The Adored Abode

It’s week 5 of the One Room Challenge. As a reminder the One Room Challenge team has extended the event by one more week so the big reveals for all of the guest participants will be November 16th!

If you are new around here, we will be completing our laundry room (which is also our pantry and what we call our “dog room”) for this 6 week challenge. You can catch up on week 1 here, week 2 here, week 3 here, and week 5 here.

This week was all about installing the cabinets and counters that will be used in the room.

Our laundry room is a 5′ x 10′ rectangle. The left side of the laundry room has our stacked washer and dryer. A small countertop area will go next to it the washer and dryer, a large open shelf below will go below the counter, and wooden shelves with brackets will be above the small counter. On the right side of the laundry room we planned to add a long counter area, with one two door cabinet and a large open shelf under the counter, with similar wooden shelves with brackets (that will act as our pantry) above and to the left of the counter.

This past weekend we added a pre-built stock cabinet above the washer and dryer and we measured and installed the ledges the small counter top and open shelf will go on. We also cut the shelf and the laminate counter, but have not installed them yet because it is a small area (with the built-in around the washer and dryer) so we wanted to install the counter until the shelves that will go in above it are installed. We were able to stain all of the wooden shelves this weekend, but will not install them until this weekend because we wanted them to have time to cure.

On the right side of the room we installed the one cabinet and counter top above it it, leaving the area under the left side of the counter top open as we might use this as the dog feeding station, but we can always add a shelf or two later on in this space if the feeding doesn’t work out (we aren’t sure if the dogs will like it or not, they are weird about where they eat their food).

In terms of cost for building products we used for the space we were really going for the least expensive. We know this is not is probably not the permanent laundry room location for this house (i.e. a kitchen gut down the road would likely move the laundry to the basement) so we we didn’t want to spend a fortune, but we wanted the space more functional and prettier than it was before. For reference, the cabinets we used were unfinished stock cabinets from our local hardware store (we will probably neverrrr buy these again, they are not very good quality, but by handyman husband was able to work his magic and fix them up a bit). The countertop we went with was this laminate counter from Ikea. We were very impressed with the counter, it gives the exact look I wanted, while be very inexpensive. It definitely does feel like laminate, but it’s a great option for those that don’t want to spend a ton on counters. I would potentially even use this material in a kitchen.

This weekend we plan on installing trim around the washer/dryer built-in box, priming and painting the cabinets, and installing the wooden shelves. Then we will be in the final stretch and I will be able to add all of the pretty touches and actually put our food on our new pantry shelves. Currently our “pantry” is a metal shelving unit that is temporarily sitting in our breakfast nook so I am very excited to have that out of the way.

If you remember from last week’s post I am having a dilemma about what to do with the flooring. Well, I haven’t forgotten about it, but I think I am leaning towards repainting the flooring in the laundry room a single color and continuing the paint into the kitchen as well for a more cohesive look. I think. I still really love the stenciled floor and would be a sad to have it gone, but if I’m going with my gut (which I usually try to) it’s telling me to paint all of the floor the same. I will be sure to keep you posted!

Below is the list of items we plan to complete in the next 2 weeks:

• Install built-in dog feeding station
• Install open shelving above pantry cabinets/counter
• Add window treatment
• Create organized pantry storage
• Hang artwork

As a reminder, here is the design board I created for the space.

That’s where we are, friends! I am so glad you are following along. Be sure to check out the rest of the ORC participates here!