Thanks, Ray! You Made My Day!

Earlier this year, the stackable washer/dryer we were using in our rented farm house, gave up the ghost. First the dryer, (after months of a very noisy squealing noise while in use), and then the washing machine decided it shouldn't have to work anymore either. I guess it figured if the dryer was retiring, they might as well go together.

Anyway, for WEEKS now, we've been hauling about six loads of laundry to the local laundromat each week. That's only for 3 of us. If I did Jessica and CJ's too, it was more like nine loads. The washing machines cost $1.75 per load, and the dryers could be bribed to go a whole 8 minutes for a quarter. It was quite an expense, not to mention the chore of hauling it all out to a vehicle... and into the laundromat...and back to the vehicle... and into the house... Ugh! To say that I hated laundry day was a gross understatement. Some would say that it should have been the landlord's responsibility to repair or replace the appliances, but they've been very kind and patient with us, and besides, we had a perfectly good washer and dryer sitting out in one of the out-buildings here, from the house we lived in before.

So...first of all, we had to move the freezer from this corner, to where the stackable unit had been, so we could vent the dryer out the wall. Then Ray bought a laundry tub, which he later assembled and installed.

Notice there is no plumbing, gas hook-up, or electricity in this corner...
(Pay no attention to the hideous, filthy linoleum, circa 1930. It doesn't GET any cleaner)

Next, he cut a hole in the wall to put the dryer vent hose through...

And a week after I took the first pics, he had the electricity, LP gas and plumbing all ready to go. There was even hot and cold running water in the laundry tub!

Ray then hauled in the dryer, and I cleaned it up and set it in place, just to see what it would look like. It was finally starting to seem like this project might actually come together!!

But first, my old dryer had to be converted from natural gas to LP.
After that was done, he brought in the washing machine and hooked that all up...



And voila!! My laundry room was finished! I was pretty excited. No more traipsing to the laundromat! Yay!! We tried it out with a small load and it worked just great. The next day, I was happily doing my laundry, and had even brought a small TV in the room to watch while I was folding. Here's the thing that I DIDN'T expect to happen...
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*My grandson, CJ thought it was a great place to hang out, and he (along with the two dogs) sat in there (in a laundry basket of course), watching cartoons for the remainder of the afternoon.
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And to top it all off, when Molly came home, she promptly made herself a PB&J sandwich and joined him in there. She's sitting on the table amongst the folded clothes...Silly kids.

Oh, and if you're wondering how I took a picture from over the laundry tub...since this room was added after the rest of the house was built, there is a window between my laundry room and the living room. Quaint, don't you think?