mudroom + laundry progress

David's big project(s) last weekend was spent in the laundry/mudroom (here's my previous post on this room if you're interested). We don't currently park in the garage since it's full of renovation stuff right now and disorganized toys but, especially with the rainy season upon us, we're really motivated to finally get in there. Our garage doors are original to the house (1970s) and there's no garage door opener (meaning it has to be opened from the inside and manually pulled up) so it's really inconvenient for us to park in there. New garage doors cost a lot, so we're probably going to just buy a door motor that we can attach to the old doors until we can afford to replace them.  

poor Louisa was mad that I didn't wait for her. Sorry sweet babe.

We also have a coat/backpack/shoe/rainboot storage issue, living in a split level house. That means that when you walk into our house, you immediately come into the stairs leading you upstairs to the living room, kitchen and bedrooms or downstairs to our laundry room, family room, guest room or guest bathroom. There's no room for coats, bags or shoes in the upstairs or in the entry. We do have one small hall closet upstairs that we are planning to remove next month when we work on our floors (but more on that later). 

Our laundry room is directly in from the garage. Originally, when you entered the house from the garage, it lead you to a dark hallway and a wall that was one of the interior walls of the laundry room. We decided to take down that wall and create a large opening that flows from the garage, which will be our main entry to the house for our family. Then we'll create a dual function laundry room and mudroom in here that will be great for us as we enter the house. David's going to build some benches with storage and hooks that will give us a designated spot for backpacks, keys, shoes and coats. 

He took down this wall and found that it had a load bearing beam that he will have to move over a few inches to get us the open doorway we want. He didn't get to that part yet since he needs some special tools to do it but he made lots of other progress.

On the other side of the laundry room, is our guest room that had a closet that ate into the laundry room space. The guest room is really large so we decided that we would move the closet to the other side of the guest room and still have a large room. That gives us a lot more space in the laundry room to create a mudroom bench with storage. David got to work taking down this wall. He had to move a few electrical outlets and put in one on another wall in the laundry room (to replace the one that was in the wall he removed) and put in another on the other side of the wall in the guest room.

By the end of the day, he made great progress. That lower part of the ceiling houses our duct work. It's kind of an eye sore but I've learned to accept it. The laundry room is really dark, with only one tiny light switch and no natural light. David is going to put some can lights in that will really brighten the room. It also helps that the wall blocking off the hallway is gone and it opens things up a lot.

I'm also anxious to get a new door. That black thing behind David is an old, crummy door that leads to our backyard. It's the only entrance from the downstairs to the exterior. I'd love to have a Dutch door there but I'm still searching for a good place to get one. If anyone has a resource tip, please share! :)

Our next steps are:

- Finish moving the load bearing beam
- Drywall the holes where the closet used to be
- Mud and prime the walls
- Install can lights
- Replace flooring (we need something hard-wearing and easy to clean)
- Replace door with Dutch door
- Install laundry sink and cabinet
- Install upper cabinets above washer, dryer and sink
- Build bench and storage with hooks
- Decorate (that's a long way away, but I'm trying to remember that this renovation stuff is fun too!)