Remodeled Laundry Room

Last week I shared the master bathroom remodel.  This week I thought I would show you my new laundry room.

This was my lovely laundry room when we bought the house.  I'm not sure if you can tell or not, but the wall behind the washer and dryer is, yep you guessed it, ANGLED!

In the far corner is the hot water heater and to the left in this picture was the dreaded corner pantry.  Actually, you had to stand sideways and scoot into the pantry.  It was not the ideal situation to say the least.

Day One of the Demolition:

There's Mountain Man surveying all the damage - actually the place looks really good because we cleaned up the work site every day at the end of the day.  It made things go so much smoother.

Now, if you look past all the awful wallpaper you can see the water heater there in the background.  Things were about to change even more.

A different "angle" of the room.  We'll talk about the ceiling at a later date, when I do the kitchen post, but you can see a better shot of the wallpaper and where the laundry room is located in reference to the bathroom.

By day three - walls were going back up.  If you look closely you can see where the plumbing is for the washer - but I don't like this arrangement and I want to change things up some.

A better shot of where the angle was on the floor and where the plumbing was.  We knew that we were going to move the plumbing - so I asked, "If we are going to move the plumbing anyway, can we move the hot water heater and put the washer and dryer on the back wall?"  Now, MM was not too sure about this - he was worried about the expense of moving all this, but after talking to the plumber (yes, we hired a plumber to do this) he didn't think it was a big deal.  He thought we could move the hot water heater into the garage where we had a utility sink that we never used and move the plumbing for the washer/dryer to that back wall.

Eight weeks into the project and I have a new laundry room - or at least the first stage of the laundry room.  We bought a new front loader washer and dryer (which I love!) along with the pedestals.  We installed cabinets that match the cabinets in the kitchen to create a good flow.  However, there was still so much I wanted to do to this room (you know me, I can't leave anything alone - LOL!)

We decided that we needed additional storage, but we didn't want just more cabinets.  We decided to put in shelves on the rail system - so, if I needed I could change up the configuration.  These pictures were taken right after we installed the shelves - and they aren't even painted yet!

Oops, laundry in the washer.  Oh well, I've said that this is real life in this house!

These are the shelves in the laundry room today.  Nicely painted and decorated.  I have used them for some storage of equipment that won't fit into cabinets - although the blender is stored somewhere else now.  However, since this is the entrance into the house from the garage, I wanted to make sure that it looked nice.

These are a couple of pictures that we have owned since we lived in North Carolina.

This shot gives you a little bit of perspective of where the pictures are in the room.

Here are some close-up shots of the shelves.

Our "bear" cookie jar!

Some of the preserves that I have put up - the stock is getting a little low.  Looks like I'll be working on some more this summer.

I even have one of my crocks in the laundry room for decoration.

This shot also shows the wood floors we had installed - I love the dark wood - and the pups water dish!

Then, of course, I have to have something for the pups.

What this sign says is so true.

Samantha Ann agrees!

Then I have Jessie who gets a mouth full of food, puts it on the rug, and then eats it.  How about you guys?  Do your dogs do that?  (Oh, please excuse Sam's rear end - but these pictures are not cropped or enhanced - this is just the way it is in our house!)

So, this is a tour of our new laundry room. 

I think we made quite an improvement from this ----

To this ------

Hope you agree.

Hugs -

Carol

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http://youaretalkingtoomuch.blogspot.com/2012/02/meet-me-monday_26.html

http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/2012/02/breathtaking-before-and-after-welcome.html#more

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Menu Monday

WOW!  Can you believe that February is almost over already??  Where has time flown?  The weeks just seem to go faster and faster!

Things have been a little hectic around here lately - I am working on a lot of projects for the shower I am co-hosting for my daughter and the first grand baby.  I so want to share what I have been doing, but I can't just yet.  I'll wait until after the shower when I can share all the projects as well as pictures of the actual shower - just come back in April to see everything!

Things might be a little different this week than what I had originally planned on the monthly menu calendar because - wonder of wonders - I think we might actually go somewhere in the camper next week.  If you have been following along for any time you know that the Mountain Man and I bought a camper waaaaaaaay back in October and have not been able to go anywhere due to one health issue or another.  Well, MM has finally been told that he is "good to go" so we are planning on taking our maiden voyage.  We looked at the calendar and figured IF we don't do it soon, with all the things coming up with the baby - like getting the nursery painted, furniture put together, multiple baby showers, finishing up projects for the nursery and the shower - well, we just wouldn't be able to get away at all until July.  So, to make a long story a little shorter, we are off to the races!

Okay, enough avoiding the reason for the post - how did I do this past week with sticking with the plan?  Pretty good - but you know, life happens, so there were a couple of days that we switched some things around.  Last Monday we still had so many leftovers in the refrigerator, MM did not want me to cook anything new (I don't know if it was because we had the leftovers or because he didn't want Taco Soup, but I can tell you that every time Taco Soup comes up on the menu he has some excuse for me NOT to fix it - I think it will come off the list of possibilities for future menu plans) - so we ate out of the fridge.  Tuesday we did have Pork Chops and rice but, I am sorry to say, that I waited too late to finish using the cabbage and it had gone bad :-(.  Instead, I pulled some frozen vegetables from the freezer and used them.  Wednesday and Thursday we stayed with the plan.  However, last night, MM decided he wanted a "store bought pizza", I still have not perfected my thin crust pizza recipe, so we ordered the $10.00 "Meal Box" from Pizza Hut - and watched our movie for this week - MONEYBALL with Brad Pitt.  Personally, I think my pizza is better than what we got last night - but MM seemed to enjoy it - and I didn't have to clean up the mess, so I guess I shouldn't complain.  Tonight is Chef's Choice - we will see what we pull out of the hat - probably leftovers!

Okay, let's see what we are SUPPOSE to have this week - and I'll let you know how well we stick to it next Monday!  Next week I'll also let you know how we did money wise (but I'll tell you know - I have only gone to the store TWICE all month to buy ANY groceries!  YaHOOO!)  My goal is to beat last month's total!

Okay - here's this weeks plan:

Sunday, February 26 - Steak, Baked Potatoes, Salad

Monday, February 27 - Oven Baked Pork Chops, Sweet Potatoes, Green Beans

Tuesday, February 28 - Pepper Steak and Rice

Wednesday, February 29 - Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Thursday, March 1 - Meat Loaf, Mashed Potatoes, Honeyed Carrots

Friday, March 2 - Homemade Pizza - MOVIE NIGHT

Saturday - March 3 - Chef's Choice

So, how did you do sticking with your menu plan last week?  Did you stick to it or stray a little like I did?  What do you have planned for this week?  Leave me a comment and let me know - I love hearing from you!

Linking up to:

http://orgjunkie.com/2012/02/menu-plan-monday-feb-2712.html

http://beautyandbedlam.com/what-can-i-make-for-dinner-tonight/

Memories

Today I usually share a craft project that I am working on.  While I am, in fact, working on "stuff" I can not share them with you yet.  Why, you might ask?  Well, most of the projects that I am currently working on will be used at my daughter's baby shower that I am co-hosting in April.  So I can not show you any of these things until AFTER the shower.  I know, I know - April?  Really??  Yes, I do get carried away and I want things done early - what can I say?  I have always been that way - is that my OCD coming through?  Probably. 

Anyway - I thought that I would do something completely different today.  I have mentioned several times - okay, numerous times, that my dh and I used to be full time RVer's until a family emergency took us off the road.  However, I have never shared with you about that time in our lives.  I thought I might do a little of that today.

Some of you might wonder how I came up with the name on this blog - Are We There Yet?  Well, actually, this blog was "born" when the Mountain Man and I hit the road and I needed a way to keep in touch with family and friends "back home".  When we would go on camping trips before this big adventure I was never sure exactly where we were going, so I would always say "Are we there yet?" , so when we decided to go on the road full-time - well, the name just seemed appropriate for the blog. 

When we left north Florida we did not own anything except the truck (a F350 diesel) and the 35 foot 5th wheel Montana that we towed behind it.  We pulled out on June 18th and headed for our first assignment in Island Park, Idaho.  We had three weeks to get there and decided to take our time and get used to this "being on the road" thing.  This method proved to be our usual mode of travel.

Anyway, I thought I would share some of the pictures that I took while we were on our first assignment in Island Park, Idaho. 

Mountain Man and I

The morning we pulled out on our

"Great Adventure"

Bryce Canyon National Park

Just one of our stops on the way out west.

Moose behind our camping spot in Idaho

Johnny Sack Cabin

Our first work assignment in

Island Park, Idaho

Mountain Man and I

Yellowstone National Park

Mountain Man

 Virginia City, Montana

Mountain Man float fishing

 Snake River through the Box Canyon

 Idaho

Grand Tetons National Park

Hot Springs

Yellowstone National Park

Old Faithful Geyser

at sunset

Yellowstone National Park

Chipmunk

in the woodpile at the campsite

Object of Sam and Jessie's attention

The Chipmunks kept the pups entertained for hours (and hours)!

These are just a few of the many, many pictures that I took during our two and a half month assignment in Island Park, Idaho.  I just wanted to give you a sample of our time on that assignment  so I did not bore you with the numerous pictures of wildlife (moose, bear, elk, did I mention moose, caribou, coyotes, buffalo, and then there were moose), flowers, and scenery (Jackson Hole, Butte, Bozeman, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons National Park,  Rexburg, Bitterroot Mountains, to name just a few places - and that's not counting just the trips down "roads" to see what was there, or the museums, art galleries, theaters, and historic sites - there was sooooo much there!).   This was a WONDERFUL time but before we knew it the summer was over and our assignment was complete.

Maybe, one day in the future I will post some of the pictures I took on our trip back to Florida, where we had our second assignment at a state park for the months of November and December. 

We took part of September and all of October off and just traveled -  Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Amish country, Niagara Falls - even spent two weeks on a mountain top in Pennsylvania at a friends place.  What a wonderful time!  (Can you tell I miss the road????)

Well, I'll think I'll pack up my memories for now.  I hope you enjoyed my little journey down memory lane - and we'll have to do it again sometime.

See ya soon!

Carol

Linking up to:

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Master Bathroom Reveal

Last week I shared the master bedroom with you - so I thought I would show you the master bathroom this week.   Believe me when I say that the difference between the before and after is A M A Z I N G!!!!!

Let's look at some before pictures -

Before we actually get started, let me apologize for the quality of these pictures.  Actually, these are pictures of pictures.  You see, when I flew down from Alaska to look at the house I needed to take pictures and send them to the hubby who was still in Alaska working - and I didn't have my computer with me.  So, I took the pictures, put them on my daughter's computer, sent them to Walmart photo and had them printed in Juno, Alaska.  MM picked the pictures up two hours later.  Anyway, in the last two years my daughter's computer has crashed and I don't have access to the disc drive with the "real" before pictures.  So, I have to take pictures of the Juno pictures for you to see what it really looked like.  All this said, let's see what the bathroom was like.

Hello, ugly gray vanity!

Really, who would put a gray vanity in a house, especially with the shower tile that is coming up.  You really won't believe the combination!

This is looking back towards the bedroom.

Can you tell that the closet wall is at an angle?

Another angle coming together.  Through this door to the left is the shower and the toilet.  Completely closed off and DARK!  (Scary!)

Pretty bad, huh? 

Remember, I told you that ALL the walls in the house were angled and the bathroom was no exception.  The two closets came together at an angle here and in the picture above.

Here is a picture of the tile I was talking about! 

Really, who in their right mind would put that tile with a gray vanity and the wallpaper?????

The only good thing about this bathroom was the size - it was large and I loved the size of the shower. 

Can you see why my daughter told everyone that her parents had bought the "UGLY" house?

Packing things up for the move out of the house.

Mirrors, Mirrors, everywhere!

There were so many mirrors in this place - I saw things and parts of my body that I really did NOT want to see!  LOL!!

The two pictures above were taken the day before we started the construction.  As you can see, not much had changed in the nine months since we had moved in, but that was about to change dramatically!

Day One of Construction - Demo

Walls are almost all gone (they will be before this is all done).

If you look on the floor above I think you will see where the angled walls were a little better.  These were the closet walls.

The door on the left was a very small (angled) linen closet.  You could not even get a folded towel in this closet!

Day Two:

All the walls are down - the UGLY gray vanity is gone along with that terrible 1980's vanity light!

Ugly tile in shower GONE!

Day Three:

Walls are going back up!

And they are all STRAIGHT!

No more door separating the shower and toilet area from the rest of the bathroom area.  However, I still don't want the toilet just sticking out there - so we had a half wall installed.  There will still be the open feeling but a little bit of privacy also.

This shot shows that the bathroom area backs up to the laundry room (which went through more changes after this picture was taken).

Fast forward to Week Three:

Drywall is finally installed, but there is still a long way to go!

Six weeks into the project and we have tile in the shower and on the floor, the walls are painted, and the new vanity is in the room - but not hooked up. ( I'll explain about the vanity a little later.)

Eight weeks into the project we were able to move back into the house because we finally had a working bathroom!

Yahoo!!

Today, we have a completely different bathroom.

No more gray vanity or ugly 80's lighting.

A little decoration to help with the privacy in the toilet area.

Okay, let's talk about the vanity a minute.  I have always dreamed of having a chest converted to a vanity for a bathroom, but I always thought it would be in a half bath and it would be a small chest of drawers.

When Dan and I were looking for furnishings for the house during the remodel we went to a home decorating store called 'The Barn' in Lake Alfred, FL.  They have three different buildings that house different types of furnishings.

The first building we always go into is the Antiques building.  The owners of the complex go to Europe every summer and buy antiques and ship them back to the US and we have found some nice things here in the past.

On this particular day, right inside the door, we found this beauty.

Check out the detailing.

 It was everything I thought I wanted plus some.  It had already been converted, all we had to do was add the plumbing fixture and hook it up.  Then to make it even better - it only cost $645.00!  About half of what a ready made vanity would have cost.

Some people have asked about going from a double vanity to a single - but it doesn't bother us, and IF a future owner of the house ever wants to go back to a double vanity - we left the plumbing in the wall - so it would not be a major reno for them to go back (but I don't know why they would EVER want to do that!)

 You might think that we spent big bucks on the reno here, but we didn't.  I have already told you what the vanity cost - the lighting and the mirror came from Lowe's.  Yep, you read that right - Lowe's.  I couldn't believe how close the mirror came to matching the vanity and it is the perfect size - cost $89.00.  Lights were $69.00 each.  They can be hung with the light shining up or down and the arms on the fixture move.  We actually came in WAY under budget on the bathroom (but that is a good thing because some other things came up in the reno that we weren't expecting that took up that extra money).

I am extremely happy with the master bathroom.  What do you think of the difference between this

and this?

I would love to know what you think of our new master bathroom - leave me a comment.  It will be interesting to see your take on the changes.

Next week I'll share the master bedroom closet and the linen closet- they went through quite a transformation also!

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http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/2012/03/how-to-make-hanging-starfish.html
http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/2012/03/sat-nite-special-127-full-room-reveals.html
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