My Dirty Little Secret

After months and months of working on the home, there are still a few areas we haven't even touched.  My Laundry Room.  Sigh.  That's not even my Dirty Little Secret. Because, really, whose laundry room doesn't look like a disaster at least some of the time.  This room is right off the garage, so it constantly has coats, shoes, and bags dumped everywhere.  It has not been remotely picked up for the last 8 months and has looked much worse than this.

This last week, I finally took a minute to tidy in there.  

We have a lot, and I mean a lot still to do in here.  It is our Mount Everest.  There is more cleaning to do; , painting, lighting, cabinetry to rearrange, and flooring to update.  I actually quite like the pattern of this tiled floor, it is just very old and extremely dirty.  It has textured grooves all over that Brook is sure are filled with poop.  His words.  What can I say to that?

But my Dirty Little Secret is found in the corner under the sink.  I was excited to have a utility sink in my laundry room.  It seemed so grown-up.  I remember the day I looked under the sink, my gasp could be heard round the world.

After the home was built, there was a leak in the foundation.  To repair this problem, they rerouted some of the plumbing.  This was the best they could do:

Here's a closer look.  Pipes comin' all which ways.  You can see a welding burn mark on the wall.  I can't tell you how much this gaping hole in my home bothers me. It keeps me up at night.  Brook doesn't understand it.  This situation has caused so many "disagreements" I'm sad to say.  There is just this side of me that wants everything perfect, even the stuff no one sees.  This will need professional help, walls opened up, etc... a little beyond our DIY skill-set.

We probably won't address this area for quite a while. So, I may just sew a little sink skirt for the time being. It's just on my mind because we were discussing it again the other night.  The laundry room adjoins the half-bath which is in an equally bad state.  The girls were in there ripping down wallpaper...a treasured past time of all children...when it sparked new discussions on how to handle this area.

Yucky Half-Bath

Wallpaper

The discussion ended once again in frustration.  Mess and dysfunction really stress me; work and money stresses Brook.  I get it.  I think when the time comes to truly tackle this project, we'll need to hire a mediator along with our plumber.

Another joy:  Our laundry room doesn't have the proper hook ups and drains for a washer, so the tube just empties straight into the sink.  It's loud when it runs and splashy!  When we first started using it, I tossed a couple of dirty rags into the sink, forgot about them, and when I ran the washer it flooded the room!  So, we have to be super careful to remember to not put anything in the sink.

Oooh, there she goes.  Pretty.

What's do people always say about old homes: Charming? Character?