Mudroom Makeover {One Room Challenge: Week Five}

It could have been the fact that we grew
up a block away from each other that instantly bonded us when we met in a far
away town, or looking back, it could have been the fact that we were both the
type that jump in with both feet, a quality we seemed to immediately admire in each other.

(Catch up on our crazy love story HERE)

Almost twelve years later and we are still the “all in” type
of people. When it comes to finances and important adult things, we take our
time, when it comes to taking on children, pets and renovations we jump head first into
the deep end while ignoring the “NO DIVING” signs.

Kids, don’t try this at home.

It makes for a chaotic life at times, but we balance it all out
with big helpings of vegetables, slow meals and sunset gazing while enjoying embracing the constant happy disorder we
always seem to find ourselves in.

I mean, usually it is HAPPY disorder…..

Typically, I suppose.

Recently though??

Ummmm….not too much.

The truth is our mudroom makeover that we have undertook for
our “one room challenge” is turning out to be one of the biggest renovations we
have ever taken on. This time, it’s been kinda like jumping into a shark infested
ocean with both feet but also head first….if that’s possible….

*Insert nervous laughter here*

If you need to get caught up with our “one room challenge” here it is:

WEEK ONE

WEEK TWO

WEEK THREE

WEEK FOUR

This week is week five and although we are struggling to balance work life and reno life and have seen 12am every night with tools in our hands. We ARE making progress!

You may be wondering what has made this particular renovation difficult and we have been too! It seems like we are working constantly on this space but haven’t seen much physical progress. The reason for that issue, is because everything we have been working on is BEHIND the walls.

This week we moved water sources, relocated electrical, moved venting for our dryer and built bulk heads to hide all the pipe work. To the naked eye the space could seem like it hasn’t changed, but those walls know how much thought and effort went in to moving the components behind the walls. So, if THESE walls could talk, they’d tell you they are done having us all over them. We, of course, would politely agree.

Some of the things you will notice HAVE changed are the relocation of our washer and dryer along with a new wall to give them a built in appearance.

 

Then we installed more shiplap on it to create a streamlined space.

Then we installed cabinets above our sink area that will double as color storage for my salon.

To finish off that wall we installed a faux brick backsplash behind our sink area.

 

During this week we also survived a trip to Home Depot, with the kids in tow, to create a custom paint to match our chickens pretty blue eggs.

Then, I painted our back entrance and couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. (More details on that later) Here is a little peek!

Speaking of paint, we also made over a trio of lockers that I am so pleased with! (Tutorial to come!)

This space near the backdoor is where the lockers will end up. You can see the wall juts out into the space because that is the wall that houses my salon bathroom. In turn, the lockers won’t stick out too much, therefore leaving that exit quite accessible for the future.

Here is a quick look at the evolution of these super icky and sticky lockers.

Hubby and I lugged them in place to see how they will look and I’m pleased they fit and aren’t too intrusive into the mud room’s walkway. Here is a little look…

So you have seen a little bit of our progress but what you didn’t see were the multiple trips to Ikea and the multiple trips to our favorite hardware stores for more shiplap. (Real life DIY renovations are not done overnight, and I like to remind MYSELF you guys of that periodically.) 

However, you may have noticed on my Instagram an adventure to the gigantic Leon’s in Scarborough to pick out a key component to this room!

(See a bunch of other mirrors we love HERE)

Wait till you see what we do with that gorgeous mirror. It’s gonna be such a pretty dramatic detail in this otherwise very utilitarian space.  I’m kinda ecstatic about how this is going to look!

We also have been busy drooling over Metrie’s stunning crown moulding and solid wood trim! I even managed to give them a coat of white this week because I couldn’t wait to get my hands on them!

(See some of our favorite baseboards HERE)

It has been a jam packed fun and productive couple of weeks, however we have never worked this closely for this long and for such a concentrated amount of time on a project together!  Ohhhhhh if these walls could REALLY talk!!

While I have been painting shiplap, hubby is getting dry wall dust all over my painted walls. We have cut wood together, held up each side of these shiplap boards together and although typing that sounds kinda romantic, we have literally been in each other’s way.

(Note: He’s not impressed in above picture. But I don’t care. #whine?? #wine)

Our cat like reflexes have proven to not really exist when it comes to dodging each other’s dust and paint in this space, so we have just come to accept that alllllllllll of our clothing is ruined at this point.

Did I mention our laundry has been unhooked for a week? 😉

Although we aren’t technically wading in shark infested waters, like I had so calmly mentioned early, during this process we weren’t anticipating uncovering any of the issues we found lurking behind our walls. Read: STRESSFUL.

Also, when annoying things happen around here, they seem to happen all at once. Does that happen where you are too?? During this “one room challenge” timeline, our vehicle’s engine also blew, our basement freezer died, our fridge stopped working, our dishwasher needed fixed and our son had an allergic reaction that ended him in the ER.

*Cue CRAZY nervous laughter*

Everything is fixable of course and we are all still swimming around with our head above the waters. But, it HAS been a  close one!  Why are we telling you that our lives aren’t perfect and makeovers don’t happen in 30 minutes like they do on television??? Because we don’t ever want to paint a picture that gives you unrealistic expectations when it comes to your renovations. Nope, no time for that when I have been painting all the other things…. 😉

But despite all the set backs and the DIY angst, we are getting there and focusing on the progress!

We have one week left to pull this space together and the over achiever that lives within both hubby and I desperately wants to meet that timeline! Only one of us however wants to celebrate by cleaning all the laundry. 😉

Life isn’t always perfect. Projects sometimes don’t go as planned. But, through this experience, we have learned that family prevails. That’s something we want you to know too. Renovations dont come together overnight but families come together when you DIY together. We might not have clean laundry or any resemblancean organized house at this point, but we have a small space where we are working next to each other and we are somehow problem solving side by side. These togetherness moments are the ones that are built into these walls. That is what we are going to choose to remember when this space is finished and we look around this room. Love was built here.

Stay tuned! Next week we will share with you how far we have come and IF we have accomplished a finished space!

Have you guys ever thought a project would be easy and it turns out to be difficult?? How did you make it through? Please send us all your renovation happy ending stories in the comments. We need the encouragement!


(SEE ALL OF THE ONE ROOM CHALLENGE PARTICIPANTS WEEK FIVE PROGRESS HERE.)