panic room

this might turn out to be the most appropriately named post i've ever written. picture me, as i'm editing the pictures (ha! the irony! that i actually edited these!), with my forehead propped against one hand, elbow on the table, half slumped over, laughing because the disaster that is this room has moved beyond despair to pure hilarity. i started this blog complaining about my mudroom, and at this point i'm pretty sure i'll still be beating that drum to my dying day.

our original handshake agreement was that the whole space- office, powder room, and mudroom- would be done by thanksgiving. well, the office got there mid-summer. the rest of it, not even close. our new goal (or i should say my new insistence) was that at least the powder room would be done by christmas. i was using the fact that my parents were coming to visit for the holidays as motivation to get that to happen. it wasn't going to happen.

so i really have nothing to show you. there's no way you'll be able to piece together an understanding of the space from these photos, but at least you'll understand my pain! i also promised i'd do better at keeping you updated on house projects. so this is what my powder room looks like right now:

i know.

here's the sink i'm planning to use. while i'd love marble, this $30 clearance baby will really help our budget. i'm searching for a console base to pair with it, or for one ryan can build. we've discussed having him try to make one out of copper pipe.

this is the mirror i have that i got at this barn sale. we also have a toilet. and one 12" square of hex tile. other than that, nothing. the one good thing about taking a project slow (or maybe it's a bad thing) is you have time to decide what you really like. i originally thought i wanted a mudroom painted all green. nope- white for sure. if i've learned anything about myself since buying this house (three years ago, when we moved from a neutral-zone and i promised i'd put more color in the new house) is that i don't like color. i mean, i love color, but only in small easily-changed-out doses. i want the house to feel like a backdrop to the things in it.

i'll back up quickly for my new friends and tell you why we don't have a powder room on our main floor. because when we first moved in we ripped it out. it was an awkward box thrown in between the kitchen and family room that kept them totally separate. when we took it out we were able to open up the kitchen to the family room and have a huge eat-in space between. it's awesome. it took two years.

once we had that eat-in area we didn't need our formal dining room anymore. we carved it up to put in our office, and are using the other side of it to expand the mudroom and add in a powder room. here's the space currently where the mudroom is and where the powder room will go.

that little channel has been affectionately dubbed the "panic room" because it's the remainder of our formal dining room and it was completely enclosed. when we built the office we shrunk the dining room by constructing a new wall in the middle of it. but we never took down the one on the other side. so we were left with a hidden little pocket. that "cut-out" was literally a tiny hole that ryan had punched out of the wall that you could just fit through. we kind of felt like batman or something. secret rooms are awesome.

as for what's next...

step one: take out half of the mudroom wall:

step 2: build a new wall to cut the panic room in two:

here's the plan for how this will all lay out in the end:

wouldn't it be great? we'd come in the house and the kids would each have a spot to put stuff. and we wouldn't fall on top of each other. and i'd have room to put my laundry baskets in the room i do laundry in. and we'd have a bathroom! 

for now, though, this is the view from that little spot where it says "i took pic from here" on the current floorplan:

that's what it looks like when you stand inside our panic room. like i said, appropriately named. hopefully eventually i'll be able to post progress and (dare i dream) results! but for now, you know me and my house a little better, and you can picture me here, doing my laundry. like, 6000 times a week.