Diary of a Laundry/Powder Room–The Reveal

It’s been a while, but the Laundry/Powder room is finally finished.  For those who haven’t read the previous posts, my laundry room is in the main floor powder room.  It’s quite convenient actually, but it’s never been pretty…. until now.

Here’s a sneak peek

Project Recap:

This before picture shows the bathroom vanity.  To the left of the little wall jutting out, is my laundry area.

Remember there were large bi-fold doors concealing all of this, but at this time of this picture they were already removed.

Now…. take ALL of this…. and demolish it.

**Lisa’s Advice – Don’t demolish two months before you can start the project**

Lesson learned.

The only thing salvaged and worth keeping from this entire room was the sink. 

 

Plumbing was moved behind the washer and dryer to the far left to accommodate a small sink, (which I opted to leave out at this point). Electrical, pipes and vents were moved as well.

In the previous post we covered wallpapering the room and painting some Ikea Doors bringing us to this point.  Undermount lighting was installed.

Wallpaper and baseboard in and ready for beadboard.

I wanted wood for the laundry room countertop.  We used a sheet of finished plywood, trimmed it up and stained it.  We used a Maple veneer finish.  I love the look of Maple.

Because it’s plywood it comes with the usual ugly edges that need to be finished.  We opted to use a subtle trim. With the edges concealed with the flawless transition from top to trim, it was ready to be stained.  I used the same Minwax Walnut stain that I used on the Antique Vanity top going on the other side of the room. The countertop was finished in Minwax Satin Ployurethane, while the counter on the vanity was a gloss finish.

I couldn’t have imagined that this countertop would turn out as wonderful as it did.  I was really pleased with it.  However, I was not pleased with the beadboard backsplash.  It was dull and flat.

This is where I decided to do something quick and easy.  I bought some Smart Tiles at Home Depot. This project was complete in a about an hour.

They’re really very easy to install.

With the addition of some trim, in just over an hour you’ll go  from this…

to this

In the meantime, the antique buffet to be used for the bathroom vanity is coming along nicely.

Again I must reiterate that this antique was in poor shape.  It had previously been modified and had issues with cracking and stability which we corrected.

Three drawers fronts were removed and reattached to allow for a sink to be dropped in.

I was lucky enough to have both brother in law plumbers at my house that day for the finishing touches on all plumbing issues.

* A SIDENOTE ON UGLY TILES *

Before we get to the final pictures I wanted to share with you something I learned about ugly bathroom tiles.  This was a decision I wrestled with forever before starting this project, and something Mr. Charming and I totally disagreed on.  Do we replace the floor tiles or not?  Since I’m not totally comfortable with messing with tiles on our own, this would have been something to hire out.   Paying someone to tile, having everything in an upheaval for at least a week, dust, dirt, unbearable living conditions, disposing of old tile and lets face it, just the cost of good new tiles alone….led me to the decision to keep my old tile.  The tile itself was not in bad condition but the grout was impossible to clean.  After using several products and concocting a few of my own cleaning mixtures that didn’t work, I finally found Grout Renew. It’s basically grout paint. 

Armed with nothing more than a toothbrush and a damp rag, I set out to conquer this nasty floor and prove to Mr. Charming that keeping the tile was the right decision. (Haha... Mr. Charming reading this post:  "HEY that's my toothbrush!")

The grout went from this…

to this, in no time at all.  Following  the very basic instructions on the bottle, it couldn’t be more simple. Brush on and wipe up excess with a damp rag.

With the floor cleaned up and everything in place, the transformation is astounding. I don’t have to keep the bathroom door closed anymore.

Come on in!

In the powder room area, I chose these Vintage Couture pictures.

There’s nothing on the wall over the toilet yet, but I’ll wait till I find something perfect for that area.

The old sink was perfect for this vanity.

Looking towards the laundry area

I chose the hot/cold water tap pictures for the laundry area

Aside from the door being open this room has no natural light, and although there is more than enough light in the room the pictures don’t quite capture the true color of the cabinets.  They are most like the color pictured below.

The baskets above the cupboards hold most of my small crafting supplies, without taking up valuable cupboard space and being very easy to take with me to another room.

Again here is the before picture

HOVER YOUR MOUSE OVER THE PICTURE TO SEE THE AFTER

Before I sign off, I wanted to bring to your attention that anytime I use the term ‘we’ in these posts I am referring to Mr. Charming as well as myself.  He is such a huge part of what goes on behind the scenes and I don’t pretend to present these large renovation projects as my own.  Without him these projects would be 20 x more costly to hire out.  Thankfully plumbing was all the help we needed and with that an enormous and heartfelt thank you goes out to Frank and Tony for their knowledge, skill, advice and as always, their wonderful company. Love you guys !

That’s it for now!

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