Another day, another project to disguise weird stuff in my house. So it's back to my laundry and mudroom where the pipes for the washer and the electrical for the dryer come up straight out of the floor! Whoo hoo - who thought that was a great idea??? Time to take things into my own hands. Have you met Max yet? My crazy, insulation chewing, wire eating cat? Another good reason to cover up this horrid mess of pipes and electrical cords. I began by creating an L-shape out of 2 2x6s with a 2x4 brace attached perpendicular to the opposite end of the L shape. Difficult to explain! I wanted to leave an opening at the end of the box for the pipes to run freely to my washing machine. Naturally I forgot to take a photo of the box with the 2x4 brace in place... I butted the box up to the edge of the machine to keep Max from getting at anything. L-brackets hold the wood to the wall. I had to use heavy duty anchors since there don't seem to be studs where I need them to be!!!! Then I added an L-shape in 1x2s from the center to the washer end of the box to give me a nailing edge for the paneling that will be installed to cover up the pipes. (One 1x2 runs across the floor and the other runs from ledge to floor.) I used 1" rigid board insulation at the back of the box to give me a little more insulative value and taped up all the cracks with Tuck tape. I also wrapped the pipes with pipe wrap before I sealed up the box. Since it's necessary to have access to the shut-offs, I built a door from half a louvered bi-fold door. The louvers allow the heat to circulate in the space. Then I attached leftover bead board paneling using screws on the side that hides the 220 power for the dryer. If anyone needs to get at it, the screws will allow the panel to pop off easily. All this bead board is left over from the front porch project. I decided to use it up by installing a bead board wainscot on two walls in the laundry. It allowed me to hide the hole in the drywall from where the dryer vent used to be. I'm thinking of renaming my house "Bead Board Central". Just kidding. For a nice ledge, I added a piece of MDF molding that was just a touch wider than the 2x6 so that it covered the edge of the paneling. Everything tucks neatly back in place. Now to shorten those curtains and paint the rest of this section of the wall. Tah daaaaaaaahhhh! Now I can breathe easily again, Max can't get at anything to destroy it like when he chewed up my front load washing machine door seal, He is rapidly becoming the 6 million dollar cat - and not in a good way! Have a great week!