If You Give Your Wife a Washing Machine...

In a similar theme to Laura Numeroff's If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, I offer the following account of how this renovation evolved.

If you give your wife a new front loading washing machine, she’s going to ask for a new dryer to match.

And, if you give your wife that new dryer to match the new washing machine, she’s going to ask for a new ceramic tile floor for the new appliances to sit on. 

So, if you agree to lay a new ceramic tile floor, she’ll probably remind you how cold that laundry room floor slab is and ask for a new radiant heat floor to be placed before the new ceramic tile is laid.

While you’re installing the new electric radiant heat you remember how the house almost caught fire due to the old wiring.  So, you replace all the wiring behind the walls.

Once you start opening up walls to replace the old wiring, you find termite damage which explains why the exterior door does not open or shut properly. 

So….

…you remove all the sheetrock from that wall to repair the termite damage you found while replacing the old wiring that almost burnt your wife’s house down - twice.

Naturally, while you’re doing all this demolition and reconstruction, your wife is searching every laundry room blog on the internet….

…getting ideas…..

….designing…..

….and redesigning….

….until finally, she has you agreeing to install new cabinets over the new countertop that has the new sink set into it – in the corner – where there’s no plumbing pipes – yet.

So, if your old washing machine starts to squeak and stops spinning, and your wife asks for a new front loading machine -  be prepared to build her a brand new laundry room. 

I will be following up with all the "boring" construction details for anyone interested.

Fred