If you don’t know the story of how we came upon our farm house (not a “farmhouse,” as in the farmhouse style, but the house on our farm) it was fate. We wanted to build, but our survey company had a different plan. Two years into waiting for the septic plans to be submitted to and approved by the county, we were losing hope. Our prayers were answered when a house plus five additional acres that bordered our farm was put up for sale. It was pretty close to the size and style that we were planning on building, but this one already had a basement, which is something we really wanted but didn’t want to pay for. We bought it! It wasn’t in horrible shape, but just needed some updating.

Jamie and I are no strangers to remodeling. A few houses ago we took on a house built in 1924 that had sagging floors, sagging ceilings, and a friendly ghost named Charlie that lived in the attic. With that house the bank wouldn’t give us a loan unless we re-stained the massive deck off the back and re-painted all the chipped off trim on the inside and outside (most of it was chipping away). As if that weren’t enough to scare off normal people, we had to sign a document saying we promised to replace all twenty five windows within six months of closing. Come to think of it, we were supposed to close on the weekend of the famous Nashville flood of May 2010, but closing was delayed because the two bedroom apartment in the basement flooded that weekend. We had to completely renovate that apartment floors to ceilings as a result–new carpet, new drywall, new cabinets. That was also the house that gave Jamie his first real hospital visit and his snake shaped scar on his forearm that I affectionately refer to as his dragon tattoo (to make it sound cooler). Any sane person would have run from that house, but we felt a connection to it.

We felt a similar connection to this farm house, and if Jamie and I weren’t afraid of the ultimate fixer upper we owned before, we certainly weren’t afraid of a small house that was structurally sound. Most things to be changed on the farm house were cosmetic–just making it our own style. While we have plans for almost every room, we are taking our time and doing all of the work ourselves to save money, but also because we take more pride in it that way. The first room we chose to update was the laundry room for several reasons. It’s small and therefore a quick project, it’s the first thing you see when you come in through the mudroom door, and because we’re in there a lot. Being outside, working and playing, and getting dirty creates a lot of laundry. We desperately needed a system to keep up with the volume.

BEFORE:

As you can see from the before pictures, it was not necessarily a remodel as much as it was a model. It was just an empty canvas–no shelves or anything. It’s a narrow room and when things started piling up, you couldn’t walk through this room at all. One thing I really wanted from my house on the farm was a mudroom so we could have a dedicated place to take off our dirty boots. We couldn’t do that tripping over laundry baskets.

AFTER:

This room needed storage. The first priority was a countertop for folding. My dad was kind enough to make a poplar counter for us as a housewarming gift. I’m spoiled; I know it. Does admitting it lessen the jealousy any? Jamie and I made the shelves ourselves. We bought plumbing fixtures from Home Depot and cut up and stained a pine board for the shelving. If you like the look and think it’s a cheap way to make a shelf, beware. These ended up costing $40 per shelf, and we did all the work ourselves. Not exactly cheap in my book, but I am happy with the finished product.

A New Laundry System for a New Laundry Room

Before we decided on the exact arrangement of this room, we thought through how we would use it. Here is the system we came up with: as clothes come out of the dryer, we place them on the counter and immediately fold them. Once we fold, we put each article of clothing in the basket for each family member. There is a basket for Jamie, Maddox, Mia and me. The folded towels and sheets are stacked on the counter. Once the baskets are full, each person puts their own clothes away. Maddox and Mia need help getting their baskets down, and then Mia needs a little help putting her clothes up. She can put the towels up by herself though, which helps! Sometimes we get busy and our baskets overflow, but for the most part this system has worked well for us. It takes the burden off one person and makes laundry a family affair.