Laundry Room Makeover - That Really Isn't

We have an extra refigerator/freezer. It has been in our garage but it just doesn't work very well out there. After speaking with some appliance people - it's because the ambient temps in the garage are too hot/too cold and so the fridge/freezer thinks it needs to work really hard or not hard enough. We tried putting it in our basement but it doesn't fit through the doorway at the bottom of the stairs. I had the brilliant idea just last Monday that we should move it into our laundry room. While Addison was spending the afternoon/night at her grandparents Oliver and I decided to give it a try. This is what the laundry room looked like before...

It has a bunch of cabinetry but I haven't really loved it. To me, it feels crowded. I know - some of you have your washer and dryer in a closet and I shouldn't complain - and I didn't say it IS crowded - it just FEELS that way. I hate how it is long and narrow. Anyway - the only thing we use the counter space for is to pile clean laundry. Sometimes 6 loads at a time before we get to folding - so we don't really need the counter space. It just supports our laziness. So we went at it with a crowbar, hammer, screw driver, and exacto knife and it all came out. Don't you just love how the last owners tiled on top of the old linoleum - top quality work people, top quality :)

We then hauled the beast inside (we probably should have measured that it was going to fit before we banged out all the cabinets). We had to remove absolutely EVERY piece that could be taken off to fit it through the door. The thing is gigantic! And even removing every single piece - it did have to get a few good shoves and a gouge out of the door frame to fit.

Here is how it looks now - it isn't a true makeover in that we still need to patch the walls, sand, paint, put up curtains (since we now have neighbors and can't streak through the laundry room anymore), and refinish the cabinets. But it is a start and it is AWESOME to have the fridge/freezer inside. I'm having my first freezer meal cooking day on Saturday - and it is going to be awesome that the freezer actually works!

I would really love our washer and dryer to DIE so that I could get energy efficient ones that fit side-by-side on the back wall under the window but up on a pedestal. And I would prefer open shelves to the cabinets that we have. But that is going to require re-plumbing, re-wiring, and money and there are SO many things higher on the priority list. So, for now, this is where the makeover ends...but it will get a coat of cheery paint in 2012. At least that's in the budget!

January spur of the moment house upgrade - COMPLETE!