After a lot of planning, our laundry area is finally getting some attention. Hello, washer — shall we take this to the bedroom?
Yes, we literally moved the washer into the bedroom for a minute. Jealous?
Laundry Room Renovation Update
It’s been a busy week here — mostly with unrelated book work — but we finally made progress upstairs. After a lot of thought and reading your encouraging comments, we decided to take a more hands-on approach: doing more ourselves while managing a few trusted subcontractors directly. That hybrid plan feels like the right balance between saving money and keeping quality control.
Contractor Estimates and Choosing a Plan
Our first contractor estimate was around $5,000, which felt steep. A second estimate came in at $3,300 — a far more manageable number — but that contractor was heading out on vacation and actually encouraged us to do much of the work ourselves. So we reached out to people we’ve worked with before: the framer who helped with the sunroom, our go-to electrician, and the plumber from the showhouse. Many of them could come out this week, which was huge. We now have a small team lined up and ready to move forward.
Sherry suggested I insert a Team Sonja joke here about mystics and dog psychics, but I’ll skip the Real Housewives commentary beyond admitting a brief peek during that infamous leg scene.
Demo Day: Knocking Down Walls
With pros scheduled, we started demo. I joked about doing it “with my bare hands” — not literally — but we did take down a few walls and cleared out the old finishes. The demo move felt like the real beginning of the renovation: dust, debris, and a clear sense of how the space will come together.
How We’re Managing the Project
Our plan is simple: outsource the parts that require licensed pros — electrical, plumbing, and structural framing — and tackle the rest ourselves. That approach keeps costs down while ensuring safety and code compliance. This week’s focus is demo plus preliminary framing, plumbing, and electrical updates, and we’re hopeful that by Monday we’ll have visible progress in those departments.
Coordinating multiple trades can be a juggling act, but calling in familiar faces who already know our house made scheduling easier. The framer, electrician, and plumber have all worked here before, which saves time and reduces surprises.
Next Steps and Timeline
Immediately next: complete the remaining demo, rough in any new plumbing and electrical runs, and begin framing the updated layout. Once those elements are signed off, we’ll move to insulation, drywall, and finishes. We’ll keep sharing progress updates — our goal is to have a clearer before-and-after timeline soon.
One practical note: the house is temporarily on a laundry strike, so underwear is on short supply until the room is functional again. #nolaundryproblems
Thanks and What to Expect
Thanks for the encouragement and the helpful comments — they made us more confident about taking on parts of this ourselves. We’ll post another update on Monday with whatever framing, plumbing, and electrical progress we achieve. For now, we’re excited to see the space beginning to take shape and grateful for the team that’s helping bring the vision to life.