Step one was to figure out a better solution for the laundry shoot that Bath Crashers installed so that it wouldn't be such an eyesore. As a reminder, here's what they had left us with: (Not that I'm complaining by the way, they just understandably spent a little more time in the Master Bathroom than the Laundry Room.)
Once I took down the old drawer they had installed and installed it in my Hubby's closet, I had 2 problems:
1: The sliver part of the shoot stuck out from the wall and the wood frame they installed by 5/8".
2. The silver part of the shoot was crooked, dipping down on the left hand side and raising up diagonally to the right.
And problem #3 is that it was just plain ugly. Yeah yeah, it's ugly.
Frequent One Project at a Time readers won't be surprised that I went a little anal retentive on the planning stage, and started by measuring every part exactly and making a detailed sketch.
Yeah yeah, make fun all you want. I really didn't know how to start without my sketch though, this one felt like a problem solving question from the SATs or something. Armed with my nerd book, I took a trip with my little man to Home Depot, where as a side bonus they were hosting a Kid's Clinic and my little man got to build his own memo board. Building and organization at the age of three. I'm so proud.
After our building project, we swung by the molding section. I knew from my sketch that the gap, created by the diagonal placement of the shoot, was 3/4" at the largest. I found a nice shoe molding that was 1 1/4" wide, which would cover the gap, and the square frame I would need to build to raise up the edge the 5/8". (Hang with me, it will make more sense in a bit.)
Once we were back home and the lil' man was down for a nap, I made my way out to my
Then I chopped them down with my miter saw to make a square frame around the opening of my shoot. They were a little rough, but nothing that some intense sanding couldn't take care of.
I used my nail gun (best. tool. ever.) to pop up the wood into a frame around my shoot. See how I have a nice square opening now instead of the diagonal mess?
This frame was exactly 5/8" high, level with the edge of the silver laundry shoot, so now I could cut my molding to line up with the outside edge of the frame, laying over the gap and covering the silver shoot.
Make sense now? I was a little giddy about my problem solving skills. You see that Dad? Yep- I did that. All by myself. The corners weren't as exact as I would have liked, but that's what wood putty is for.
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| File this under "It has to look worse before it gets better." |
As a reminder here's what I started with:
So much more professional looking- right? And since my molding was only $.81 a foot, and I had the 1x2, wood putty and paint on hand, the total project cost me under $4. Holla! Since I'm already a dozen+ pics into this post, I'll come back tomorrow with the description on how I finished the rest.
What did you all do this holiday weekend? I not only tackled this room, but the Hubs and I took on our garage as well. It's sort of embarrassing how bad it was, so I'll save that post for later this week. (Plus, we still have a little more work to do.) Even though we did work a lot this weekend, I still found some time for reading a book on the sectional in the screened in porch. Heaven!
Thank you so much for sharing this great blog.Very inspiring and helpful too.Hope you continue to share more of your ideas.I will definitely love to read.
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