Well golly, this reader project gets the award for ingenious — and adorable. When they remodeled their laundry room, Natalie and Graham noodled how to best use some additional space. They didn’t need a laundry sink — so instead, they added shower for their dogs Reelee and Maeybe. Not only is their dog shower adorable — and useful — but I also love the retro style tile they put into the laundry room — they designed it using Daltile’s mosaic design tool. (Mavericks’ colors?) As usual as with all our projects here on Retro Renovation, some of their contractor dudes thought they were crazy. But oh my gosh, it turned out great! Read on, Natalie sent me a bunch of great photos and details on the project –>
Natalie writes:
Hi Pam! So, I am not 100% sure where to start and what information to give you, so I’ll just talk. Ha. So here is what we started with:
The washer and dryer stayed on the right side of the room, as did the water heater. What you can’t see on the left side of the room are the same crap cabinets that leave only room for a deep freezer. It was very cramped and wasted a lot of space. When we started to remodel the kitchen, we decided to remodel the laundry room as well. We wanted a half bath in there — toilet, sink, and stand up corner shower with tile about 4.5 feet up around the perimeter of the room to match the era and style of our house. We ran some numbers on it and installing toilet plumbing is EXPENSIVE. So that was out of the budget and nixed pretty much immediately.
Then I started googling and brainstorming. What could I do with all this space?! We have two corgi mixes and I (although Graham would say differently) plan on having dogs our whole lives. Anyhow, I thought maybe a big utility room sink would work, but I didn’t really have any use for one. I don’t soak anything and if I do, I do that in the washing machine. Then I remembered that my Aunt and Uncle have a cute little half shower in their laundry room. They’ve never owned a dog in that house, so they use it for umbrellas, cleaning shoes, cleaning large kitchen items, and dirty grand-kiddos. That was it. A dog shower!
I hated bathing the dogs in the bathtub, and they hated it too. Also, when we have kids down the road, I don’t really want to bathe them in the same place I bathe the dogs – especially if they shed as much as now – the dogs, not the kids. So I told my tile guy, Scott, what I wanted, and he looked at me like I was crazy. He understood and we drew it out on the floor and went from there. (P.S. I think Scott is fabulous.) After we had the drawing set out, I called my plumber, Buddy. He came out and ran the pipes for the drain and hot and cold water. Once that was done, I called Scott back and he got to work. I had already order my floor tile from Dal-tile (online custom design application) and he worked with Interceramic. He had some left over gray tiles from a previous project in his car that looked great with the floor AND they were the 4.25 x 4.25 tiles I wanted. We discussed tiling around the whole room, but it was expensive – not to mention Buddy about flipped when I told I was considering tiling the wall where the pipes were for the washer.
Scott is the one who came up with the 45 degree angle for the front of the shower and I use the 10 inch ledge to sit on when the dogs are showering. Graham has also used it to wash off after working in the yard.
The tile: We used Matte Smoke Tile from Interceramic – I can’t find the name of the line but the label says IC Mattes. The floor is Daltile’s Block Random Pattern with Golden Granite in the big squares, Navy Speckle in the little squares, and Desert Gray Speckle in the rectangles. They do require you to buy a certain amount of the custom to avoid a surcharge. If I remember correctly, the surcharge was $150 for not ordering 100 sq. ft. or more. We ordered tile for this room and both bathrooms when we bought it and were charged the surcharge 3 times. Guess that’s what happens when you are trying to stay true to the era. =)
“I’ve also learned if you just ask for a discount
at Sherwin Williams,they will usually give you one.
Most of the time it is 30%,
but I can sometimes swing 40%
if I bat my eyelashes.”Oh and the walls are Site White from Sherwin Williams. I’ve also learned if you just ask for a discount at Sherwin Williams, they will usually give you one. Most of the time it is 30%, but I can sometimes swing 40% if I bat my eyelashes.
Some side notes: we bought the fridge for $100 in working condition. We rewired the plug and then plugged it in. There was a big spark and it no longer works. Oops. Maybe someday we will get it repaired, but for now it is a linen closet, holding dog blankets and cleaning rags.
The light fixture is from my friend’s house that was built in 1961. She hated it, I loved it. Free!
Washer and dryer – Dryer was $50 from a friend and I think the washer was $50 from an old coworker. We started out with the washer and dryer from the house, circa 1985 – but they finally gave out. I’d love to have something sparkly and new, but if mine still work so why get rid of them? I just can’t justify spending that much money to replace something that works. I almost bought a vintage set the other day, but they were sold by the time I got to the estate sale. Maybe you could start a #lovethewasheryouhave campaign?
Pictures –
The fridge linen closet. I keep small hand towels in the drawer and floor cleaning attachments in the freezer.
- My restaurant quality sprayer. I did lots of research on what I wanted. Hold the handle to spray and the metal piece will lock it in place. That is a very nice feature.
Let me know if you need additional information! Enjoy!
Natalie, this is over the top fabulous. I love the retro look of the laundry room — that tile turned out great. And the dog shower, well, golly, I didn’t even know I needed one, but I do! Thank you so much for sharing. You and Graham continue to just crack me up. xoxo
Marie says
We have one of those giant spa tubs in our master bathroom. I remember the realtor gushing about all the bells and whistles this tub has – I’m sure it’s a great selling point for many people. However, my husband and I are not ‘tub sitters’, we prefer showers, so this tub just collects dust and takes up a huge part of the bathroom. The only time it’s used is when I use it to store the empty rubbermaid totes during Christmas (easier than hauling them upstairs only to bring them back down a month later) and for washing our dogs.
Although it took awhile to break down my husband’s defenses of ‘What about when we sell the house? No one will want a dog washing station in their master bathroom!”, I have finally convinced him that a home is meant to be lived in how YOU want it – to heck with resale value.
So dear hubby had suggested pulling out this giant tub and having a dog washing station installed, but all I could picture in my head was those ugly stainless steel chest-high tubs – which didn’t seem much better than plopping the dogs into the tub we already have. But I love this!!!! As soon as I post this, I’m running downstairs to grab my husband and drag him back to the computer to take a look at your photos.
Jan says
I want one of those! And so does Ivy (my dog)!
And now, I’m going to have to get my old non-working fridge out of the basement for the coolest-ever linen closet! Great ideas – and “reelee” cute dogs!
Rick S says
Great idea. I can think of many things besides dogs to use your shower for, like the shelves and crisper drawers when the fridge needs cleaning and room to drip dry.
My wife uses our laundry room Dura Tub for dog baths with our Shih Tzu’s (4 of them). The high sides keep water and dog where they need to be and saves on her back.
Great brainstorming.
rick
June Cahill says
Love the shower, love the tile, love the grey & blue, love the dogs – and REALLY love the fridge idea – did you mentioned where you purchased the plumbing fixtures? I love those too…!
Lauryn says
Oh my, how I love this and I LOVE your dogs! Fabulous idea to keep an adorable fridge in use and your dogs, oh my goodness how cute are they!! My poor dog gets his “bath” on the deck, the rare times he gets one, so I just love the dog shower idea. (And as a gardener, I would be happy stealing it to wash my own mucky feet before traipsing through the house!)
Holland says
So cool! I’ve always been at least two dogs over the limit and in my last two homes, had similar showers put in — but did it outside so the dogs could do that shake thing BEFORE coming back inside.
Smart peeps, putting in a restaurant sprayer, which must make rinsing a breeze. I’ll look into getting one myself.
Natalie says
Restaurant Sprayer = Awesome! They were definitely unsure of it at first but are used to it now.
And yeah, mine are not allowed to shake inside – water would be every where. We take care of that outside. And I may or may not blow dry as well. 😉 They just shed sooooooo much.
Annie B. says
Those dogs are not spoiled, are they? No, not one bit.
Natalie says
Nope. Not at all. 😉
How could I not spoil them with faces that cute? Ha.
Justin says
I love the idea, and the tile is beautiful. I wish I had room in my laundry room. I have three dogs and its a pain to give them all baths. Anyways in regards to your idea about a “lovethewasheryouhave campaign”. There is a website http://www.automaticwasher.org that is for people into vintage washers, dryers, dishwahsers, and just any vintage appliances. Some of the people on the site have some nice collections. My set I have is from 1963 and are turquoise.
Molly says
Ingenious! I now have a new tiling plan for my bathroom remodel….and I knew I needed a dog-wash, I still have to find a place for it. There IS space in the laundry room (but mine is in the basement…not a great location when the dog turns himself into a mud-puppy).
Brittany Smith says
I love it! Natalie, now that I live in Texas I plan to invite myself over and see all these renovations myself one day.
Natalie says
I would be disappointed if you didn’t!