Laundry/Pantry Update!

Our laundry room and pantry are actually just a hallway with closets for the washer and dryer and for food storage. There is a doorway leading out onto the back porch on one end and the other end is open toward a little space where the main bedroom and basement doors are. It is an important part of our house but the only ones who spend much time there are Toby and me. Therefore, it has been somewhat neglected the entire time I have lived in this house. Oh, I've organized the pantry and had hung some sundries on the wall but really, it was just left to be a functional space with no love...until this spring.

Way back in the summer of 2018, we splurged on a house update and had the windows replaced. We also had one of the doors replaced at that time - the one that leads out of the laundry room onto the back porch. In the process of that, a part of the floor needed replacing due to water damage where the rain and weather had leaked in from the previous door. So, we were left with a space that looked like this:

Dated linoleum with a hole cut into it and nice roughed-in plywood space for the floor. Bifold closet doors that were off-track and dragged across the floor in one spot. One might say it was a space where sadness abounds. However, Toby and I just made the best of things and went on about our business. I gave him a nice little pallet to lay on and we were careful to make certain the doors didn't fall off when washing and drying clothes. 

The washer and dryer were a bit old-school. The dryer came second-hand from a 2014 or 2016 Facebook post where Mike's nephew needed a washer for the dairy barn and we needed a dryer because our old one was going through a couple of cycles to get clothes dry. We each gave the Facebook poster a $100 bill and we had new-to-us appliances. Both the washer and dryer were noisy but serviceable. Then, last summer, the dryer started needing a bit more time on heavy loads to get things dry. So, our eldest grandson, Harris, and I pulled it out to suck lint out of the vent. In doing so, we found that the plastic pipe that led outside had begun to crumble from years of age and use. We did a really marvelous job of duct taping it to repair and hold it in place. However, over the winter, the dryer started making a high-pitched squeak and squawk and often needed a second cycle to get the clothes dry. Mike and I decided it was time to bite the bullet and get a new one. 

Ordering a new washer and dryer sounds simple until one takes a pause to consider that the vent pipe needed replacing and the floor needed replacing first. Plus, finding a handyman to take care of those jobs in this era proved difficult. We checked locally and found nobody would even respond to our call. So, we decided to call on my cousin's husband who had done some work for us during the pandemic, Richard Stanaland with The Tool Chest. He was willing to put us on his list even though the drive is almost an hour from his house. He and cousin Faye came over and gave things a good look. We agreed that adding bead board to the long wall opposite the washer/dryer closet and pantry would be a good idea and found a couple of non-working fluorescent light fixtures in the pantry and washer/dryer closet that I didn't even know were there. Richard agreed to replace them as well. He took measurements and gave me the dimensions for the amount of flooring to order. Then, about seven weeks later, he sent me a text message saying he would see us in a couple of days. 

Now, my hope was to put a tile floor down in this area because I wanted it dog and waterproof. After all, this serves as Toby's 'room' most of the time. However, that was not a possibility without some major reconstruction on the door opening because it was so near to the plywood sub-floor. We all decided that reconstruction wasn't a good option and Richard suggested we look at vinyl plank flooring to get similar protective covering. Wow! there were so many options. So, right after Richard's initial visit, I surfed the net and looked at all the options. Mike quickly told me that whatever I thought would suit him fine. So, I landed on one and ordered a sample. Within a couple of days, I ordered the amount that was suggested by Lowe's according to the measurements and it was delivered by the end of the week. So, we slid it under the bed and it lived there acclimating till our opportunity on Richard's list came up. 

Mike called a friend who said he'd take the washer and dryer away and Stephen, Mike, and I moved them out onto the back porch. I cleaned things up a bit and removed everything that was on the floor of the pantry and the items on the wall to be ready for our handyman. Richard's first steps were to remove the baseboard and shoe molding. Then, he went straight to work cutting and laying the flooring. By day's end, the floor was installed, baseboard and shoe molding was re-installed on the closet side of the area, and things already looked lots better!

Inside the pantry

Inside the washer/dryer closet

View down the hallway while standing at the outside door

Since school was still in session, during my lunch break, I ordered the washer and dryer that I'd decided would best suit our needs and found that it would be delivered promptly within a couple of days. The late afternoon found me at the local Ace Hardware store selecting paint. I had originally thought about using a green because I was really amazed at how great this Butler's Pantry looked. However, I knew that I wanted to paint the entire long wall from baseboard to crown molding and worried that it would be a bit dark and overwhelming for such a small space. I then decided I would paint the same color as the outside of the doors on the back of the house, Wythe Blue by Benjamin Moore. However, as I stood in the paint aisle, an image on one of the inspiration pamphlets jumped out at me and I landed on Gossamer Blue by Benjamin Moore. Soon, the paint was tinted and shaken and I was on my way. 

The next day, our handyman installed the new vent piping for the dryer and the bead board along the long wall shown in the image above. Using the style with a little ledge and a couple of molding pieces that is in our guest bath, he topped off the five-foot run of bead board. Then, replaced the baseboard and shoe mold and rehung the bifold doors for the washer/dryer closet and pantry. He finished out the day by replacing the newly discovered light fixtures, swapping out the outlets and light switch plates from dated cream to modern white, swept up the dust, and was on his way. Quick work! Plus, everything looked so much better!

I got a notice that the washer and dryer would be delivered the following day. So, after I finished up work for the day, I rolled paint on the walls in the washer/dryer closet. I knew that we would not want to pull those appliances back out when the painter came and figured Toby and I would be the only ones to ever see that area. I didn't even care if the odd nail holes were patched and repaired - just wanted everything in there covered with a new coat of paint. So, by bedtime I'd slapped a couple of coats of paint on the wall.

Sad looking before of the washer/dryer closet

Brighter, cleaner looking after

Shiny new vent pipe and paint coating the walls

The young men who delivered the new washer and dryer were so patient and careful. They were patient with Mike and I chatting with them throughout the process and were patient in maneuvering the appliances into tight quarters. They were careful not to mess anything up and to be sure that the appliances were installed properly. So far the entire process was a wonderfully satisfying experience.

The new appliances in the freshly-painted washer/dryer closet

When I ordered the washer and dryer, Mike had called a local painter who had done work for us before. He said he would work us in soon since it was just a small job. So, after a couple more weeks, we got a message that he would show up the next day, bright and early in the morning. After I finished up work that day, I made a quick dash to the local Ace Hardware and they tinted a primer for the bead board for us. Then, after dinner that evening, I emptied out the pantry and gave everything a good cleaning. 

Pantry contents stashed to the side of the den

Pantry contents piled atop the dining room table

Empty but clean pantry shelves

Empty shelving in the pantry

(Richard, our handyman, had done a bit of adjustment on the pantry shelving back when he installed the front door a couple of years ago. Instead of having shelves that were two shelving boards wide, we now had brackets and the shelving wrapped around the walls. Very little storage space was lost and seeing everything on the shelves made things easier for me to keep organized. The only expense beyond paying Richard was the brackets for the old shelves that were cut to fit.)

At the end of the next day, all the walls had been painted and everything looked fresh and clean! While I had hoped to have walls, brackets, and shelving all painted, the painter told me that he thought the shelving should be painted with a trim type of paint rather than what I had purchased for the walls. So, he removed the the shelving, which would remain white and everything else got a good coat of paint.

The bead board wall, painted

The pantry, painted

A couple of days later, my daughter, Bridgette, made a visit. Since she is one who likes to use power tools (and Mike is not much of a handyman), she and her girls helped me to re-install the pantry shelving. 

Nice, clean shelving and walls

Stocked and organized

I replaced all the stuff and even ordered a couple more storage bins and turntables to keep things organized in the pantry. Now, the corners each have these Lazy Susan Turntables in the corner and ample bins to hold like items for easy organization and retrieval. 

The lights in the pantry and the washer/dryer space are so nice and brighten up even the most mundane chore and search. While the entire process took more than a couple of months, it was well worth the wait, the temporary disorder, and the expense. I love my new quiet and efficient appliances and the space is fresh and welcoming even when the chores required in that space are not thrilling or exciting. I've made a couple of tweaks that I will share in a different post but Toby and I are really happy with this little workhorse space!