enJOY it by Elise Blaha Cripe

ORC: two weeks in and too many changes!

We went up to Sacramento last weekend (the girls and Paul actually stayed the full week and I am headed back tomorrow for a wedding!) and were able to see some progress on the laundry room. Lots of updates and a surprise twist! Let's run through them for a One Room Challenge update.

FIRST: we met with a contractor. He is someone we know through Paul's mom and we are excited to work with him on some small and HUGE projects over the next year. His team demo-ed the laundry room (and powder room) floors last week and we decided to have him install the new floors in both rooms. I am sad we will not be tiling ourselves but also relieved. If we lived up there right now it would be so fun. Trying to squeeze it in during brief trips up isn't going to work.

SECOND: I did get a chance to see the Hunter Green hex tiles in person! I laid them out to test my pattern. I absolutely love it. You can see above that it's going to be a bit off center. That left side is going to stay the same for sure but, I think when it's actually in place with spacers it will be a bit more even on the right side (but also that side will be covered by the washer and dryer).

THIRD: we picked a grout color for both the bathroom and the powder room (I am a Make A Choice Once person so most likely this will be the grout that goes everywhere grout is needed in the house). We are going with Laticrete Light Pewter it's a pretty gray/taupe color that I think will look good but also be able to get dirty (aka, not a white).

FOURTH: I found the extra tall beadboard! I was worried that this was going to be something I had to order and was excited to find it at Home Depot. The panels are four feet wide by eight feet tall. I plan to get them cut down to probably 5 feet in store. I will add some simple casing like this to the top and then I ordered these shaker pegs. So my wall dreams are coming true!

FIFTH: Some of the green colors I thought I liked all looked terrible in person. I had sample pots made and none are right. The far left is SW Privilege Green and it looks too minty. The middle is SW Farm to Table and it looks too gray. The right is SW Balsam Fir and it looks fine in these photos but eh. I can test Basil and Dried Thyme but I fear they will bit too gray as well. It's impossible to tell in photos but the room is very dark and the color is tricky.

But, finally SIXTH: picking a color might not matter! I may be replacing the cabinets all together; not just the doors. It's a long story for another blog post but the Cliffnotes is: we may be embarking on a much larger remodel these next few months and if we are doing the kitchen cabinets, it may make sense to do these cabinets and the hallway cabinets with them (and possibly add more functional drawers!). We are in a good situation: we have this empty house and, because we sold our San Diego house October 1st (we will be renting back through next June when Paul is out of the Navy), we have the ability to make changes now instead of waiting until we are there and trying to live (with cats!) through a remodel.

So we will see! Ultimately I am moving forward and making some progress on this One Room. But it may turn into the All Room Challenge here pretty soon.

making plans for the laundry room.

sources: cabinet doors, possible paint color, light, floating wood shelves, similar washer/dryer, utility sink, possible faucet option, 4" hex tile.

This fall I am going to be working on our laundry room in the new house as part of the One Room Challenge. I have watched this challenge on Instagram for the past few years and am always hugely impressed by every transformation. I am sure we are not going to "finish" by the deadline (the lead time on the cabinet doors alone puts us at January), but I love a public goal so I am going to join in anyway.

Our new house is the first time ever that we will have a designated laundry room! In San Diego (and Oxnard before that), our homes have had the washer and dryer in the garage. It wasn’t a big deal and we were very used to it but this new extra space is exciting.

What I like most is that there is now a transition space between our garage and our house. For the most part, our family enters the house from the garage and so I am excited to have a place to put the “stuff.” Stuff like backpacks, lunch boxes, shoes, umbrellas, reusable shopping bags, cat food, cleaning supplies, etc. Right now, these items are spread out all around our house and it works! Of course it works! But this will be new and fun.

Here are my plans so far:

One whole wall is filled with floor to ceiling cabinets and I am so excited to keep them but replace the doors. I am planning to use Nieu Cabinets Cottage Style doors and have them painted in a to-be-determined green color. My plan is to get hidden hinge doors. We will see how the installation goes but I am feeling hopeful after watching this YHL tutorial. I am going to replace the hardware too. Not sure with what yet.

You can just barely see in the photo above that there are also cabinets in the hall to the left and we will be filling probably half of those with pantry staples and lesser used kitchen items (like some of our serving platters, maybe my kitchen aid mixer) and then the other half will be "fun" storage like games, art supplies, pool towels, swimsuits, googles, etc. (This hall goes by the powder room that leads out to the future pool and is also right off of the kitchen). I plan to replace the hall cabinet doors with the same cottage style doors. The door to the right in the photo above goes to the garage.

I have looked at every Sherwin Williams green there is (Nieu Cabinets will paint them for you if it's a SW color) and we have sort of narrowed it down. Above are a few we sampled while up there. The room is dark and so anything we paint is going to read darker. I want it to be green for sure but not green green, so something with a bit more gray to it is where I am leaning.

We are going to be using the poppy wallpaper in the photo above in the dining room which is right around the corner and so I want the green to fit with that as well. I think I am leaning toward Rosemary or Dried Thyme (the two on the white paint swatch). Both feel green but more of a muted green? Ahh. We will see.

On the wall next to the cabinet wall you can see the door to the garage again and the existing beadboard wainscotting. I love the beadboard, but I would like run it closer to 3/4 the way up the wall and add pegs at the top (similar to some inspiration photos here). Above the beadboard the wall will be painted white (Greek Villa by Sherwin Williams is the current plan) and the trim and beadboard will be painted green to match the cabinets. I am excited about the hook storage but also (honestly) just think it looks cool.

The previous owners took their washer and dryer and we will most likely be bringing our current models up with us when we move. (Also, here is the point where I tell you we are going to install a clothes line in the back yard to start air drying our laundry more often! My mom has been doing it and I am excited to start up as well. When needed, the washer and dryer will both be powered by our solar.) I plan to remove these upper cabinets and install two open wood shelves that will hold detergent, clothes pins (in a cool bucket or something), baskets and of course a plant.

The current metal sink I would like to move to the garage (never enough utility sinks) and replace with a hanging sink like this.

We are planning something fun for the floor! I ordered Tusk and Hunter Green 4" hex tile from Fireclay Tile. Both were on their "quick ship" section and are just beautiful. We may be installing these ourselves but I am not sure if timing wise that is going to work out. The last time Paul was at the house he laid some of the pattern (above). I played around with it again and I think measurement wise the border may end up fitting better if we try the layout below.

Either way, I am so excited.

And finally lighting! The current can lights are probably 5000K in color but they are also dim. So it's like an operating room but somehow still dark? I don't know what's going on. Obviously we could just switch them out for better bulbs but you can see in that very first photo that one light is off center from the others. I am going to chat with an electrician and see if we can change them for flush mounts and depending on how bright those are, that is maybe cover up two of them as well. Who knows?! I feel like I have a lot to still figure out here but that should make it fun.

Looking forward to sharing more here and on Instagram through the ORC.