A place to do your chores

After: Laundry room with storage, a work area, drying rack, lots of light, and functionality.

Chores got you down? Bear has had enough…

What do you think of when I use the word “chores”? Maybe that it’s an obligation, that it’s no fun, that it’s boring, that it’s a slog. That’s not what I think. Sure, a chore can be necessary. But a chore can be fun! A chore can be interesting. A chore is just a thing to do, that’s all.

If you couldn’t do chores, I can think of 3 scenarios: you have a physical impairment preventing you, your house is just dirty all the time, or you simply don’t have a house or a place to keep clean. Chores are a luxury and privilege. Chores are an opportunity to practice gratitude. Chores make life better.

Bear, looking skeptical that we can make chores more enjoyable.

What can make chores enjoyable vs unenjoyable is a list too long to mention, but I can think of one thing off the top, and that’s a space in your home built for doing just that, styled how you like, safe and cozy. A space not only dedicated, but beautiful, functional, hygienic, and unlikely to overload a circuit and start a fire… (what an oddly specific details to add… hmmm foreshadowing perhaps?)

I had the great honor of being asked to help a new client, Amy, do their chores. Not the chores themselves, but to enhance the space for chores. They needed a remodel of their laundry room.

The previous homeowners did some work themselves, and wow did they leave a mess.

Before the work started

Before: A confused space.

Before: It’s hard to explain what’s going on here.

Before: an uninviting laundry room.

Before: the sauna/pantry being dismantled.

• The dryer was moved away from the exterior wall with a whole lot of loosely connected duct corners to navigate around a concrete step, behind the washer, and up to a vent that didn’t actually see any airflow because all of the connections leaking the humid linty air into the room.

• They built a sauna that was almost cute, but the wiring looked sketchy at best and had later been decommissioned and used as a pantry with a funky door.

• There was this odd wall that for half of it was 45 degrees angled from the rest making the room feel tiny and odd, and destroying usability.

• The concrete floor was pocked with divots all over. The window was small and dark. Barely any lighting. Ugly acoustic tiles falling off the ceiling. Painted sheet paneling on the walls. It was a mess of a room.

I noticed an electrical cable under the house that was spliced without a junction box, and without wirenuts. It was charred from having caught fire, and there was charred insulation above and around it. Amy had no idea there had been a fire under her house! I found this cable was on a 30 amp circuit, when the wire size was for a 15 amp circuit, and it went on to power about half the house.

Clearly, this circuit was overloaded and the breaker was tripping too much so the breaker was replaced to stop tripping, which caused the cable to melt the sheathing and arc between the wires, causing the fire. — As I continued in the remodel I kept finding other electrical worries within the walls of a similar fashion. Before we covered the walls, all of these issues were safely resolved by a qualified electrician.

Under the house, an old spliced and melted cable that arced and caused a small fire, unbeknownst to the homeowner.

After the work was completed

We adjusted the dividing wall to be square and straight, thickened the wall behind the washer and dryer to allow for the dryer to be securely ducted outside, replaced the window and added a stone sill for plants, patched the concrete floor, installed cabinets, and more. The plan had been to drywall over the acoustic panels on the ceiling, but when I found it was shiplap above already installed, I suggested we leave that in place and clean it up, adding character and warmth to the room.

After: New cabinets, painted walls and floor, drying rack, lighting, and more.

After: A clean, inviting space to do your chores. Bear would be proud.

When the project was completed, so happy with how the room came out and excited to have a more inviting and functional place to do her chores, Amy threw a laundry room warming party (I know, so cute, right?) and asked me to make an appearance. Before revealing the room, she mentioned to the small crowd that “the project was on-time and on-budget”, and there were audible gasps from the friends and neighbors; I’m happy to walk right over that very low bar.

Amy, Bear, and Brendan.

🙏🏻

Now, I maybe I didn’t convince you that chores are fun… But hopefully I did convinced you to seek a qualified professional when doing your next home remodel. If you live in the Portland, Oregon area, I’d love to help with your laundry room, pantry, work space, wherever, to make chores and life more fun.