Utility Room Done

It's been a while since I reported on a finished room as we ran out of cash a few months ago!  But we're ready to get going again - and so is the bank account - so here's the utility room.  

This was left unfinished after the kitchen - we'd had the ceiling plastered, but following a few issues with the contractor over the towel rail installation, we'd left it for a bit.  Phil sorted out the plastering touching up & wall prep needed, but we then decided to bring in Tony as the biggest update here is invisible.

The washing machine was vibrating so much that the room (and house!) shook.  Tony took up the floor completely, fitted additional beams and then put in new floor boards before underlay & the same tile effect laminate flooring we'd used in the main kitchen.

Under the washing machine, there's an anti vibration mat made from recycled rubber to help minimise spin cycle earthquakes.  And it's worked!  The washing machine is much quieter and the floor feels stable.

We were going to decorate ourselves but Tony was a little speedier than we anticipated, so bar some trim paint, even the painting was non DIY!  The advantage is that he did bits we may have been tempted to skip - like the wall behind the tumble drier.

It's a laminate worktop & splashback in here as it is where we intend to do anything too messy for the lovely beech kitchen worktop.  Phil's rather cleverly found & fitted an aluminium extruded bar to finish the top of the splashback.

The unit doors are gloss white like the kitchen but from a cheaper B&Q range - it's a utility room after all.

New hooks on a repainted board on the wall - we did that bit!

The walls are the same colour as the main kitchen.

We still need to put a better light bulb in - it's a very slow CFL and I'd rather have the instant light from an LED.

I'm also after a wall mounted airer.  In summer, the conservatory is a perfect drying space on rainy days, but no drying seems to happen in winter out there.  Our floor mounted airer fits in under the hooks here, but a wall mounted one will be a better use of space.

We bought a freestanding unit from IKEA for bags & cleaning cloths - as well as giving a home to bottles en route to recycling.

Nearly as exciting as the utility room is the kitchen bin situation.  I grabbed a pedal bin at a B&Q sample sale that's just waiting for a recycling sticker to help us remember which of the 2 bins is for which waste!