Airing the Dirty Laundry

I admit it--my laundry room is stuck in the 80's. This apple wallpaper was probably a best seller back then. Target would have it on sale for 50% off. We possessed it both the red apple variation (shown here) and the blue apple style. Not only that but I helped my BFF wallpaper her entire hall in the red apple as a house warming present back in 1988. Seemed like a good idea at the time.

Check out this light fixture in the bath attached to our laundry. It could rightfully be called hid-e-ous. It's sooo not Green. Six light bulbs to light up one very tiny powder room? Overkill.

But wait, it gets better.

We went away for a two week vacation in the summer and our powder room leaked while we were away. No, no, it wasn't that bad--it only was leaking for about a hour before we drove in. But it soaked under the linoleum and the underlayment (I just love those fancy construction terms) buckled. We both considered it a blessing in disguise. My sweetie got to rip off the blue apple wallpaper and I got to tear up linoleum. I liked the linoleum (sanded and worn by two boys, their friends, and our dogs) as much as he did the wallpaper.

This is our powder room now. I don't even want to say how long ago the vacation leak occurred, but I will tell you that it's numbered in years instead of months. Sad but true. The wallpaper came off and nothing went on. He wanted linoleum, I didn't, so carpet sample squares somehow slowly moved in and began taking over. He took down the mirrors along with the wallpaper and they have been hiding behind the sofa ever since. Erkie thinks it's very handy every time he wants to check out the latest mom-provided haircut and let's us know it.

Moving on with the tour, this summer our washer finally died. I like fixing things and I'm fearless about ripping things apart (carefully, so I can remember how to put them back together with the aid of my trusty Readers Digest Fix Anything Handbook). I was familiar with every nut and bolt of that washer, but when it began spewing grease and oil, I knew it was time to move on. The puppy had added to the linoleum mayhem by treating what remained in the laundry room as a chew toy, now with grease on the flooring it was simpler to tear it out in preparation for the new washer. Here it sits in all its glory. Charming.

Sigh.

There's hope though. Behold! We have ordered indestructable through-body porcelain tile. I figured that tile designed for heavy-duty commercial applications might survive the abuse our laundry room gets as the major thoroughfare from garage to kitchen. We even have someone to lay it when it arrives. We have a new, fancy faucet bought for a song on eBay. Things are moving along nicely.

Still to do: choose granite for the replacement vanity, find a stainless steel sink and get a vanity which will fit our angled space.