Laundry room bucket list, or, an extremely unsexy slew of photographs

After we moved in, our laundry room looked like this for a long time. Pretty walnut-stained floor, pretty pearly white washer and dryer, and a whole lotta ugly. This happens, doesn't it? The big things get done-- paint, floor, appliances, furniture-- and the small things languish forever. Small things. Missing baseboards, water stains, unpainted closet, missing light fixture.

I finally got around to painting the damn cabinets, after cutting and fitting a piece of oak between the cabinets and the ceiling, to hide our dryer vent. You can see a bit of it peeking out on the left.

I used Benjamin Moore's SmartPrime primer, followed by two coats of Acadia White Cabinet Coat. Expensive paint, but so worth it for the amount of oaky-graininess it conceals. I love white cabinets.

So this little bit of dated butter-oaky ugly is vanquished, but there's plenty more a-waiting. A piece of shoe molding should come to live here, along the bottom of these cabinets.

The crazy clutter needs to go.

The awful water stains-- which happened last winter in an unfortunate ice dam incident-- need to go. Sigh. That's the biggest thing for me-- it feels like we just painted this room. Fortunately, we don't have to do the whole thing again. I also want to patch that bit of trim-- we think there was once a chimney-- and make it look nice and seamless. If that can be managed.

I have a light fixture that's going to come live on this wall, where there's a very oddly placed wire. Bonus points to anyone who can remember why there's a wire on this wall. The room's past as a kitchen is a clue.

I have a piece of glossy white baseboard that's going to cover the awkward smudges of floor-finish on the wall. I also have a nail gun, and I'm not afraid to use it.

And this closet needs addressing. And I want a new ceiling fixture. AND I need to prime and paint an old tension rod, install it, and sew curtains for it. Oh, and yep, put in a fold-down ironing board. My goodness. One little room, and a to-do list a mile long. So funny how that happens, isn't it? The beautiful thing is, it's all cheap fixes, it's all stuff I can do myself (no need to bug Patrick), and I have the full complement of my FIL's tools living in my garage for the time being.

My aunt is coming to spend the night in this room on Christmas eve (at least, I hope she is!) and so, that is my deadline for getting everything done. A little autumnal laundry room crusade begins now.

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