Thursday, May 8, 2014

Can You Guess What's Behind Old House Style Door #1 and #2?

A couple weeks ago I shared new photos of our Dining Room along with a view of the room looking into the kitchen and living room.  This was a view I haven't shared photos of before on our blog and I think it cleared up some questions we've gotten regarding the layout/floor plan of our home- but that led to a new question...

What's behind that skinny white door and what's in that smaller white door halfway up the wall?

Here's a look at the full question that Dayna wrote in the post comments:

What a great question!!!  I can't believe I've never talked about those little quirky details in our old house!  So glad you were curious about them Dayna!  Of course I'll share details about those mystery doors, thank you for the fun post idea!

Let's start with the quirkier of the two- the small door halfway up the wall.  Any guesses?!?
If you guess laundry chute, then you WIN!  That little door halfway up the wall is the laundry chute door on the main floor of our house.  I guess it's convenient if you have lots of dirty kitchen towels or table linens to deal with?

I guess we get more use out of the other laundry chute door that is on the upstairs level of our home which sits between the doors to our guest room and office Alex's winter cycling training room...
Because that is where all the wardrobe changes occur, take it off and send it down the chute!

Now back down to the dining room!
Any guesses what's behind that tall narrow door next to our staircase?  If you guessed the actual laundry chute then you WIN - well - you half win because it's also our coat closet.  Ahem, mini and kinda icky coat closet.  It's an odd space, so nothing too fancy about it.
Coats, two-tier shoe rack, wall mounted mail & sunglass storage, and upper shelf for bike helmets & hats, gloves, etc.
As you can see, the chute takes up a good chunk of what could have been (or still could be?) extra storage space for coats and shoes near our front entry.... but who cares!  (sarcasm font)  It's the high-speed highway down to our electric washer and garment wringer in the basement!
Never had taken a photo looking down the chute, so dark & dramatic, sort of like wearing sunglasses while doing laundry?!
Had to make a little joke with that one :) I can't lie, it is a total pain going up and down two floors several times on laundry day - BUT - I don't think I'd ever have the heart to tear out the old school laundry chute since it is an original feature in our little 1924 Dutch Colonial.  I'll just try to look at the upside- I'm doing loads of stairs along with several loads of laundry which seems like efficient multitasking!  

So there you have it, no more mysteries behind those quirky old house doors! What'd ya think?!

Did you guess that little door was a laundry chute?
What about the coat closet?  Waste of space?  
How would you improve the closet without changing the overall small/awkward storage space?

4 comments:

  1. My grandmother had a 3 story house with a laundry chute - we'd send secret messages via strings to different floors. And its great for calling everyone to dinner - its rather loud. :)

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  2. Laundry shoot, My Grandmother had one in her kitchen that went to the basement.

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  3. Is that your only space for a coat closet? Because it looks like it would be perfect for a broom closet.

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    1. we do keep a broom in there, but yes have to also use for coats since we have no other option, ugh old houses! I want a big ol' mud room in my next house!

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