Hi Friends,

Let’s catch up on what’s happening at the Sunderland house! If you’ve been following along on Instagram, then you already know we started a pretty big remodel project last month. We are reconfiguring our back hallway area to make much better use of the space. The back hallway is off our living room and leads out to the garage.

Here was the layout when we bought the house:

Coming in the top door from the garage was a long skinny hallway. Off the hallway was a bathroom with a lot of wasted space including a very tiny shower. There was also a small coat closet and on the opposite side was the world’s largest bedroom. It’s not actually setting any records but I think it was 16″ x 17″ when we measured it.

I should mention, our house is a two story and our laundry room is currently in the mechanical room in the basement. Not functional at all to have to walk up and down two flights of stairs every time you need to do a load of laundry. I knew long term we would benefit from a laundry room on the main level so with this project, we are adding one! I also wanted to create a mud space coming in off of the garage with lots of storage and a large drop zone.

Here is the new layout:

We demo’d out the existing bathroom and hall closet to make a big open laundry/mud room. We’ll have a sink, a stackable washer/dryer, a mud bench and tons of cabinet storage! I shifted the closet to the other side of the hallway so we still have a place to hang coats (very important when you live in MN). We stole some space out of the large bedroom to create a new bathroom with less wasted space. It’ll be a 3/4 bath and the only bath on our main level – so the one all our guests will use. We added a new closet in the bedroom behind the bathroom as well. Don’t worry, the bedroom is still a decent size – it’s just average now instead of huge.

I love this new layout! It makes so much more sense for our home and it’s going to be so much more functional for day-to-day living.

Along with the new layout, you know I’ve also been working on the design plans. I haven’t finalized everything yet but it’s starting to come together. Here’s a peek at the bathroom so far:

I’m so excited to start seeing this space come to life! Since beginning this project, our washing machine in the basement actually broke. So at this point, I’m also excited for progress because I need clean clothes ASAP! 😂 But also there’s just something about having an idea in your head and then making it happen that’s so rewarding. It’s really cool when it starts coming together. Tell me what you think or tell me what your big ideas are that you wanna make happen. I wanna hear them!

Thanks for reading,