Making the best of the last days of summer... er fall?

Once we had gotten the patio to the point where we wanted it, we still had one big area left. The area(we believe) that will sell the house for us which is the Laundry room. We have been working hard to transform it from a dark, wet room that had a shower in it as well that really was nasty and gross; to a room that a person would actually want to do laundry in. We mangled the washer dryer in a year ago, and we created the great use of the space below the stairs that was more useful that the paneling that was there.

We had one small issue with the cabinet. Apparently we had put too much weight into it and it had caused the bottom of the cabinet to sag down. We had to fix that first, so of you have a cabinet like this with the particle board bottoms, make sure you don’t over fill them or that you reinforce the bottom to keep it from sagging.

I had said a few weeks ago we had plans for storage in the laundry room for some items and using more space effectively. Well here is what we came up with, it was very simple to put together and well worth the effort. We got some more of the Birch plywood from Menards that was on sale for $22 a sheet (which is a really good deal!) and cut it into sections that were to make 4 boxes about 20 wide and 17 high and 24 deep( the same depth as a regular countertop) we built it all outside and made it very similar to the construction of a kitchen cabinet. This way we would be able to put a counter-top on it and it would be a very good fit.

After a coat of really good primer, we put 2 coats of a nice semi-gloss paint and then let it dry up. It was wide enough to fit a standard laundry basket in it, as well as it was deep enough you can fit a long basket in and it would not stick out too bad. We then went to Menards and got one of their 4’ countertops that was 25 bucks and brought that home and cut it to fit on top.

One other thing that may be noticed, is that we included the utility sink in the frame( it needs a front piece still) as well as the top of the sink is nearly level with the top of the countertop and the washer/dryer. Making a seamless tabletop height across all of the side of the laundry room.

A staple that has been missing since day 5 after we bought the house was a shelf that we tore down in the laundry room, so it was about time that we got that back up. One of those simple shelving units that require a drill and a hammer to completely install.  I have never been a fan of the shelving parts and the weird clips , but as an overall system it is really good for people whom just want a shelf quick.  I got a level out and made sure that it actually leaned a little back toward the wall to prevent items from rolling off the shelf onto the washer/dryer

I quick one day trimmed out the window and cleaned it(wow what a difference) and that made a large difference  it’s amazing how much of a difference the small things in the room make a huge difference on making the room feel more complete.

When I was building the shelves for the laundry room, I had some leftover wood as well as we had a space in our basement bathroom that was akward and we thought should be filled. so we had a small peice of 1 dollar menards countertop laying around and we had some extra birch plywood left over. so I took some measurements and we made a small little towel holder that fit right in between the side of teh vainty and the wall.. and we made it just a bit hgigher than the basmeent vanity so it would serve as a good shelf for things. I think it is perfect for radios, my wife says its perfect for lamps.... I still think radios are better. We just used the same paint as we had used in the laundry room and it blended perfect with the rest of the room!

Also over the last few weeks we have been prepping for winter we used a lot of things from this site, for a few reasons. This site had more than the “top-10” it actually had 50, which is a really good number to cover things that you may or may not think of. In fact I learned a few things from other sites too, for instance, did you know that leaving the storm screens in  cuts like 10-15% of the sunlight coming in, and therefore dropping the temp that the sun warms the house.

http://www.productivity501.com/50-ways-to-winterize-your-home/5986/

We also have been noticing with it getting colder that the insulating we did in the basement is already doing its job. It is warmer down there than I recall it ever has been. I know it is early, but I am being optimistic about the house staying warmer this winter.

We got the gutters cleaned( which we will have to do again, planted perennials, cleaned the garage, tested the snowblower, mulched the lawn. All things that are good to make sure are up-to-par before the snow flys.

Speaking of which, Hopefully we can show you what else we have done before the snow does fly. Thanks for checking in on us!!