Laundry Renovation - How To Wallpaper A Door And Wall

After much debate on wallpapers for the laundry I finally picked out this wood wash wallpaper a few months ago after nabbing it for less than half price at Masters - if you keep an eye on the catalogue sales they do have them on promotion from time to time.

We wanted to wallpaper the wall and the door that leads from the laundry into the garage, the shoppers entry if you like.

The door was old, knocked, marked, battered and had seen better days and while replacing all the doors within the house is on the to do list, this door was going to be too expensive due to it's custom size, so we decided to wallpaper it instead. 

We cleaned the door and the wall with sugar soap and filled any bumps and dents with filler as best we could. It's important to have clean and well prepped surface before you start wallpapering as marks may show through depending on the type of wallpaper you get.

This wallpaper was textured and quite thick and hid a magnitude of sins as you will see from the before/after photo above!

We removed the door handle, light cover, etc so that it was a clear surface to work from and made it easier to cut the wallpaper around it. We need to fit a new door handle but for the moment we're using the dead bolt to lock and unlock the door oh the joys of renovating!

We measured each strip of wallpaper from the ceiling to the ground and using a level drew a straight line on the walls.

Walls are never truly square so don't rely on measurements or you'll end up with crooked wallpaper - always use a level to get a straight line.

We cut each strip of wallpaper to size allowing a bit of an overhang for cutting and set them aside until we were ready. 

We mixed up the wallpaper paste and water in a bucket and then poured it into a paint tray so we could use both a roller and a paint brush to apply the paste to the wall.

We have used both the paste the paper and paste the wall now and I think paste the wall is a lot easier  to use, mainly because with the pasting the paper it tends to get tacky and get stuck together, but then maybe that's just me!

Paste ready and wallpaper cut, we started in the top corner and worked our way across.

The beauty of this wallpaper is the pattern doesn't have to match up so you can hang it in any order which made it much easier to just cut and hang without matching patterns. You don't waste any paper this way either which is another bonus.

Leave an overlap on the top and the bottom so you can cut the paper using a sharp knife, we just used a cheap blade knife and changed the blades to make sure it was sharp and cutting well.

Mr P did such a great job cutting around the door frame I was so impressed!

It's really important to take your time when wallpapering and don't rush, smooth out any bumps and air bubbles as you work your way from the top to the bottom. Do one sheet at a time, it took us about 1 hour per sheet so about 3 hours for this project.

I really like how the wood look wallpaper ties in with the wooden bench top we made and the jarrah floorboards that run throughout the house.

My only disappointment is I meant to hang it horizontally so it was more of a paneled wall, but I forgot about this until we were onto the last sheet!

I do like how hanging it vertically makes the wall appear larger and the ceiling taller and it also follows the line of the door frame which is good.

If you're wondering how well a wallpapered door will wear, our wallpapered hallway cupboard doors which we did about 5 years ago have worn really well so it's worth considering if you have an old door you want to change and cover up. 

It cost us about $40 to wallpaper whereas replacing the whole door would have cost about $200.

This laundry renovation is really coming along now, the last thing for us to do is storage - we need to find and install shelving in the built in cupboard and then we can unpack everything in here and also in our flat pack cabinets. 

Now I have the wallpapering bug again ...... what can I wallpaper next!

Other than a wall, what have you wallpapered?

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Laundry Renovation - Turning A Wood Panel Into A Bench Top

Today I'm sharing a laundry renovation update on how we turned a wood panel into a bench top.

After shopping around for a timber bench top for the laundry room we settled on this large wooden panel in Karri wood that we found in Bunnings for $99.

We cut the panel to size to fit on top of our laundry flat pack cabinets and have quite a big piece left  over to make a chopping board or something out of.

We cut the panel with an electric saw and kept the plastic packaging on the panel to protect it so it didn't get scratched. 

  

We then used a planer to make some final adjustments and plane the edge - this planed edge is going against the wall and the factory edge will be the edge of the bench that you'll see.

We also cut the hole out for the laundry sink using a jigsaw .... I accidentally threw the sink template out and had to go scrounging around in the rubbish bin to find it - the template for the sink is the cardboard packaging it comes in so don't throw it out like I did!

  

Another fingers crossed it fits test to make sure the sink hole was cut properly and all the plumbing is going to line up and fit nicely.

Now to sand out any scratches or imperfections - for the deeper scratches we used our floorboard filler which worked perfectly and the colour match was spot on. Once it was as smooth as a baby's bum it was ready for a wipe clean with a clean dry cloth and a coat of varnish to protect it.

The wood had already been finished with a HardWax oil to give it a natural surface treatment for wet environments. We wanted to keep it natural but add another layer of protection from water damage being that it's going in the laundry with water splashing from the sink and humidity from the washing machine.

So we picked out this Minwax Helmsman Clear Satin varnish - being clear it will allow the wood tones to shine through and it was low odour and easy clean up as its water based.

In the end we painted on 5 coats of the varnish on both sides of the panel with a light sand in between each coat and allowing it to dry overnight between coats.

When we were happy with how it felt nice and smooth and knowing it's going to be water proofed with that many layers of varnish, we were done and this baby was ready to be installed. 

We used the level and measured a zillion times to make sure the bench top was straight and then fixed it into place using metal brackets screwed into the wall and the bench underneath.

Once the bench top was in, we glued the laundry sink in using a SMX polymer that pretty much bonds anything to everything!

We weighed the sink down with some bricks to make sure it stuck good and water tight and left them there for a couple of hours.

It was a labour of love turning this wood panel into a bench top but just look at it now .... the Karri wood colour shows through beautifully and the grains and knots in the wood add a heap of character too.

We are now ready for the trades to come back - the plumber to hook up the plumbing to the sink, taps and our new front loader washing machine and the tiler to finish the splash back behind the bench and vanity in the powder room and complete the kick tile all around the room.

Then we can finish painting and decorating and we are well and truly on the home stretch!

What do you think of our wood panel turned bench top?

To see our laundry renovation progress to date check out these posts:

Laundry Progress - Plastering, Sanding and Washing
Laundry/Powder Room Renovation - Changing The Plumbing

Laundry/Powder Room Renovation - Demolition Success
Laundry/Powder Room Renovation - Demolition Weekend Plans
Laundry Renovation - The Final Design
Laundry Renovation - Wood Look Bench Top
Laundry Renovation - Flat Packs Vs Cabinet Maker
Laundry Renovation - Flat Pack Assembly and Install
Tips for picking out laundry flat pack cabinets
Powder Room Renovation - It's All In The Flush
Powder Room Renovation - Basin and Vanity: Take Two
Powder Room Renovation - Basin and Vanity
Splash Back Choices - Be Brave Or Play It Safe
Laundry Renovation - Let's Go Mosaic Tile Shopping
Laundry Renovation - Picking The Tiles
Laundry/Powder Room - Floor Tiles Laid
Laundry Before - Our 1960s Laundry/Toilet
edesign Mood Board for the Laundry
Renovating - 5 tips for planning and designing

Sharing with link parties:

Home Coming - The DIYers
The Dedicated House - Before and After Wednesday




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Laundry/Powder Room - Changing The Plumbing

We are not one to do things half hearted here in the Jarrah Jungle house so when we decided to renovate and gut the laundry and toilet that meant changing all the old plumbing as well.

We had our plumber here from 6am until 10pm on Saturday and Mr P and the plumber spent the whole day digging trenches for pipes, cutting through the brick walls and coring holes in the retaining for new plumbing, removing the old terracotta pipes and fitting all new PVC pipes, and working their butts off for 13 hours until it was all done.

The plumber is a good friend of ours and I always look after our tradies .... I kept him replenished with my famous sandwich queen toasties for lunch and sent him home with a bowl of Slow Cooked Italian Beef Casserole for dinner!

 

 

After sculling a few espressos bright and early Saturday morning, we were ready to start! Firstly, we worked out where all the cabinetry, sink, and taps would go and drew the plan on the walls so they knew exactly where to cut and fit the new plumbing. 

 

It was really good to be organised and have all our materials ready because we could work out the height of the upperhead cabinets and placement of the sink etc so that it's all exactly where we want it. That's one of the best things about renovating you can personlise whatever you want - bench heights, cabinet heights, great for a shortie like me! 

 

Our plumber drawing on our walls .... again!

 

Working out where the laundry trough and taps will go

 

We are adding a vanity and basin to the toilet to convert it into a powder room - that needed new plumbing and pipes. The pipe lines were cut into the brick walls with a wet saw, then the copper pipes laid in and finally they were cemented over and then we'll plaster over ready for tiling and painting.

 

New plumbing being cut into the walls
 

New pipes laid for the sink going into the toilet

 

The plumbing for the new toilet was done as well, although the instructions weren't with the toilet there was a note stating we had to look up their website to find the specifications to install .... don't you just love technology nowadays! This toilet is going to be so much better and give us more space too, can't wait!

 

New toilet plumbing installed

 

Then cemented over .... we will also plaster and sand smooth before painting

 

We are also changing the laundry trough plumbing and we are putting in a mixer tap instead of the dual taps that come off the walls. We also put in taps for the washing machine, which will be a new front loader washing machine (still to buy!) 



New plumbing for washing machine
 



Coring a hole in the retaining for the pipes

 

We removed all the old services off the wall in the laundry so that we can put cabinets on the walls. It's going to be fantastic having extra storage in here and a great use of the otherwise unused wall space.

 

Old water services on the wall

All disconnected and moved 

We also moved all the water services off the wall out the back, just outside the laundry here. We also had to disconnect the hot water system, lower it about 50cm and put new fittings on it to put it into it's new spot. Our hot water comes on so much quicker now and is hotter too!

 

The reason we had to lower the hot water system is because we're going to build a deck out the back here and it was sitting too high. We also removed all the pipes so that we can render the back of the house just like we rendered the front.

 

Before the water services were removed and hot water system lowered

 

Progress - Most of the pipes removed (just 1 more to go!)

 

Once all the plumbing was done and our awesome plumber went home and  Mr P and I were in need of some comfort food and wine after that 13 hour day!

 

On Sunday we did a few more improvements in the room - the jarrah floor boards leading off the kitchen in the laundry always use to bend forward and creak ..... that's because there was only 1 support holding the floor boards up. So we put a few more supports in there so that it is supported properly and ready for the concrete floor in the laundry to be laid.

 

Supporting the floorboards
 

No more sqeaks and creaks!

 

Now that all the plumbing and pipes were done, we carried back in all the tile and rubble from last weekends demo to level out the floor ready for it to be tiled.

 

Ready to be carried in .... one bucket at a time!

 

Levelling out the floor

 

Our site supervisor Lexi always keeping an eye on things!

 

So besides a bit more cementing, plastering and sanding over the new pipe lines on the walls to prep it ready for painting, all the plumbing is done (for now!) and we are ready for the tiler who is booked in for 4 days work this week to screed, water proof and then tile the floor, kick tile and splash back in the laundry and toilet.

 

I'm having splash back freak out at the moment, doubting my first design plan so let's hope I can make a decision and find a perfect splash back in the next few days in time for the tiler to tile the laundry and powder room!

 

Wish me luck!!

 

You can see my Laundry/Powder Room renovation progress posts here:

Laundry/Powder Room - Splash Back Choices

Laundry/Powder Room Renovation - Demolition Success

Laundry/Powder Room Renovation - Demolition Weekend Plans

Laundry Renovation - The Final Design

Laundry Renovation - Wood Look Bench Top

Laundry Renovation - Flat Packs Vs Cabinet Maker

Powder Room Renovation - It's All In The Flush

Powder Room Renovation - Basin and Vanity: Take Two

Powder Room Renovation - Basin and Vanity

Laundry Renovation - Picking The Tiles

Laundry Before - Our 1960s Laundry/Toilet

edesign Mood Board for the Laundry

Renovating - 5 tips for planning and designing

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Before and After: Shut The Front Door!

Over the Easter break one of the projects on our to do list was to replace all our doors throughout the house - the internal doors post is coming soon with some how tos on hanging the doors.

This post is all about our new front door ..... when you think about it the front door to your house is the first impression of your home and what you may find inside. Because we are modernising our 1960s home and renovating it to bring it up to date, the old doors no longer match the updated interior and exterior of the house. Until now that is!

Our front door - Before and After

So after all these years of coming and going through our old front door, it kept us safe and secure, warm and dry, it was time to say goodbye to this classic style and make way for a modern and stylish door to take its place.

 

Our old front door .... it's seen better days!

 

The bottom was warped and water logged and the glass was scratched and marked

 

The style just didnt match the modern decor inside the house anymore

The old door was taken off its hinges and once we remove our lock and dead bolt the door will be put in the rubbish. The new door handle is a trilock which means it has a deadbolt and lock in one so it's just one mechanism, instead of two. Which will be so much better!

 

Old door ready for the rubbish!

 

There were holes in the door from when we changed the locks and added a dead bolt when we first moved in

 

The new front door and lock we bought a while ago when we were creating our own French Doors package for our dining room renovation.

While we had a go at replacing all our internal doors ourselves, for the external doors because they are a bit trickier to do, they are so heavy and have to be hung absolutely perfect, we had a carpenter friend install it for us. It took them 5 hours and cost us $250 for labour.

Taking the hinges off the old door frame

 

Our carpenter friend hanging the new door

 

The new door needs to be sealed to protect it from the weather. I think the two tones of wood are a bit too light against the pale grey paint on the walls and dark jarrah floorboards, so we will pick a tinted sealer that will go with the interior of the house.

The door also has a few minor marks on it which we will lightly sand off and then cover with the sealer and you will never know!

 

The new door hung

 

Shut the front door!

 

I love how the stripes on the door mirror the painted stripes on the entrance wall

 

From the outside the door has a mirror affect so anyone standing outside can only see themselves they can't see inside. Whereas from the inside you can see out and spy on the neighbors through the peep holes!

The only factor we didn't think of is because it's such solid wood with small glass inserts it blocks a lot of sunlight which means the rooms at the front of the house - living room, hallway and master bedroom are a lot darker now and you need to turn the light on to see! Of course, I didn't even think of that when looking at the design of it, but I still love it .... even if I have to turn the lights on more!!

 

From the outside it's a mirror affect

 

We still  have some painting and work to do out the front but we're getting there!

 

Who knew hardware could excite me? But this lock is just gorgeous isn't it!

 

It's a trilock which means you don't need the separate lock and the dead bolt that we had before, it's all in the one mechanism. The style of lock is the same as the ones we got for the French Doors and we have just ordered locks for all the internal doors too with a very similar style and all in brushed silver which I like better than shiny as it hides fingerprints! So all the door handles will match and look beautiful when we're done!

 

New trilock installed

 

Shut the front door! (Sorry I love saying that)!!

 

We knew we were getting a bargain for this strong quality Corinthian door that retails for $1400 and we got it as a seconds door for $200. The lock is a Gainsborough trilock that retails for $150 and we paid $25. That's a saving of over $1000 for picking a door with some small imperfections that can easily be sanded out and fixed up!

 

So all up - the new front door, lock and installation cost us $475. This is such a great investment for the impact and security it adds to the house.

 

What do you think of our new front door?

 

 

Sharing with link parties:

Savvy Southern Style - Wow Us Wednesdays
Home Coming - The DIYers

The Dedicated House - Before And After Wednesday

 

 

For exclusive extras and daily updates ... follow Jarrah Jungle on Facebook and Instagram


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