I didn't like it very much. Both rooms had built in cabinets. We tore out the one in the bathroom early on and put a bureau there. It was useful but didn't look good. The cabinets in the laundry room were deep, things put there got "lost" in the back. The washer/dryer blocked one of the doors and made it hard to access. Meanwhile the big closet in the room had a nice shelf on top of it that ended up being a place where we crammed blankets, quilts and other linens. It looked messy, disorganized and things put there were hard for me to access.
This spring I decided that both spaces were really quite nice, but so unattractive I didn't enjoy being in them. I didn't want to spend a lot of money to do a major overhaul, but it occurred to me that changing out the floor would make a huge difference. I picked out some laminate that looked like whitewashed planks and ordered it. The day the men came to install them, they got the floor started then called me up, "Your house is old and uneven. This floor will be ruined in 6 months. You will be better off with linoleum." They tore up what I had chosen and I was back at square #1. I changed up the plan I had, and went for a rather bright pattern of versatile linoleum instead of the very plain look I originally had in mind.
Meanwhile, a carpenter friend came and tore out all the built in's. A neighbor friend came and fixed the several dry wall problems the rooms had. It took a while for the floor to come in, but one happy day they came and did a beautiful job installing it. The whole place was so much brighter! The carpenter came back and put up trim where it was missing. I ordered new light fixtures to replace the very unattractive ones that we had, and my curmudgeon of an electrician came and put them up for me. Next a coat of paint, (color masterfully chosen by interior designer niece Elyse to harmonize with the floor) made everything look clean and fresh.
During all this time I spied a vintage sink at an "antique" place. It was outside, and pretty rough.
I could imagine it replacing the oh so ugly sink and vanity. For $50 we brought it home.
The plumbers came and installed it. They put in a new faucet for me, too.
This entire project started in May or June. Today it is almost finished. Instead of dreading to be in the laundry room, I find excuses to go there now. Clean, organized, bright and pretty, it is a space that makes me happy to be in.
The adorable vintage medicine cabinet came up on Facebook Marketplace. It was a dirty putty color. Hannah and I painted it one sunny afternoon sitting at the picnic table. We made the inside a sweet pale blue. The back of the mirror has someone's name and "1935" drawn on it. A marvelous hand made treasure.
The new floor I had in mind blossomed into something a little bit larger, but we are pleased with the end result.
Owning a home means never-ending projects, constant freshening up. This particular freshening was a bit of creative fun.
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