Laundry Room renovation with turquoise cabinets and marble ...

September 7th, 2012

When I last reported on the laundry room we were knee-deep in renovating it. Now we are sooooo close to being finished! By the time I publish this post I should have the final ?after? photo right here:

Let me give you a good recap of all the happenings of these last two weeks? Tile guy finished the herringbone marble tile floor. It looks AMAZING. So glad we decided to just do it. Also the white on the floor makes the room feel much bigger and brighter. Here?s a quick detail shot (still doesn?t show it?s true awesomeness).

*** Okay I have to do a disclaimer right now? first of all, I?m not a great photographer, secondly this is a really really hard room to photograph, thirdly the lighting changed so much between daytime and nightime shoots and then finally when the lighting was installed. So you?ll see a variety of coloring and I?m sorry! I tried to color correct etc, but there were so many photos that some are kind of blah, and some are super bright! Please forgive me!!***

While the floor was being finished, Mr. Project built the cabinets and frames according to the measurements on our plan. After the floor was installed, the cabinets were installed too. (with a little cleanup help from Mr. Oliver)

And once the cabinets went up, the shelves went up, along with the ?backsplash? of wood planks.

The wood planks are just left-over flooring that we had lying around. It?s the back-side and stuck on the wall with adhesive and finish nails.

I don?t think I ever mentioned the batten wall that we decided to do. I wanted to do it all along, but knowing how busy Mr. Project was, didn?t want to push my luck. In the end he decided to put the batten wall up, and I?m soooo happy that he did. It?s such a great balance to a very lop-sided room. Here is the batten wall prior to painting:

And then after being puttied & sanded:

FYI the size on the base is 5.25?, the batten strips are 3.5? and the header is 7.25?

Now that the cabinets were installed, we could dry fit the wood countertop that Mr. Project made from solid 2? Alder wood, and cut it to size. (and make sure the washer and dryer actually fit!)

Of course Mr. Oliver had to help with more cleanup first:

Mr. Project was also busy building a rolling hamper cart to go on the right-side of the W/D. I purchased the John Louis baskets from overstock.com, and once we got them in the mail, Mr. Project made some quick plans and then built the cart to fit everything. Having never seen the baskets, I wasn?t 100% sure that it would work out, but it all came together perfectly and fit into the space perfectly too.? I had originally thought about doing plastic laundry baskets that slid in and out of channels in the cart, but at the end of the day I wanted something with a higher-end finish, and these metal baskets definitely fit the bill. I?m planning on doing a little vinyl ?darks? and ?lights? on the front of each of the baskets in the future. The top basket holds the softener sheets, baby detergent, cleaning rags etc. All those little things that you tend to need at your fingertips when doing laundry.

So now that the cabinets and shelves are installed, finish work can begin! Lots of puttying, sanding etc. to make everything look just right. And the wood counter tops, now stained and sealed are ready to be installed and then the wood paneling above it. Oh and I can?t forget the sink and faucet. That was a huge upgrade getting a sink plumbed and installed yay!

You can also see the crown molding has been added!

Now to Paint Paint Paint! Mr. Project is such a great painter! He painted the wood planks? SW Duck White, and the cabinets are 75% of KM Acapulco Aqua. The Color looks good.. but also scary! We definitely had some nerves about it especially since the surrounding walls are SW Sea Salt, and we didn?t want the whole room to look like an aqua bomb had gone off in it. I knew the board & batten wall would help bring in more white to the space (along with the white floor and backsplash) So I just hoped it would all come together in the end.

The cabinet doors still needed to be painted, that took 2 days of spraying in the garage. In the mean time I kept myself busy by looking for some accessories for the shelves. I originally intended to use some baskets but found that they felt and looked so heavy in the space, so I just ended up with a mish-mash of items a few new, but mostly older things that I?ve collected here and there. I?m sure it will change a bit over time, I like to move things around in the house as I find new things and discover old things that I forgot about. I definitely like the look of the open shelves and how it makes the space seem much more open and large compared to just a whole wall of cabinets. So glad I made that design choice.

And this is what you do with your toddler while you?re trying to organize and accessorize:

Mr Project painted and installed the doors, and it was like a hallelujah chorus! The color looked so great, and the edging on the cabinets really helped ground the look of the aqua and make it look expensive.

The next day I got all the pulls in the mail? I was a little nervous about these too. I tend to go with shiny metals unless it?s oil rubbed bronze. But when I was faucet shopping, I found a brushed stainless faucet and so I decided to match metals in this small space and get some brushed nickel pulls. The pulls look really beautiful, the styling on them is perfect ? a little masculine, but a lot feminine and definitely high-end. I purchased Restoration Hardware 8? Strand pulls for the tall doors and sink ?drawer? and Restoration Hardware 4? Strand Pulls for all the other doors. I also got the cute RH Strand rectangle knobs for the drawers which I had originally intended on using a crystal knobs for, but couldn?t help myself when I saw the Strand set all together. I?m really happy with how they turned out, though I think I could have gone with Oil Rubbed Bronze and been equally happy (but would have had to find another faucet I think).

And here they are in the wild:

So with all the pulls installed, the small drawers in place, the room is pretty much complete! We had some can lights installed today by our handy electrician, and Mr. Project made the attic access look a little less noticeable as well. And now the last thing to be done is have the new outside door installed (just waiting for our door order to come in!), and then the room will be absolutely perfect. I?m so glad we went with the blue cabinets. I know I was nervous about it before, But I love how the space has so much life to it instead of just being a dull laundry room. I just wish that the room was a bit bigger so that I could take good photos of it. Really you have to see it in person to enjoy how beautiful it is. I tried to do a panoramic photo by splicing a few other photos of it together? so you can get a better feel for the space? ignore my terrible splicing ? the wide-angle lens really does a number? any photographers out there want to take pity on me?

And if you can forgive me for that monstrosity, keep scrolling because here are the official ?after? photos now that the new (much brighter) lighting is installed:

(ignore the old brown door)

Whew!! It?s been a long 3 weeks, much more so for Mr. Project who is so amazingly awesome (as you well know by now). So a special super duper thanks to Mr. Project for all the hard work he does, and of course a nod to Ollie for his cleaning help ? and mostly for being really good during the craziness.

Source: http://www.theprojectgirl.com/2012/09/07/laundry-room-finished-progress-photos/

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