Pup Prompts Laundry Room Makeover

Good design is born of pain. A designer notices a friction point and figures out a better way. Hence the ketchup bottle designed to stand on its head, or the long-sleeved athletic shirts with thumbholes so hands stay warm while fingers stay free.

Before.

The pain point that led to my laundry-room makeover occurred when I was washing my dog Pippin, a small shaggy doodle, in the laundry-room sink. The sink had a small, low, fixed faucet. That is, the fixture didn’t swivel, didn’t pull out, didn’t spray, and hit Pippin below the belly. So I was filling and refilling a Solo cup to wet and rinse my dog. That’s when I threw in the towel. I’d had it with this.

Although I’ve known since my husband and I bought this home a year ago that the laundry room was a weak spot, I put up with it while other projects – replacing all the floors, remodeling two bathrooms, painting the interior and exterior, replacing dated ceiling fans, and installing built-ins, for example – took priority. However, at this very minute, with Pippin in the sink, water from a Solo cup drizzling pathetically over him, the laundry room suddenly sprang to the top of the must-do list.

The decision to immediately replace the faucet led me to notice how badly stained the 23-year-old composite plastic sink was, which caused me to acknowledge how very much I disliked the dated beige laminate counters, which led me to the four most expensive words in home remodeling: As long as we’re …

As long as I was replacing the faucet, I might as well replace the sink, and as long as the sink was coming out, I might as well put in a nicer counter, and as long as we’re tearing out the four-inch backsplash, we might as well extend the new backsplash up the wall. I call it decorating dominos. One move detonates another.

“Honey?!” I called. My husband knew better than to answer.

Trading dated oval brushed nickel knobs for polished chrome button ones (left) helped give the room an easy refresh. 

So I called the next most important man in my life: my handyman. “Can do,” Richard assured me. That was all the affirmation I needed. Over the next few days, Amazon orders arrived: new faucet, new sink, new knobs. Meanwhile, I made half a dozen trips to the tile store buying and returning materials until I had dialed in the look I wanted: clean, spare, timeless, functional.

All the while, I felt gratified to know I was fulfilling one of my lifestyle mantras. If you elevate the mundane, the mundane becomes less so. In other words, if you find doing laundry drudgery, working in a rundown space won’t help. But if you do the task in an attractive, well-designed area, it becomes much more pleasant, the way a new exercise outfit can make a tedious workout more fun. Gals, I know you get that.

Apart from the room’s already mentioned drawbacks, it had a few plusses. I had already replaced the original tile floors with French oak, which I’d installed throughout the house. (I know some will you will wag your finger and say, “Never put wood floors in a laundry

Before.

room,” but, as my flooring person pointed out, “When was the last time your washing machine flooded?” If it does, I have some extra planks in the garage.) The room also had ample cabinets and a nice window that offered good light, important for a laundry room.

Beyond that, here’s what I changed within one week and what it cost:

·      The faucet. I ordered a modern, high arc, pull-down faucet with a two-mode sprayer in polished chrome because, ask any plumbing expert, chrome is the longest-wearing finish, and this was going to be a hard-working fixture. $48.

·      The sink. I ordered a 30” x 22” drop-in white farmhouse fireclay ceramic sink, which is both tough and stain resistant. $287

·      The tile. At the tile store, the number of choices overwhelmed me. Salespeople tried to upsell me and talk me out of the tried-and-true white ceramic tile I’d pictured, and to get a stone slab instead. After a few false starts, and several back and forths to return and repurchase materials, I stuck with my vision: I wanted a room so clean it looked like you

After.

could do surgery in it. I wanted it to look like a utility room, not a swanky bathroom in the Ritz-Carlton. I went with 4”x 4”vintage white tile for the counter, since the surface was small, and 3”x 6” for the backsplash to add texture and interest. $128, including grout.

·      Knobs. As a final refresh, I replaced the dated oval brushed nickel knobs with shiny chrome button ones. $43

·      The know-how. To remove and replace the old sink and faucet, and tile and grout the counter and backsplash, my handyman charged: $950

·      Total: $1,456

Pippin, Your spa awaits.

CAPTION:

A New Spin – Replacing the original faucet, composite plastic sink, and tired laminate counter and backsplash in this 23-year-old laundry room not only made it look better, but also made it a more functional, pleasant place to wash both clothes and the family dog.