Dirty Laundry

Old Kitchen/Laundry/Rehab - How many activities can you count?

When we bought this house, the laundry was located in the basement. And it wasn't a nice, finished basement either. It's the scary, dirty, dark, concrete floor/rattling pipes/hanging wires/mouse and cave cricket infested type basement. Not a place I ever wanted to do laundry.

That first year, my father helped us move the machines and connections up to the first floor. In the 10 years since, they've remained on the first floor, but have changed places throughout the years as the house morphed around them. They started out in the old bathroom, which became the spare bedroom when we ripped out the wall, which eventually became the open, gutted spare junkroom (aka the new kitchen-to-someday-be), or they lived in the current (now old) kitchen which also served as the rehab clinic during the summers. (In the photo above: That's not a microwave - it's a baby bird incubator! Who can find the tray of live mice? Yep! Right next to the tomatoes from the garden waiting to be canned. How about the duck food? And of course, there's the puppy who prefers the clean laundry over her crate...)

When I returned to NJ for a visit this past September, we finally decided on a floor and installed it, and hung a few of the IKEA cabinets. The door style in the laundry is the solid ash (but now discontinued) Askerum.

In August:


Floor selection:

Tasha had her own opinions about the tile. After all, it's where she'll be eating and sleeping!


Cabs going in: This shows the IKEA hanging rail system. (These pics were taken with a cell phone. It was after my camera broke.)





Floor installation: We used Ditra isolation membrane as an underlayment for the tile.






We still have to add the finishing fillers/molding on the cabinets and the tall storage cab and upper cabs on the opposite wall. We're due for new front loaders as well, since the Kenmore washer dates from 1987 - but it's still going strong. The last thing left is to replace the hideous cheap plastic laundry tub with a pretty porcelain pedestal sink, and add a mirror, light and switches. Wow. Do you think we'll ever finish anything in this stupid old house?


I love the way the floor turned out. The room is small, but at least it's dedicated to one task, has lots of storage and natural light, and the laundry that comes out of here will be truly clean - even if it falls on the floor!