Friends - There's never enough storage

When I last posted the progress of my friends' laundry room, we had just completed work on the base cabinet and the two litter box houses that flank that cabinet.  Lu has since painted the cabinet the same color as the trim and the trim has been reinstalled.  I took a day off work and spent it at their house to finish building 2 shelving units while Chris and Lu were both at work. 

Storage by the long wall with windows

The base cabinet is made of plywood, but I built the shelving units with pine.  I started with topping the cabinet with 2 lengths of 1 x 12 pine.  I had planned to attach the shelves to the board closest to the wall from underneath so screws would not show.  This would also give Lu the option of staining the top instead of painting it if she wanted.  I also started on creating the trim around the front to which we will attach doors.



I notched out the back board to accomodate the newly added trim.

 

Next I built up, starting with the sides.  I rounded the top for esthetics.  This was one point I wasn't sure Lu would like.  I did it for two reasons - 1) with no shelf at the top, it seemed to look unfinished, and 2) I wanted to soften the room which originally started out with too many boxy shapes and lines.  Finally, I added adjustable shelving.  More on this when we continue with the other shelving unit.



 

I used up all the pine I could on this unit, so I cut the doors from the plywood.  They will be installed at a later date after they get painted.

Lu and Chris followed up this work with paint and purchases.  They now have a black bin for dirty rags and a white one for clean.  The litter boxes are installed inside their new cabinets, although Lu mentioned to me that the cats are not being neat and tidy so she will be looking for different boxes to store in the cabinets.  Finally, Chris cut a notch in the upright so the outlet cord would fit through.  They're going to attach the cord to the wall below the windowsill, once they get the herbs and spices relocated.



Storage by the door

The next shelving unit was a bit of a miscommunication.  I had always envisioned a unit as wide as the one I built.  Over the phone, I had asked for a line to be drawn on the wall to tell me how wide to go, but when I arrived, no line was to be found.  So I went ahead with the design in my head!  Now I know what goes on in the minds of trades people who work in your home, but can't get in touch with you to get details.  I left a call at Lu's place of work, but with no answer and a lunch break later, I continued my work!

The box on the shelf was the only item I knew had to fit.  Lu wanted the unit to be just wide enough to hold this box and allow her to reach in and pull it out.  Since we didn't discuss details (vertically or horizontally), she ended up with more storage.  That can't be too bad, right?

Fortunately, it was very pleasant to work outside.  Below you can see that my drill bit has blue tape on it to show me how deep to drill the holes on the side of the shelves which will hold metal shelf pins (picture below).  The first time I drilled I used a scrap piece of wood lined up carefully with the edge of the shelf and drilled straight through that continuing partially into the actual shelf side piece.  Then I was able to reuse the scrap piece on the other side (always on the inside of the entire unit) so that I had holes evenly and consistently spaced. 

The shelf pins fit into the holes and have a portion that sticks out to hold the actual shelf board.  You need 4 for each shelf.  I got these at Menards for 99 cents for a package of 4.

I had attempted to give her sliding panels as doors, but these did not work out well.  My ability to route grooves in wood with our cheap old table saw left the grooves small and not perfectly straight.  Lu was able to turn the unit around with the grooves by the back wall and just start loading up the supplies she needed to store.

 Accessories

Lu added a coat rack she had on hand that was never used.



The metal baskets were purchased from Target and the hanger holder on the lower right is the one Lu made to store stacked hangers that are easy to grab.

Chris purchased the gray rug shown here and the one that is by the door.  My guess is that the gray accents will keep the slightly violet walls from looking violet/pinkish.



On 10/25, I received this status straight from Lu:

Finally got my JoAnn’s coupons!  I bought the curtain material last week for 50% off.  Picked up the cushions for the window seats today, again for 50% off (coupon was for 40% off, but foam was on sale for 50% off, so I used the 40% coupon on another item for another project.).  On Monday, I’ll be getting the material for the cushions – another 50% off coupon.  GOTTA LOVE IT!

We discovered that the folding hanger rack is not going to work.  The clothes will be touching the floor where we intended to install it, and it won’t work above the freezer.  So we’re going to have to come up with another solution for a folding hanging system.  Chris says he has something in mind.

So, the final work on the list:

1. Make and install curtains.
2. Make cushion coverings.
3. Make skirt for lower washer/dryer shelf.
4. Cut opening for cat cabinet doors and install.
5. Paint and install rag bin cabinet doors.
6. Make and install folding hanging system.
7. Make, paint and install trim for kitchen window and kitchen door.
8. Install light fixture.
9. Purchase, paint and install baseboard.

Funny - that list doesn't look smaller than the one in my last post!  I'm heading over today to discuss budget and finishing up.  Hope you will check in with me in two weeks and as always send me your comments.

If anyone has questions on their own DIY projects or ideas for more challenges for me, let me know.

Friends - We're back with fabric and container choices

The progress on Lu's laundry continues.  I was not able to get to Lu's house for the last couple of weeks, but Lu went forward and did some fabric and container shopping as well as crafting a handy hanger storage container.

I asked Lu for pictures and progress, so the majority of this blog is in her words...mine in italics:

I decided that the easiest window treatment would be curtains. Haven’t figured out which style I’m going to do, but they’ll be able to be tied back in summer so we can feel the wonderful breeze, and closed in winter to help contain the heat.  So I went scoping material.

This is a linen material with embroidered flowers. Normally I don’t go for flowers, but this doesn’t seem too ‘girlish’.  It also brings a circular design into this room full of straight lines and angles. This material keeps the grey color true.

Lu is talking about the color sample sheets.  The 'grey' one is the color she painted on the walls and ceiling.  It is actually a color in the violet color family, so depending on the light and what is put against it, the color shows either as grey or pink or violet.

I really like this pattern too, but it seems to turn the grey wall color sort of pink-ish.  So, I thought that I would use this material for the cushions for the cat box seating.  Even though it’s a bunch of squares, it doesn’t look ‘boxy’.  Also, if I use this for the cushions, there’s limited wall space to turn pink because it will be just under the window trim.

I liked this pattern because of the fluidity; however, it also has the ‘pink effect’.  Chris didn’t like this one at all, so I’m going to write this one off.  Maybe I’ll find some use for this down the road…new curtains for the playroom perhaps?

Hanger storage

I was going to purchase a triangular bin for storing hangers on the new shelves above the washer & dryer, but couldn’t find anything with the color scheme.  B said, “Make one”.  So, being a talented, crafty person, I already had materials on hand.  I cut a piece of cardboard for the base.  Chris came up with a good suggestion.  Instead of keeping the bin enclosed, I should cut an opening so that I don’t have to take the bin down to get a hanger. 

The handles would stick out of the bin so I could just lift one out as needed.

If you're having a hard time imagining this, you'll have to wait for the finished product.  In the meantime, here is a link to the inspiration that started Lu on this project.

Lu continues...

I found this material at JoAnn’s in the remnants bin.  It was folded back-side out, so I didn’t know that it was a satin sheen.  I’m going to have the back side of the material on the outside though, because I think it looks better.  And, since I still had money left on a gift card from Christmas, this really didn’t cost anything.

I was thinking of using cloth bins on the shelves above the washer/dryer, but when I saw this bin at Target, I thought it would go well and be great work-glove storage.  It is!  I’m thinking of picking up some more like this for the other things I store out here.  I’ll be lining the top shelf with the Con-Tac paper as well.  In a prior post, I mentioned that the clear Con-Tac is being used to prevent paint from sticking to items on the shelves.

I'm loving this bin

Paint Progress

We ended up having to remove the bottom windows to paint, which meant removing another piece of trim.  But we were able to get them re-installed before the rain hit.

Functional Necessities

I picked up the new cat boxes and was going to get the new hamper, but ran into a snafu with the size.  I have to get a hamper 13 x 19 in order to fit, but the ones at Target were 15 x 21; too big for this purpose.  Then I thought of just getting another trash can, but that was too big as well.  I’ll have to think of something else.

That sums up Lu's progress notes.  Great job, Lu!

What's left?

• Lighting
• Curtains
• Cushions for window seats
• Installing doors with a cat entrance on the litter box cabinets
• Doors on the Storage cabinet
• A second storage cabinet
• Installing a collapsing clothes hanger to hang wet items
• More pretty things

We will eventually take a look at where we are with the budget.  As for time - we have no real hard deadlines and need to work around Lu and Chris's very busy schedule, however, I'm thinking we will be done well before Thanksgiving :)