We’re heading into week 4 on the One Room Challenge. I feel like the laundry room has turned the corner. By that I mean, I’m seeing some serious progress.
The transformation isn’t limited to the laundry room, either. In the spare bedroom (aka the painting area), I folded up all the drop cloths, put the paint cans away and swept the floor. It’s almost ready to go back to being a bedroom. In the basement, I broke out of the laundry room and vacuumed the carpet. This may seem like a more regular chore, but it represent serious progress because vacuuming has been on hold (as if I need an excuse) until the “messy” stuff in the laundry room is all done.
In the laundry room itself, the walls are all painted and the machines are back in place. Shall we sing praises to the power of paint? There’s no decoration or accessories, but I already feel like things are starting to come together.
Let’s take a minute and talk about laundry pedestals, okay? When we bought our new machines and chose front loaders, I knew I wanted pedestals. I hate bending over to just a few inches above the floor to do laundry. The pedestals solve that problem easily.
They do remove the ability to put a counter over the top of the machines (unless I was 10 feet tall, which I’m definitely not). I didn’t need more counter space, though, so it wasn’t a big sacrifice. The pedestals also give a lot of storage in the drawers (although to be honest I haven’t used that either).
I probably could have simply built a platform and saved us the expense of the pedestals (and they were expensive for what they are). However, I do like that we have the option of using the drawers if we want to, and I also like that they match our machines.
You might recall that I mentioned in my update two weeks ago that the washer vibrates crazily (and noisily) when it goes into the spin cycle. While we had it pulled out of the way for painting, I took the opportunity to check it over. It turns out that the bolts holding the pedestal to the machine were all loose. A few quick turns with the socket wrench tightened everything up. Now that the washer’s back in place, it’s operating much smoother and quieter. Task #11 done.
Here’s the rest of the updated to-do list. In total I was able to cross three things off this week. Let’s hear it for progress!
Add shaker style trim to the cabinetsPaint the cabinetsInstall doors and drawersRemove ceiling rack – By Oct. 3Patch ceiling and walls – By Oct. 3Paint ceiling – By Oct. 10Paint and install baseboard and paint window trim – By Oct. 10Done Oct. 13- Deep clean (sink, counter, floor, machines) –
Oct. 13Rescheduled to Oct.1926 Paint walls – By Oct. 17Done Oct. 18Replace ivory washer outlet with white one – By Oct. 19Done Oct. 18Level washing machine – By Oct. 19Done Oct. 18- Build and install ceiling rack – By Oct. 24
- Build and install towel bar – By Oct. 24
- Install cabinet hardware –
By Oct. 24Rescheduled to Nov. 11 - Build and install light fixture – By Oct. 26
- Remove non-working sprayer from the sink and plug the hole – By Oct. 26
- Decorate – By Oct. 31
Still on tap for this week? Paint touch-ups, some minor electrical work, and starting on the ceiling rack, towel bar and light fixture.
I like the small projects stage of the makeover. Hopefully they go smoothly and progress happens quickly.
If you’re curious to see the progress that other ORC participants have made, make sure to head over to Calling it Home.
How do you feel about laundry pedestals? Do you have a front loader or a top loader? What’s your favourite stage of a project? Painting? Small bits? Electrical?
Home on 129 Acres 
I think the best stage of a project is toward the end. In the beginning there’s damage to fix, wonky old stuff to tie into, air sealing and other invisible things, and it is long and thankless. Then prettiness starts to happen. But at the very end there’s always something that stays undone forever.
As for laundry appliances, I’m debating if I should get a full size top load washer that can be dismantled, carried down my narrow basement stairs, and reassembled, or if I should get 24 inch appliances, in which case I’d definitely get a front loader because they hold more. Decisions, decisions.
Dismantled, carried down and reassembled!? That sounds not at all fun. Yowzers those are some narrow basement stairs.
The trouble with the stairs is that they actually shift sideways because the basement wall is thicker than the wall above ground. So the hole in the upstairs floor is crazy narrow because it lines up with where the thickness changes. Some people widened this but it messes up the look of the living room. Not happening!
And the dismantling thing would be a local appliance shop, for a fee. I’m leaning the other way – and used smaller appliances in France. They were fine.
I see what you mean about “wonky old stuff to tie into.” We have our own wonky stuff here but nothing like that fortunately.
But I think there’s always some kind of prep that takes longer than expected and some finishing touch that goes undone. And in between is the satisfying part.
That’s absolutely the case for me!
There are a couple pieces of woodwork sitting in my parents’ house that were cut to install in 1996 😛
You win. The worst (and it’s not really my fault) was my parents who lived with a pigtail light in their sunroom from 1984 until 1999.
actually that’s pretty impressive. Though my next door neighbor is a master carpenter and has had a hole cut in his ceiling for 2 years.
My favourite is when all construction is done and it’s the fun styling bits- love seeing it come together. I’m short and like a counter so a non-pedestal gal but totally see the advantage of having them higher! Looking forward to checking back next week!!
I’m ridiculously excited about the fun styling bits this time around. Thanks for stopping by!
You’ve made such a huge difference, now you get to do all the “fun” stuff! I admire your sticking with a schedule, it has paid off!
The schedule has definitely saved me this time around.
I don’t know what to think of pedestals. This may sound crazy, but years ago my ex came up with an invention remarkably similar to them. He submitted it to a patent board, who always review all inventions and tell you if they don’t think there’s a chance yours will fly, so you can save the money if you want. Anyway, they told him there would be NO market for anything like that, and we didn’t have a ton of money at the time, so he scrapped the idea and saved the $300. I try not to think of pedestals at all, because of the what-ifs… Weird, hey? :S
What if indeed. Wow.
ok, paint is definitely the fixer of all…and i couldn’t agree more about the pedestals, I don’t even use mine to store anything but love the height it gives {and that they match} can’t wait to see how it all comes together!
I’m glad I’m not the only one who doesn’t store anything in my pedestals!
You’re a busy gal! This room is going to look amazing when you’re done with it!
So are you! How’s the ORC weekend coming so far? I’ve made decent progress, although I’m obviously procrastinating a bit now.
I agonized with this decision, too, in our last home. I did not put in the platforms, and did run a countertop across them. I loved it!! In our rental, they are on platforms, and I hate how tall it makes the tops of the washer/dryer. I would not do it (I am 5’3″). Love that your list has dates on it. Seriously organized.
It’s neat that you got to try both options and find out what works best for you.