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| Cotswold Village, England |
My bloggy friend Sarah,
who lives in a beautiful
Edwardian Home in the
Cotswalds, England,
has invited her readers
to share their inspiration
journey for a project, today.
The journey from a
dream to a reality...
drawn from their idea
file, be it craft, wardrobe,
home, garden ~ anything.
This seemed like perfect
timing, as one of my besties,
Kathleen, has not been
able to visit me since we
finished a remodeling project
at Chez Privet and Holly
a couple of years ago.
She has patiently asked
me several times to please
share pictures of the project.
So, Kathleen, this one is
for you.
And Sarah, it's for you, too.
And dear readers, it's also
for you, if you'll indulge me : )
Let me give you some
background as I share the
images that I had saved
in my inspiration folder
for this hoped-for project.
For seven years we talked
about taking some extra
space from our garage and
turning it into a combination
mud room-laundry room.
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| The picture that started the wheels turning. From Real Simple Magazine; year unknown. |
Our laundry at that time was
a tiny little room open to the kitchen
with an under-counter washer
and dryer on one side, a
utility sink on the other and
a door on the third. There
were cupboards above the
w&d as well as above, below
and next to the sink.
The w&d only handled very
small loads. When we moved
here I had a six year old and
a two year old and a lot of
laundry, every day! Add to
this the fact that I am tall and
you can imagine how much
I did not enjoy doing laundry
in that room. Plus, there
was no room to sort and the
laundry was constantly spilling
over into the kitchen.
Idea for new laundry: front
loaders on pedestals.
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| I tore this out for the glass tiles. BH&G 2007 |
Idea for old laundry: turn
it into a butler's pantry.
Move existing dishwasher
from the kitchen into the
b.p. where the washer used
to be and add an under-
counter refrigerator for extra
food storage where the dryer
used to be. {Buy new
dishwasher for the kitchen.}
Finish the walls under the cup-
boards with small glass tiles.
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| You can see what I circled here. BH&G 2007 |
Other ideas: Replace utility
sink in new b.p. with a
farmhouse sink. Replace
current cupboards above
sink with open shelving.
In the new mudroom-laundry,
I wanted shelves with baskets
for storing winter gear like
scarves, mittens, gloves, etc.
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| I kept this for the bench, hooks and casually propped pictures. Cottage Living; not sure what year. |
I also wanted great big hooks
for hanging coats, bags and
backpacks, as well as a bench
to sit on while putting on shoes.
An added bonus would be
a built-in ironing board!
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| This went into the file as an example of a built-in ironing center. BH&G 2007 |
So, you've seen my collection
of inspiring images, torn from
BH&G, Cottage Living and
Real Simple. Before I show
you the end result {I'm almost
there, Kathleen!}, keep in
mind that we worked with
a pretty tight budget......
I was the designer {hee hee}
and worked with a two-man
contracting team. We were able
to buy quite a bit through
Direct Buy, which is a buyer's
club where you get significant
discounts and scoured the
Internet for deals on faucets.
Internet for deals on faucets.
Okay. The reveal!
{Sans usual clutter.}
{Sans usual clutter.}
Welcome to our mud room!
 |
| The bench is from IKEA. The seat lifts for extra storage. |
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| We each get a basket for our stuff, including the dog and visitors. |
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| My back loves these elevated front-loaders : ) |
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| Great deal on the faucet. Perfect place for washing off muddy Gracie paws. |
 |
| Corbels + big hooks = LOVE! |
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| The floor is heated. Be still my heart. |
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| The ironing cabinet. |
aka the old laundry room.
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| View from the kitchen. |
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| Where the utility sink used to be. |
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| Washing up at this sink is a joy. It came from Direct Buy. |
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| Dishwasher, small fridge and all the other necessities for the butler. That would be ME. |
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| Another Internet find. Love these handles. |
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| First time we've had open shelving.....but not the last. |
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| The glass tiles add sparkle to a utilitarian room. |
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| I never get tired of the plate rack! |
Next inspiration folder?
England.
London.
Cotswolds.
Surrey.
Bloggy friends.
You know where this is going....!
Sigh.
A girl can dream.
Sometimes it even comes true.
XX
Suzanne
For more dreams come true,
visit Sarah at
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