Laundry Room/Mudroom...the project continues!

Wow it's been almost a whole year since I've got on here to post anything! Time flies and things happen in life, right? Well I also had some computer issues and basically that put a real damper on the whole blogging thing. But I am going to pick up where I left off and learn the changes in blogging along the way...I hope you'll be patient with me!

Yes, we are still working in our laundry room/mudroom. most of these pictures are from about a year ago.... do people still post before and afters? If not stay with me because you're about to see some real life ugly before anything remotely pretty! 

Our laundry room/mudroom is divided up into 3-4 areas really. So there has been a lot of thought and work into making each area work for us the way we need it to. I sure wish we had done this years ago when our girls were still at home... but life happens as it should, right?  My husband is a big DIY'er so all of the work is done by him and I do the painting and decorating. This area is obviously the laundry area. Our home was built in 1879 and we believe this area was the original kitchen. So that explains all of the weird cut out areas around the room. When we purchased our home this area had fruit themed contact paper over faux panel boards. I painted over that and that's how it stayed for years. But now we put in wood bead board and painted it white. So much better, so much brighter!

Lessons learned from painting bead board.... paint the edges of the boards before putting them up. As the boards expand and contract from the temperature changes in your home, you can see the raw wood. Much easier to just take those few extra minutes and paint the edges.

When we were first married and before our first daughter was born... not having a ton of money we got a great deal on this commercial style gas dryer. Thirty some years later it is still kicking it and seems like part of the family... ha ha. But with my new and improved laundry room we have been talking about getting a new set of matching washer and dryer.... maybe front loading. If you have front loaders I would love to hear your thoughts. I've heard both negative and positive about them.

We found this sign about a year ago at an Antique store.... it's quite large and I knew this would be the perfect spot to put it. I was so excited when he finally hung it. It is surrounded in metal and had legs that stuck in the ground. He cut them off and up it went. I love it!

 We purchased these cupboards and I love the contrast between the dark shade of stain to the crisp white beadboard. So much better then the painted over fruit contact paper days!

I found the vintage laundry cart on wheels a few years ago at an estate sale. I love the touch of nostalgia it adds to my 1879 laundry room. This area is really coming together!

I found this sign and thought it would look cute between these cupboards. 

 I tried some valances on the windows, but opted for roll shades in the same color as the cabinets. We get all day sun in this room and in the summer it just makes it too hot. We have built in cupboards on the north wall in this room and that is the current project my husband is working on. He has been stripping layers of paint that has chipped and cracked through the years. My job will be to repaint with a crisp fresh white paint. It's going to look so nice! We are trying to keep this original black and white checked tile flooring. Of course with the settling of this home built in 1879 there is some repair needed. I have collected all that have popped out since we've lived here and we have tried to find replacements with no luck. They are approximately 1 inch tiles.... so if you know of any resources to get some please let us know. Love this floor no matter how it shows it's age!

The last to get worked on will be under these windows. We are not sure of the direction we are going with it quite yet.... but next up I can't wait to show you the part of this room that kept me up at night with excitement! We just love it....

Thank you for stopping by after all this time.... I would love to hear your thoughts about what we've done so far. These older homes take alot of time and thought to make them work for the modern day family. The laundry room/mudroom is an important room for any family these days and I couldn't be happier with the way ours is turning out! I just love it! Have a great day and Thanks again for stopping by!

Bead board and Barn Lights

  Welcome!

Today I thought I would share a sneak peek of the progress so far in our laundry room. We are doing it in sections...everything takes a bit of thought and time. The first picture shows the counter that we removed and started this whole makeover project back in July. When moving here almost 17 yrs ago, I thought it was a great space for folding laundry as I pull it out of the dryer. Unfortunately, it became a place to lay everything and leave it....I got so tired of that, so out it went! 

That opened it up to the old radiator and the lath on the wall...no Shiplap here!

While deciding exactly what we could agree on for that portion of the wall, my husband started putting up drywall around the room. The walls were in such bad condition it had to be done.

My idea of putting up bead board won and he really wanted to put up "real" wood bead board instead of the panels you can buy....I love that decision!....although at the time I would have been happy with the panels....Thank you honey!

The walls got painted once the drywall was up and ready...

Then he (we) started working on the ceiling....and one of the planks fell and broke off the valve to the radiator and we had water spraying all over the new bead board....I had to basically sit on the radiator and hold my finger to the broken area for about an hour while my husband drove to the next town to the Heating and Cooling Co. and bought a new fangeled valve....

Thank goodness it fit! These radiators are old!

This is what the ceiling is looking like....

layers of chippy paint had to be scrapped off first. 

During that time our new Barn Lights arrived....

and we are in Love!

It took us some time to find exactly what we were looking for. Have you priced Barn Lights?

Well, I will tell you they can be quite expensive. These are very affordable and are the perfect size. 

Most of the lights we were seeing were not big enough around. Most were about 10 inches in diameter and for them to look right we needed about 13-14 inches. These were perfect!

I couldn't wait for my husband to get Home the day they arrived. Even though this room gets alot of light with the two windows and the door to outside all on the west wall, without these lights it can be very dark....as you probably notice in my pictures. 

I had purchased a couple of the Edison bulbs for these lights, but this is the area that I do my ironing in the morning and they just didn't throw off enough light. So until I find something else, a normal light bulb is working just fine for me. 

We are just loving these lights!

These lights going in and the bead board and paint and the ceiling has me so excited for this room finally getting done. Next up I will show another big transformation....behind the washer and dryer!

I'm so excited!

Thank you for stopping by today! I'm always excited to see who visits!

Enjoy your day!

Some call it Putting pearls on a pig!...

So I'm jumping way ahead in the progress of our laundry room makeover. Things have been a bit slow lately...my husband has had the flu, then a cold, then I got a version of his illness, then I did something to my back, then I did something to my hip and literally stayed in my PJ's for about 3 days and another few days I had to walk with a cane (thank goodness I collect vintage canes) all the while never leaving my house for about a week. But, once he felt well enough to get started again and got a little progress done in the laundry room, I got the bug to clean up the room enough to make it usable. 

I had to add some pretty to all the ugly that is still going on. I had purchased a new ironing board cover last year...Yes, last year!...in the color scheme that I new I wanted in my new to me laundry room. HomeGoods has some really nice ironing board covers and for a great price. I buy decorative items for rooms I am redecorating and try and make myself hold off until the room is finished before I start putting them out and using them. Do you do that? Well, in this case I needed to get out a few things to motivate us to get going on this room. In all seriousness, we started tearing this room apart July 21, 2016....it's time people to get moving! So...my ironing board got spruced up!

So, I stripped her down (I also forgot to get a before picture)....

Gave her a good wipe down. She desperately needed it! I don't remember exactly how we got her, but we've been married 33 yrs and I've only had her. Maybe she was a wedding gift, maybe she was a hand me down....I really don't know, but we've been thru alot and she's treated me well! I use her everyday...Yes, I still iron! Every morning for my love. It's a ritual by now and I have to say I actually Enjoy it! Yep, I do! It's me and this gal at 6:00 a.m. with the soft glow of the light and the dark outside the window and coffee on the counter by me. Do you still iron?

So I removed the old cover (that was only about 6 yrs old maybe) and the really old spongy (that was now paper thin) padding, how long ago did they stop making the spongy padding?....anyway, now they are a sort of cottony type all sewn into the actual cover. I knew when I was putting on the new cover I was in love....all over again! It just freshened up the whole room! I set my iron and pressed out the wrinkles from being in the package....

and TaDa! Just like new!

Well, almost! She needed new shoes. I mean look at them...they're all cracked and dirty. If your going to get a new dress, you kinda need some new shoes too, right? 

So I slipped them off and sent the measurements to my love and asked him to pretty please stop by and pick up some new shoes for my ironing board. So I needed to measure the opening, because they have different sizes. Side note: My love has a few measuring tapes, but this one was handy.

Much better!

I guess she can be considered Vintage now after all these years. I don't mind the dents and rusty spots one bit...afterall isn'ts that what we all kind of look for now? Well, she has them and they are well earned! I even love the vintage green color...early 80's vintage green! Kind of goes with my Farmhouse themed laundry room....Farmhouse in a little City that is!

She was all ready and waiting for her early morning get together this morning!

I'd enjoy hearing if you still iron and actually enjoy doing it. I know alot of people don't iron anymore...I even iron our pillow cases. There's a certain kind of calmness that happens when I iron!

Leave a comment and let me know what you think of ironing?