Jul 14, 2022

Mudroom Reno

Our mudroom renovation has been the biggest reno in our home that we have done yet! We literally demoed this space to the studs and started from scratch. Since our home is over 100 years old we ran into plenty of obstacles but saved thousands at the end of the day. It's always a challenge when designing an old home because we want to continue the story of the house, and respect the character and charm that has already been created over the years. We were very intentional about creating an area that is functional for our family's lifestyle today, but also continuing with finishing details that could be seen as an original part of the house.

Our mudroom is right off the kitchen and leads to the backyard. It has our laundry and a full bathroom. Before we started the demo the full bathroom was a decent size with a shower but the layout was a little wonky with a corner sink and a door that opened into the bathroom. The mudroom had a lot of built in cabinets which was great for storage, but if you know us, I would rather not have storage because that means I'm typically storing things I never use.

So lets rewind. It was November of 2019. Brandon and I are notorious for starting projects on a whim even if we have a few others unfinished. We are both creatives who love to get our hands dirty. We are dreamers and doers and enjoy doing these projects together! Im not really sure what prompted us to demo this space just days before Thanksgiving... but we did. We completely tore it apart and threw all of the materials outside because we did not have a dumpster (on a whim, remember?) That pile of debris sat in our yard til spring ... LOL. Once it was demoed we really didn't do anything else to the space for quite sometime. We were really excited about the possibilities but once we really took a step back and evaluated it, we realized we were in for a much larger project. We had so many other things happening at the time, our entire 1st floor was subfloor because we had tore out the tile to add hardwood flooring. So we had to prioritize a bit. In hindsight we shouldn't have demoed as soon as we did but in typical Brandon and Kasey fashion, we did.

We made plans, tinkered in the space a bit but it wasn't until half way through my pregnancy that we decided to get serious about finishing this space. We called some contractors, plumbers and electricians, now this was coming off of the pandemic.. almost none of them could do the job in time. We were hoping to have a functional space before I had Callan, that did not happen.

Fast forward to today just a short 3 years later... (that's 15 in Kasey years) we finally have a functional well used space! A space that can be used by guests, where our babies will take baths, and where more loads of laundry will be done than we can count. For us designing is always about the story and the memories that will be made. This one doesn't disappoint, hopefully you can scroll through and enjoy the process as much as we did!

Before- looking into the mudroom from the kitchen. This was before our new back door was installed, and we had to remove the flooring to install the new one. That's when we realized there were 4 layers of flooring!

After our new door was installed and the beginning of a true mess.

This was right before we started to demo.. as you can see our rough sketch of where the new bathroom door would go.

Here is a better visual of what the bathroom was like prior. The door used to swing open into the bathroom which made for a very tight space, hence the corner sink. You can also see how low the bathroom ceiling was.

When you demo on a whim the debris has to go somewhere. This sat out here until spring.

Spring 2021. The entire floor was removed, dug out and cleaned and a few joists got a sister. The plumbing and HVAC was taken care of and a new subfloor went in.

We lived like this for a while. Plumbing was roughed in, plans were made and we started to purchase more materials.

I found the utility sink and youngster tub on Facebook Marketplace both for $85 each! they were in great shape other than needing some fresh paint.

Although I love me a good pink moment it just wasn't working for me on these claw feet! I decided to paint them a dark charcoal color and do a light rub and buff application on them to give them more of an antiqued patina look!

I painted the sink and tub in Annie Sloan French Linen followed up with a clear wax.

Bathroom is all framed out and the ceiling is beginning to get stained.

Drywall is in and ready for paint!

This was the only thing we hired out in this entire renovation. For the sake of time we had a great crew come in to hang the drywall and mud all in one day!

We added bead board to the bottom half of the new walls to make it feel apart of the space, like it has always been there and tie in with the rest of the bead board. I added a wallpaper above for some fun visual interest.

The beginning of new floors! We went with brick to add great texture and warmth all while trying to continue to make the space feel as if it has always been here. Its a great option for high traffic areas and the herringbone pattern is so fun!

So after 3 years, a lot of hard work, some sweat, and love here is the finished product.

Finally found a place for this old antique mirror - we still need to build out a countertop over the washer and dryer and add a shelf!

I loved the bead board ceiling this room once had but I love the exposed joists even more. It gave us a taller ceiling height, the ability to redo the electric, and bring some rustic character to the space.

The plan is to add a countertop to the washer and dryer and add a custom cabinet where that saddle makers bench is currently. That will provide us with some much needed storage and you won't be able to see the washer and dryer when entering this room.