The Shoestring House: Washboards are so five minutes ago....

One of the... shall we say, idiosyncrasies of our house is the layout of the basement. They tried to put a mini apartment in the basement at one point, and the set-up left a great deal to be desired. Pretty much only very skinny and very flexible people could do laundry. As I am neither, our only options were not doing laundry (and subsequently losing every friend we have) or moving the washer and dryer. We like our friends. Option 2 is it! (Better for our marriage as well.)

A stackable washer/dryer unit was really our only option, and God provided beautifully. The story of that particular craigslist transaction is one of our best, and warrants its own post. For now this post is about the process of preparing for the new unit.

I am a huge fan of second floor laundry. So, the space we chose is upstairs, and will make me not only even happier to do laundry than I already am, but also raise the value of the house considerably. This space had been two back-to-back closets, one for the guest room and one in the hall as a linen closet:

We tore out both, and Jack re-framed them as a side-by-side washer/dryer area and smaller linen closet, and then on the other side is a smaller closet for the guest room. Behind the washer space, we're building a built-in bookshelf (which, if I may humbly mention, was my idea. We both love creatively using space. Dead space is anathema in this household!).

The framing is just the beginning though. I already mentioned the new 220 circuit we needed, and of course you must also be plumbed. (Not you personally.) (Well...) When they put on the new roof, Jack had explained about what our plans were, and we got a nice vent all ready to go straight up for the dryer.

The plumbing presented a challenge: The water supply of course is a major issue (water is helpful for a washer), plus you've got your venting and your drainage. My husband, whom I believe I have mentioned is just incredible, is basically getting a fantastic crash course in plumbing as he works on this.

Dan helped too, with panache as usual.

Jack ran the water supply lines and the venting lines from the nearest junction, working beautifully in some tight spaces:

God provided some awesome deals for some of the parts too. At the ReStore we'd found a bunch of the little copper parts, for pennies compared to the 80 cents per at Home Depot, and also braided wire washer supply lines for only $2! Those are much more reliable than the cheap ones and one of those places where it's worth it to spend money - only God gave them to us for almost nothing! Also, months earlier we found the plastic fixtures box that goes in the wall at a garage sale for a quarter. :)