A Treadmill Accuracy Test--Finally! (And 3-3-3 Week 9 Recap)

I finally got answers to the accuracy of my treadmill! I'll write more about that below. First, though, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Jerry was working, but my mom invited us to her house for dinner. Becky went with the kids (Brian was working) and Nathan went with his girlfriend, Alex.

That morning, I had the idea to invite Luke and Riley (my niece and nephew) to come over after dinner and stay the night. I'd invited them over for Saturday night, but on Thursday, we learned that Jerry's sister, Laura, was going to be induced into labor on Saturday evening. And I get to be in the delivery room! Of course, I was very excited about that, so I asked Becky about the change of plans, which was fine with her.

(Laura went in to the hospital last night as planned, but things are going very slowly. I'm hoping that it'll happen tonight! I'm ready to drive up there as soon as she lets me know.)

We ate dinner at my mom's, and it was delicious! My favorite dish is still my mom's sweet potato casserole. I could eat nothing but that and die happy.

Since Jerry was working, I had Luke and Riley to myself for a few hours. They are SO STINKIN' CUTE. Luke talks a mile a minute and asks so many questions I can hardly keep up. And Riley is one of the most adorable toddlers I've ever seen. She's very petite for her age--she's small but proportionate, so she looks like a little, drunk adult toddling around, hahaha.

And her smile. My heart just melts. She gets this grin on her face that stretches from ear to ear, and it's SO contagious. I tried so hard to get pictures of the kids, but they never hold still. There was one moment when Luke actually asked me to take a picture, though, which he never does. He was sitting on the floor with Riley. I wish you could see her huge smile!

Anyway, on to the treadmill... in my obsession with not knowing how accurate my treadmill's distance is (I think it's the thing I complain about the most on my blog--being a numbers nerd, it drives me CRAZY not to know!), I was doing some Googling about Garmin watches that are the most accurate on treadmills.

My Garmin is over five years old now; I don't need a new one, but I want accurate numbers on the treadmill. (When I do get a new watch, I don't want a fitness tracker or a wrist-based heart rate monitor--and they pretty much don't make them like that anymore.)

In searching, I came across DC Rainmaker's site (if you ever want to learn about fitness gadgets, he is my go-to), and he had a video that demonstrated accuracy of various tools for logging distance on a treadmill. To get a very accurate *actual* distance to compare the others to, he used a measuring wheel.

I cannot believe I didn't think to do that before! They are used for measuring long distances, typically for road marking, sports fields, paving, fencing, etc., so the accuracy is about as good as you can get. DC Rainmaker strapped a measuring wheel to his treadmill. I tried to do that, but it was very difficult to get it steady, so I had to do it the difficult way--holding it in place for a mile while my legs went totally numb from squatting on the floor.

I had Jerry start the treadmill (on 5.0 mph and leave it there) and read off distances throughout, writing down the number of feet measured at certain checkpoints--1/4 mile, 1/2 mile, then each 1/10 of a mile. I just wanted to see if it was consistent. Then when the treadmill hit exactly one mile, he told me to stop and I could record the exact number of feet that the wheel measured.

Ideally, the treadmill's distance would be spot-on with the measuring wheel. Worst case, I was hoping that the treadmill was going a bit longer than the display showed, so that at least I would know that I hadn't been cutting my runs short.

Here is what the result was:

The treadmill read 1.00 mile at the end. A mile is 5,280 feet or 1609 meters.
The measuring wheel, in the same amount of time, read 5,592 feet or 1704 meters.

This means that a mile on the treadmill's display is actually 312 feet (95 meters) shorter than the actual distance of a mile.

When I multiply that by the three miles that I run at a time, it works out to be an actual 3.177 miles that I've run. It also means that the pace I've been running has actually been a little faster than I thought!

I'm so glad to finally KNOW. I'm going to test it with a few different treadmill speeds, but I figured that 5.0 mph was a good start. Since I've been running until the treadmill reads 3.0 mph, I'll continue to do that, but I'll change the data on Garmin Connect to read 3.18 miles.

And since I'm going to do that from now on, I decided to go back to my runs over the last several weeks and change the distance for my treadmill runs to make it more accurate and consistent.

So, that done, here is my recap for Week 9 on my 3-3-3 running.

(For anyone new to the blog: 3-3-3 running is just my plan for getting back to running regularly. I run 3 miles, 3 times a week, for 3 months. I am doing MAF heart rate training, keeping my heart rate under 146 bpm for the entire duration of the run, no matter how slow I have to run in order to do that. It's a way of strengthening the aerobic system.)


Tuesday

Usually, after a run, I immediately write notes about it in Garmin Connect so that I remember what to write about in my recaps. I was in a huge hurry on Tuesday and forgot to do that. My memory is terrible, so I can't write much about it.

I had to pick up Noah early from school for a doctor's appointment, and I had to leave at 12:15. I wrote a blog post and finished a little before 11:00. I knew that getting ready to run, running three miles, and then showering would be enough time, but I was hoping I'd have time to cook some chicken and make a salad for lunch (I'm on a salad kick right now).

I quickly got dressed and hopped on the treadmill. I vaguely remember being happy that the run was definitely better than last week's runs, but my heart rate was still getting to 147 here and there.

I felt really good after this run! Afterward, I had to choose whether to make my salad or to take a shower. I was going to try to do both, but after trimming and cutting the (raw) chicken, I only had 10 minutes left, so I hopped in the shower instead before rushing out the door.

Garmin Connect only recently started showing my time spent in each of my heart rate zones. I love this! When I start doing speed work, it'll come in handy to make sure I'm doing 80% at MAF rate and 20% in zones 4 & 5.

Thursday

This was the best run I've had in weeks--probably since the beginning of my training. I started the treadmill on 4.4 mph and then I wondered if starting it higher would allow me to run longer at a faster pace before my heart rate got too high.

Basically, I am so tired of running so slowly and I wanted to see if I could manage starting at a faster pace. After about 30 seconds at 4.4 mph, I bumped it up to 4.7 mph, expecting to hear the heart rate monitor alerting me to slow down at any moment.

But I left it there! I didn't have to lower the speed or the incline at all the entire run. After 2.5 miles, I was even able to run at 4.8 mph for a quarter mile. Running the faster pace felt so good! And my heart rate monitor only beeped 3-4 times during the whole run.

I was trying to think of reasons why this run went so well, and I think it may have something to do with my medication. I deliberately waited until after my run to take my bipolar meds. I think one of them makes my heart rate increase. I can't sleep when I take it in the evenings, so if my theory is correct, I'm going to have to become a morning runner again.

I have such a hard time getting motivated to run in the mornings! I do love how it feels to get it done early, though, and then not think about it all day. I'm going to try doing it for all three runs during Week 10 and I'll take my meds after the run. I'm curious to see if it makes a difference.

From the pic below, you can see that even though I was going faster, I was able to keep my heart rate in the correct range for 95% of the run (and only 3% was too high).

Sunday

I was excited for today's run because I got a new pair of shoes and I wanted to test them out. I'll write about them next week after I've run in them a little more, but so far, so good.

Unfortunately, I forgot to run before taking my meds. I woke up at 6:15 and took them right away. Laura texted and said that there wasn't much happening as far as her labor, so I decided to give it a few hours before running.

I still wanted to try the speed that I did on my previous run, hoping for the same result. I started out at 4.8 mph this time, and less than a quarter mile in, I had to lower it because my heart rate was too high. Ultimately, I had to run at 4.6 mph, then 4.5 mph for most of the run, lowering it to 4.4 mph for only a few minutes.

Even though it wasn't a good as last time, it was still a big improvement from last week. I think the fact that I was sick last week is what made my runs so miserable and my heart rate so high.

I went back to watching 24 instead of Jack Ryan, because I need more action. I watched the whole series of 24 years ago, and I remember it being very fast paced, which is exactly what I need when I run on the treadmill.

So, that's the recap for Week 9. Today started my third month of the 3-3-3 plan. I'm two-thirds of the way through! And I haven't missed a single run. I'm pretty proud of myself :)

Well, I hope that tomorrow I'll be sharing a photo of my new niece!

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Some Random Crafts I've Finished

While at Salvation Army last week, I found this tray that was exactly what I'd been thinking about making and just hadn't gotten around to. I wanted a tray that I could use as a small "table" on the seat cushion of the couch. And this one was only $1.80, so it was even cheaper than making one myself.

I don't have a coffee table, and I don't think that I want one, but I miss having a table to set a glass, my phone, or the remote controls. We have end tables, but only on one side of each couch. The tray is not a super sturdy solution, obviously, but it'll work just fine for a temporary "I'm going to have a snack while I watch a movie" tray.

This is what it looked like before painting (after I sanded it a little--again, I'm horrible at remembering to take before pictures of anything!):

After sanding it, I brushed on an oil-based primer (I love the Kilz brand for all my painting projects!) and then I used the oil-based orange paint that I used for the orange accents in the house. I love how it turned out!

I only used one coat of paint, and I expected to have to use a second, but it really didn't need it.

I started a mindless crochet project, too, while Jerry and I watched our shows when we were sick. We have SO MANY plastic grocery bags, and I need a place to put them.

I have a mesh bag holder that I knit ages ago, but the colors of it clash with everything in the house. It's also REALLY big because you can stuff about a hundred bags in there (I'm not exaggerating--maybe more!). I should have put something next to it for size reference:

It has a loop to hang it up and then a draw string at the bottom, to make the opening bigger or smaller. Insert the plastic bags in at the top and pull out from the bottom. By "insert", I mean cram.

I also need at least two more of these things. So, I crocheted this one--it's not exactly "pretty", but it's hard to make these things look good. They are just very functional!

The hair elastics are for the loop to hang it and to hold the bottom closed where you pull the bags from (I just happened to have a couple of orange ones! I only ever use black, but I have some random colored ones).

I found the one on top unnecessary (why not just crochet a loop?). I wasn't thrilled with this pattern, and it's not as stretchy as I'd like, so I'm going to make another (smaller) version of the really old one I made ages ago. Only I will use the hair elastic at the bottom instead of the draw string.

I'm going to make two more, so I have one for the pantry and two for the laundry room. I use them for cleaning out the litter box, but it feels like the supply will never end! I use my own bags or paper bags at the grocery store, but if Jerry stops at the store or I forget my bags or something, we wind up with more of the plastic bags.

Anyway, I like these type of mesh bags for storing them. You can pack an amazing amount of plastic bags inside because it's so stretchy.

For the last project, I finally got around to polishing up this table that I keep under the couch in my bedroom because it looked so bad. It's called a Table-Mate, and I bought it ages ago after seeing a commercial for it on TV.

It's definitely one of those "as seen on TV" items--the commercial was on all the time! Anyone remember it? I just looked it up, and they still sell them ("new and improved!" versions, of course--as if something can be new AND improved at the same time).

I actually really love this table, because it's very functional and handy when needing a portable table. I used it after my surgeries (my jaw repair surgeries and my skin removal surgery) when I was high on pain meds and spent most of my time on the couch. I was able to sit up and eat at the couch (haha! with a jaw that's wired shut, "eat" is a joke--more like, drink my broth and smoothie). I also use it for my laptop sometimes, when blogging on the couch, or for playing solitaire (with real cards).

I love the table, but the surface of it was horrible. It was a plastic that happened to get discolored from every little thing it came in contact with. It wasn't a smooth plastic, but had a textured surface that stained and looked grimy no matter how hard I scrubbed it.

When I painted the tray from the Salvation Army, I decided to paint the little table, too (yes, the table could be used in place of the tray, but having both options is nice). I tried again to scrub it clean, but it just wasn't working. (Sadly, I didn't take a before picture of it!)

I put on a coat of primer (although that plastic sucked up anything on it, so I imagine it didn't need primer) and then a coat of the Aviary Blue oil-based paint that I had leftover from my kitchen cabinets.

I love how it turned out! It looks a million times better and it wipes clean so easily. (The lighting makes the blue look very subtle--even white--in this photo, but I just painted the tray and not the poles, so you can see a little difference.)

Next, I'd like to build a little cabinet or some sort of hidden storage for board games. We have a lot of them, but I feel like they're an eyesore on a few shelves in the living room. I'm really itching to build something with wood, but I haven't come up with a plan yet!

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Week 8: A Recap of 3-3-3 Running

This will just be a quick recap of my three running days this week. (I'm lying; my posts are never quick!)

As a refresher, "3-3-3" is just short for running three miles, three days a week, for three months in order to get back in the habit of running. I'm running using the MAF heart rate method--keeping my heart rate low, under 146 bpm.

Like I mentioned in my last post, I was sick all week and that threw off my schedule. I kept hoping I'd feel better "tomorrow", so I put off my runs until the eleventh hour. My running weeks are from Monday through Sunday, and I like to try to run Monday/Wednesday/Friday. However, feeling sick on Monday, I decided to run Tuesday instead. Then, I was still feeling sick, and put it off again.

Before I knew it, it was Friday and I still hadn't run! So, I had to get three runs in--one on Friday, one Saturday, and one Sunday.

I wanted to get in at least one outdoor run, because using the Garmin on the treadmill isn't accurate (I use the distance from the treadmill and the timer on the Garmin to determine the stats after each run). The outdoor runs using GPS are much more accurate, so I wanted to see how that compared to several weeks ago. I've been doing most of my running on the treadmill over the last eight weeks.

Friday

Having not run all week, I was really dreading this run. I was still feeling sick and I just wanted to stay inside to rest. Finally, at dusk, I told myself I'd better get it done before it got too dark outside. Little did I know, I totally overestimated how much time I had until it got dark.

After getting dressed and heading outside, I was less than half a mile into my run before it was mostly dark. I hadn't brought a headlamp, and I really don't like running in the dark.

For the first half mile, the run felt so easy. My feet felt springy and light. I never check my pace during my heart rate runs--I just listen for the beep that indicates my heart rate has gone over 146 bpm so that I know to slow down.

Despite the run feeling so easy, my heart rate just wouldn't go down. My watch was beeping at me constantly, and I was going as slowly as I could manage. I felt like my strides were very short because I was being so careful with my footing in the dark. I could still see the ground, because the sun hadn't totally gone down, but there was a short period where I had to cut through some grass and trees (making it pitch black), and I was scared to death of the dark, haha.

When I finally got home, I'd barely broken a sweat. I guessed my heart rate was high and my pace so slow because of running in the dark (nerves) and being sick (my heart rate tends to be high when I'm not feeling good). I hoped for a better run on Saturday.

Splits were 13:39, 14:27(!), and 14:00.

Looking at this map of the route is interesting. It shows my heart rate changes over the course of the run. From this, where the red and green markers are, I first ran upward on the map, turned right, did the loop around a neighborhood, retraced about half a mile, and then looped back around to the start.

You can see my heart rate was high almost immediately into the run. The blue sections (lower heart rate) were where it was lighter outside due to street lights.

Despite the entire run being almost completely dark, when I ran along the water, I did manage to see a gorgeous view for a moment before it was dark again.

Saturday

I wasn't dreading this run like I was on Friday. This time, I was actually looking forward to it so that I could see if it would be better than the night before (you know I love a comparison of just about anything). I chose to run the exact same route, only I ran just before noon instead of waiting until dusk.

Again, I didn't look at my watch at all. My heart rate alert starting beeping almost immediately, and no matter how much I slowed down, it beeped at me for about half of the run. It was driving me crazy! Compared to the run the night before, I felt like I was going much slower; I was sure I was "running" at a 15:00/mile pace.

I completed the same route and when I got home, I was shocked to see that my pace was actually faster than the night before. I'd felt like I was going so much slower. I wish I could say I was glad, but I was so annoyed at the heart rate alert throughout my whole run that I was just glad it was over. Splits were 13:29, 13:48, and 13:53.

Again, here is a map. I included one of my pace, too--I think it's interesting (although not surprising) that the colors on the two look almost opposite, especially in the neighborhood loop. Whenever my pace was faster (blue), my heart rate was higher (brown), and when my pace was slower (brown), my heart rate was slower (blue).

Sunday

This time, I decided to try the treadmill and see if it was any better as far as my heart rate goes. I was hoping for a good run, where I could go at a decent pace without my Garmin beeping at me to slow down. I didn't get on the treadmill until 6:00 pm (I don't know when it happened, but I am definitely not a morning runner anymore--unfortunately).

I was still getting over the cold, but I wasn't feeling horrible. I just felt tired from not getting much sleep and probably from having a lazy, sick week. I set up my iPad to continue watching Jack Ryan on Amazon. It'd been over a week since my last treadmill run, so even though I kind of forgot what was happening on the show, I just pressed play and began watching. It was a good episode during the action scenes (the scenes that make me forget that I'm running because I get engrossed in the show).

Again, my HR monitor beeped constantly. There was one point where I was shuffling along at 4.1 mph (I literally walk faster than that) and a negative 2% incline in order to lower my heart rate.

During the action scenes of the show, my heart rate is usually the most steady and at its lowest; when the show goes back to the regular non-action stuff, my heart rate usually goes up immediately because I tend to focus on my running form and my breathing. I basically need a show that is non-stop action in order to forget that I'm running.

The timer on the treadmill is fast, but the Garmin's timer is just fine. I always start the Garmin when the timer on the treadmill reads 00:10, just to let the belt get moving. Since I believe the distance on the treadmill is fairly accurate, I consider this run to be 3.0 miles in 42:11, a 14:04/mile pace (after adding the 10 seconds to the Garmin's timer).

Here is the summary for Week 8:

I'll have to check for sure, but this was probably my slowest run to date in eight weeks. I don't think I've ever had to lower the speed to 4.1 mph before. I was just as annoyed at the heart rate alert as the day before, and it made me want to forget the MAF training altogether and just run however I feel like running.

However, I saw such great results with MAF training before, and I'm pretty sure that when I am done with this 3-3-3 running, it'll get better. I'll gradually add some speed work and distance and hopefully see progress. I'd eventually like to start doing a six-mile long run every week. I don't really have any desire to run farther than that (unless I should ever decide to run a half-marathon again one day--it's been five years since I last ran a half!).

To top off Sunday's disappointing, annoying, and frustrating run on the treadmill, I finished to see that I'd watched the wrong episode of Jack Ryan! I'd only been midway through episode 5 when I last watched, but when I'd pressed play at the beginning of Sunday's run, I somehow started it on episode 8 (the season finale!). I was a little confused at the beginning, but I just assumed it was because I hadn't watched it in over a week. That just put me in a worse mood.

I took the day off from running yesterday, since I'd run three days in a row, but I'm about to hop on the treadmill. I have to pick Noah up from school early for a doctor's appointment, and I want to get it done before I leave. I'm feeling better today, so I really hope the run is nothing like Sunday! (And now I get to watch episode 6 of Jack Ryan, after having seen the finale already.)

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A Sick Week (and a fun 10-year old memory)

(I wrote this post on Friday, and only had a tiny bit to go--adding the photos--but lost the motivation to finish. So I'm only posting this now.)

Thank you for all the kind comments on my utility room makeover! Writing that post, including the step-by-step photos, was fun. It makes me wish I'd thought to take step-by-step photos for the whole house. Even if they are boring to others, I find it so cool to see how each little step adds up to something big.

It's kind of like when I was losing weight and took photos for every 10 pounds I lost. I'm so glad I did that! I hated the first photo, after losing 10 pounds, and I even cried when I saw it. I had counted every Weight Watchers Point and I was so confident that I looked a million times better. Then I saw the photo and was extremely discouraged. I wanted to quit.

I'm so thankful that I didn't quit, obviously! It's always cool to see before and after photos of weight loss, but I love to see the progression of small achievements adding up.

I do have a ton of photos from the boys' bedrooms that I didn't share (I sort of glossed over their room makeovers when I wrote about them) so may do another post that is specific to their bedrooms.

Anyway, this week has been kind of miserable. I felt like I was getting sick, but then I wasn't sure, and then I felt it again... I actually wished I'd just get sick already to get it over with! I had a sore throat for a few days, but I couldn't tell whether it was from anxiety (when I get a lump in my throat) or if I was getting sick.

I actually went to the doctor last Saturday and felt fine then. I had a tetanus shot and a flu shot while I was there, and the following day I started to feel the sore throat. So I also wondered if the flu shot gave me mild symptoms. But then Jerry and Eli felt it, too, and they were coughing and blowing their noses (meanwhile, I still just had a sore throat).

And, finally, I woke up with congested sinuses and a throat that felt like I was swallowing razorblades. My eyes were really watery and my nose and throat felt super dry. I skipped my run on Monday, thinking, I'd run Tue/Thu/Sat this week. Then I skipped Tuesday. Again, no big rush.

Wednesday and Thursday weren't any better. So, it's now Friday and I haven't run yet this week. But I insist on getting in all three days this week, so today, Saturday, Sunday it is! I have come too far over the past seven weeks (running three times per week) to quit the streak now. My weeks are Monday through Sunday, so it's not too late. (ETA: Since I'm only now posting this, on Monday, I will spoil by saying that I did, in fact, run on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, despite the sore throat. Will recap that tomorrow.)

Jerry surprised me with a custom Tervis mug, and I've been drinking lots of tea with honey to soothe my throat. I am usually aware when he's planning something, but I had no idea that he actually went through photos, picked out his favorites, and had this made:

When he gets up for work every morning, he sets out a mug, a green tea bag, honey, and a packet of True Lemon. And he fills the electric kettle with water, so that when I wake up, I just push the button to boil the water and make my tea. (I love that he does this.)

Now, I'm feeling mostly better but my throat is still a little sore, I have post nasal drip, and now I can't hear out of my left ear. I think that's the worst part about being sick for me. My hearing gets muffled, no matter how many decongestants I take, and the muffled hearing lasts for what feels like forever!

Jerry was off work Wednesday and Thursday, so we actually had "sick days" together. Despite the misery of feeling sick, it was fun to lie around on the couch and catch up on our favorite TV shows together while the kids were in school. We watch all of the Chicago shows--Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, and Chicago Med--and we had three of each to watch!

I also finished up a few small projects I was working on. I'll post those tomorrow, because I haven't taken photos of them yet. Nothing major--I guess they would be crafts, rather than projects.

Today, Jerry has an a follow-up appointment with the gastroenterologist. He had an endoscopy done a few weeks ago, and the doctor did a biopsy for H. Pylori. We were hoping that's what it was, because you just treat it with antibiotics. The biopsy ended up being negative, so we still don't know what's going on. (I wrote about the details on this post.)

I really hope we get some answers today! Jerry is miserable and wants to just know what's going on. I've read everything I can think of online about his symptoms and I can't even come up with a guess other than GERD (gastro esophageal reflux disease). However, his symptoms don't quite fit that, either, and he hasn't responded at all to taking Prilosec.

Where is Dr. House when you need him?!

Jerry and I have been talking about how much we want to get back to eating healthier and to drop some weight. I'm glad that I haven't gained anything over the past year, but I am not comfortable at this weight. Aside from the weight, I just want to feel healthier. Even if it's only in my head.

After running this week, I'm feeling pretty discouraged. I did two outdoor runs (and one treadmill), and they did not go well. I'll write a recap tomorrow (again, I haven't taken screenshots of the data or anything, so I'm totally unprepared to write anything right now! haha).

I'm hoping the bad runs were just because I was sick, so maybe my heart rate was high from that. To really see if I'm making progress, I need a solid four weeks or so of data without changing the variables--nearly impossible.

It's funny, last night (as I was procrastinating getting in my final run for the week), I was scrolling through Facebook. And look what popped up on my memories from 10 years ago!

I had attempted to do the Couch to 5K program, but I HATED doing intervals (which is why I was never successful at that program). It's funny (or not really) but it was the first day of week four that I actually quit the Couch to 5K plan. So, this Facebook post was a precursor to quitting the plan during the very workout I was dreading.

I gave up on exercise altogether until I started walking in February to train to walk the Indianapolis 500 Festival Mini Marathon (13.1 miles). At that point, I had lost 60 pounds. After the race, I decided to start running, and I did my own plan (it wasn't really a "plan" at the time, but I later wrote up a plan based on what I did). It didn't involve intervals, and I didn't dread it nearly as much as I did Couch to 5K.

After I was able to run three miles, I started following Hal Higdon's Novice 10K training plan. I ran all summer long, and I can still remember my route (it was always the same) as well as the music that was on my iPod shuffle.

Now I feel nostalgic for that summer when I hear those songs or run that route. I didn't love the actual running, but I loved that I could do it! I could actually run three miles at a time without stopping--something I never imagined was even possible for me.

Now, I feel like I'm back at that beginner status. If I was to run my fastest for three miles, I'm pretty sure I'd be slower now than I was then! But I really want to give this MAF heart rate training a good try, so I'm going to stick it out. After these three months are over, I'll reassess and probably add a fourth day per week--speed work. Intervals, of all things! ;)  I actually like intervals now much more than I did back then.

Well, let's hope I actually write a post tomorrow! I was feeling so unmotivated this week while being sick. The kids don't have school Thursday or Friday, so we get a long weekend :)

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My Utility/Laundry Room Makeover Reveal (Before and After)

I always love writing bullet posts because they are typically how my mind works--thinking about one thing and then the next and the next very quickly and randomly. However, when I write, I always tend to get wordy. I'm curious what the average word count of my posts is--I bet it's at least three times as long as other similar blogs, haha.

Anyway, I mentioned yesterday that I'd write a bullet-style post today. Once I started with the first bullet, however, it turned into a whole post! I finally finished (well, nearly finished) the last room of the house that needed a makeover... the laundry room. (I call it the laundry room or even "cat room" because the litter box is in there, but it holds our washer, dryer, water heater, and furnace.)

I say that the room is "nearly" finished because we have to replace the flooring. I think we have enough leftover luxury vinyl planking from the rest of the house to use--let's hope so. After the flooring is done, I will have literally made over the entire house from ceiling to floor (in that order).

So, here goes the laundry room remodel...

The Laundry/Utility Room

I had been saving making over the laundry room for last because it was SO daunting. A few years ago, we had to replace our water heater, which had leaked and caused water damage to the floor. Thankfully, my brother Brian was able to do the work to replace the damaged subfloor and install a new water heater. A year after the water heater disaster, we needed to replace the furnace as well.

When we replaced the water heater, we bought a tankless one, so it's just a box that hangs on the wall. So much smaller and more convenient! However, because the water heater and the encasing wall were gone, I was left with unfinished drywall and a big hole in the ceiling.

The water heater used to take up that whole corner, but now it is just that white box on the left. On the right is the security alarm system (which I later decided to remove, causing a whole other project--see below).

First up was to patch the hole in the ceiling. It was sealed at the roof, but not the drywall, obviously. I did a rough job of scraping off the ceiling texture around that area, and then I researched (by "researched", I mean I watched YouTube videos) on repairing large holes in drywall. I'd patched small holes before with tape and mud, but this was new to me.

It was actually much simpler than I thought!

The patch was done, so the rest of the work was easy--I'd done it a trillion times over the last year. Scrape the texture off the ceiling. Then drywall tape and mud (a.k.a. drywall compound).

First, I removed all of the crown moulding. Then I removed the textured ceiling (like popcorn ceiling, but the texture was called "stomped" and it was throughout the ENTIRE house--I'm so glad it's gone!). Removing it involves a lot of water (spray bottle) and a drywall knife to scrape it off once the water softens the drywall compound texture.

It's an amazing upper body workout, and the drywall dust is best dry shampoo ever. (I'd say I was kidding, but seriously--I should market it!)

What you're left with is a pile of soggy drywall compound, a ceiling that looks patchy, and hair that will never look greasy again.

After the ceiling texture was removed, I started on the seams. Tape and mud. Repeat. Let it dry. Mud again. Smooth it out. Sand.

I also removed the wire shelves that I hated (you can see where I patched the holes on the left). And then I decided to remove the alarm system. That was a bigger project to do than I anticipated. Each of those wires ran under the house into the crawl space and then attached to every door and window in the house.

I had to go into the crawl space and remove all of the wires. This required me to be in a squat position for about 30 minutes. Holy mother of God. My thighs were on FIRE after that. I came out with a jumble of wires. Then had to go back in to collect the stragglers.

There were a few spots in the house where I also had to remove a piece of alarm equipment, so I was then left to repair underneath those. That wasn't too bad--just a pain to do after I'd just painted the walls less than a year ago. Thankfully, I saved all of my leftover paint from other rooms and projects, so I was able to make everything look new again.

Meanwhile, my kitchen looked like this:

...for what felt like MONTHS, I tell you. All of that stuff had been on the shelves above the washer and dryer, and without shelves, it wound up on the floor of the kitchen.

After a trip to Lowe's and Sherwin Williams, I had the stuff for shelving and a gallon of Aviary Blue paint for the walls. I chose the color because it's the same color that I painted my kitchen cabinets. I already had leftover orange paint for the shelves and leftover white paint for the trim. I used scraps of trim leftover from the house to use along the floor, so I only had to buy a few pieces of trim for the door casings.

I made the shelves up as I went along, so I didn't really think to stop and take pictures of the process. I made them 12 inches apart, and I reeeeally wish I'd done 14 (for at least the bottom shelf). But, live and learn. That's what DIY is all about! Haha. 

I was thinking of putting up shelves to the right in the photo below, which is why there are two pencil lines running down the wall (where the studs are). However, I changed my mind (at least for now) so I just need to paint over the lines.

And that ugly corner? Finished! It's not 100% perfect, but I'd say pretty close to 99%. A million times better than before!

Before and after photos:

The rest of the room before and after:

Finally, as an afterthought, I decided to replace the interior door. While I was working on the room, I was SO ANNOYED at the door banging against the wall of the tight space. It's always something that has made me crazy when I carry laundry in or out because the baskets bang the door which bangs the wall.

Here is what the door looked like before. I loved it! It was the first door I did in the house. But after working on the inside of the laundry room, I knew I needed to replace it.

The solution? A bifold door. I'd replaced our closet doors with bifolds and I wish I'd done it long time ago! They save so much space. I even moved the pantry door (shown above on the right) to my master bathroom and installed a bifold for the pantry. So much better!

I went to Menard's for the door (DIY tip: Menard's interior doors are about half the price of the ones at Lowe's and they are literally the same material and style. Probably the same manufacturer with different packaging!).

I knew I wanted a door with slats in it for ideal cool air return to the furnace, but also one with a panel at the bottom that I could cut out for the cats. I keep the litter box in the laundry room and the cats need access.

I was going to buy a door of the same material of the rest of the interior doors (it's MDF or something like that). They are cheap--about $45 per slab (I didn't buy pre-hung doors or new jambs--just the raw door slabs and I drilled the holes for the knobs and the hinges myself).

However, I checked out the clearance section, and found the perfect door (exactly what I was looking for) made out of pine (a slight upgrade) that had been special ordered by someone but not picked up. It was the size I needed, and it was marked down from $80 to $38.50!

I knew hanging it was going to be a problem (I'd run into a problem with the first door, where it just wouldn't sit square). This time, feeling much more confident in my DIY skills, I decided to fix the root of the problem instead of dodging around it by shaving bits of the door here and there.

It's hard to tell in the photo (even zoomed in), but in the top left corner of the door, you can see a tiny gap.

After thoroughly inspecting it and trying to figure out what the deal was, I discovered that the jamb on that side was 5/8-inch longer than the other side! That's a huge difference. Whoever did that job while building the house screwed it up and was too lazy to fix it. I always assumed the gap was there from the house settling.

So, after removing the door, I also removed the door jamb. I remeasured, sawed off the excess 5/8-inch from that side, and replaced the jamb (using shims to get it perfectly square). Then I hung the new door and I was thrilled that the door no longer looked crooked!

(I had just put up new door casing, so ignore all the nail holes in the photo below. I filled them in and painted over when I finished the door.)

Next, I needed to cut out a cat door. On the previous door, I'd cut out an 8x10 rectangle and framed it with a picture frame. This time, I wanted to try something a little cuter...

I sketched the outline of a cat's head and then cut it out with my jigsaw:

Then I attached the knob and painted the door (and the casing).

Super cute, right?! Painting the door with all those slats was a bitch, but I love how it turned out. And having the extra space when going in and out with laundry baskets is SO MUCH NICER.

So, we finally have everything finished in the house with the exception of the laundry room flooring. We'll do that next summer, probably. I'll have to measure and see if we have enough flooring left.

Anyway, if you missed it, here are the posts from the rest of my DIY home makeover:

Kitchen
Pantry
Dining room
Living room
(all three of those are sort of one big space)

Boys' bedrooms
My bedroom (I don't think I ever posted photos of this! Will have to do soon.)
My closet
My bathroom (it started in 2016, but I did the ceiling and cabinets and all that recently)
Hallway bathroom

And here is a page with links to all the DIY projects involved in the home makeover.

I am LOVING my "new" house! :)

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