Demolition and Renovation!

[Heidi & Milton]

Jeff and I need a LOT of help with this house and who better to help us than Jeff's parents, Momeaux and Pop!  This past weekend, the in-laws showed up with a saw, tool belt, and multiple measure tapes!  Oh, yeah and one of these for Jeff and me:

Louisiana King Cake!

Not to mention, a couple of these for the Milt dog:

Real live deer femurs!

The great project of the weekend, continuing into late last night, was a major laundry room renovation.  When we bought our house, a lovely up and down washer/dryer combination, was included in the deal.  I hated that unit from the very beginning.  It was much too tiny to fit hardly more than one set of sheets, jeans, and an assortment of underwear in one washing.  Just before the holidays, I jammed an extra large load into the washer, and when the cycle was done, everything came out sopping wet.  I just assumed that the machine had been too stuffed to spin properly, so I dried the majority of the clothes multiple times in the dryer, and I hung the rest out.  Two days later, Jeff and I flew up to New York for Christmas, and I didn't think twice about it.  When Jeff returned to Texas earlier than me, his first attempt to wash was a major fail.  The washing machine just clicked away and nothing happened.  Obviously, Jeff broke the washing machine, or so I tried to place the blame...!

Thus ensued a solid month of laundry mat visits.  Despite there being a laundry mat, only a half mile away, it was still a major three-hour inconvenience.  You need to factor in packing your laundry up in a large bag, hauling your multiple bags with detergent to the car, unloading the car, loading the washing machines, getting quarters from the change machine, and so on and so forth.  At least, between the washing and the drying, I usually ran to the grocery store.

Laundry mat woes

We decided our best option, rather than attempting to fix the too small unit, was to bring our old set in from the garage.  The dilemma was the set was too wide by about .5 inches to fit into our petite laundry room.  Hence, the construction project!  Pop, got to work after church on Sunday, and his apprentices, Jeff and Milt, lent a hand.  There was much measuring, cutting, and eventual trimming of the dry wall.  A new hole had to be cut from the outside to fit our dryer vent.  Pop even rearranged the entire electrical panel!  Lowe's and Home Depot were frequented more than once, and I kept waiting for a large-scale blow-out between the men but nothing happened.  The most annoying aspect is all this work was done to alleviate a mere .5 inches! 
 

Pop began by removing the door frame.

A watchful onlooker

Milt stayed underfoot constantly enticing people to play ball with him.

At 10:15P.M. last night, after probably about a solid 20 hours of work, the little team, carried in both the washer and the dryer from the garage.  We all held our breathe while Pop wedged the new machines into the tight space.  Thankfully, they fit, and after a quick test run, we ascertained that the dryer dries and the washer washes!  Pop came out victorious, like we knew he would!

Washer

Drier

We now have an indoor wash/dry facility again.  To the Milt, it was all good fun and games with a constant show to watch.  He does not realize that once again we can adequately wash his numerous towels instead of them piling up in a corner somewhere.  Milt is pretty darn lucky, and so are we, to have a handy dandy guy like our Pop!

To read more about Milton the Goldendoodle visit www.goldilocksandherdoodle.com

[Lonnie & Libby Lu]

Welcome to the world of homeowners and it is a never ending project:)  Congrats on your new and larger laundry area and what an accomplishment for the day!  You have good inlaws and be thankful!  We both come from families that do not know the meaning of "handy man or fixing things" and we have to hire someone to get any thng done and that's ok, but very costly!  Milt looked like he was having a great day looking over things and supervising.  Heidi, you have a great family and an amazing Doodle:)   Have fun doing your laundry:)  

[Barbara B., Sasha & Oliver]

The projects will continue....that the fun of home ownership - LOL.  I'm glad the Milt got to enjoy himself.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Congratulations on the new laundry room.  Deanna, I would not even have that much problem solving at my house.   My dh is a real keeper, but in the fixing or reno department, I am still waiting and waiting and waiting,...  Our whatever would still be unusable.

[Deanna & Desi & Cori]

Glad your efforts paid off.  I HATE the laundromat ordeal.

By the way, here's how our carpenters "solved the problem" when the soffit for the bathroom didn't fit the space:

[Bonnie and Kona]

Looks like you are well into home ownership now! Congratulations and may the projects continue with such rousing success.