Today, I am SO excited to announce that I've been selected as 1 of the 50 Whirlpool Moms to review a brand new Duet Washer and Dryer. This is the first time I've mentioned it here at MommaFindings, but you may have heard my squeals on Twitter and Facebook {or all the way to your house from Texas}. I may have gotten over-the-moon-excited when they arrived.

While, they are still very new to me and it's going to take a few months to really get to know them {we're in the dating stage}, I wanted to let you in on how I prepared for the set. 


Over the next 4-6 months I'll bring you guys straight into my #whirlpoolmoms journey. This is most expensive appliance we've ever owned and, as a family of five on a budget, this was a BIG deal. So, how did I prepare?

Well, I knew we needed a change. We don't have a laundry room in the house. In fact, our washer and dryer are housed in the garage with no vent leading outside. All the heat goes STRAIGHT into my garage. Needless to say, this has wrecked havoc on the walls. So, I thought we'd do a little laundry room makeover.

Our laundry room area in the garage looked like this:


Yeah, not much of a looker, but HEY, it's the garage. Right?! We wanted it to look like this:


Fat chance. I know, but just because our laundry room is our garage, doesn't mean you can't have a nice area to do your laundry. So, we bought a little paint and my hubby got working on a new table to match.


I wanted to keep the wall like this, but I got the big NO from my husband. I, seriously, don't see anything wrong with it:


So, we painted as best we can over the white on the walls and gutted the area.


If you're looking at purchasing a new washer and dryer, one thing you need to keep in mind are the regulations and codes in your area. I was told, just days before my delivery, that installation may not happen because of the fact that, here in Texas, if your dryer is in your garage it needs to be 18 inches off the ground (much like a water heater). The pedestals are only 15 inches, so I needed another three, but where would I get three inches?

This is where my giddyness turned to frustration. At first, the delivery company asked us to build a 3 inch platform before they could install. Well, I can't build a platform, my husband works so much, and I didn't want to hire someone to do it. Unfortunately, we live in an older home where a platform in the garage is non-existent. After talking to Whirlpool and Mom Central, they cleared up the issue and JB Hunt (the 3rd party delivery company) came out the day before, inspected the area, and went back to build me a platform. Check it out. It's the brown platform on the bottom (he painted it to match the trim in my garage).



Now, I'm going to tease you a bit because I WON'T be showing you what an AFTER picture until my next post, but I WILL let you in on a little "Laundry Diary" I've been making since I got the appliances. This is me, all sweaty and tired, after we finished painting the laundry area.



These are the VERY early stages of preparation. Next time, I'll show you the end result, tips on creating a laundry area all your own, and my favorite features of the Duet Washer & Dryer!

Tomorrow, I head out to Benton Harbor, Michigan to the Whirlpool Headquarters to learn more about the science behind the appliances and meet the experts behind the company. If you have any questions you'd like me to ask, leave them in the comments!



Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a test-drive campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Whirlpool and received a complimentary Whirlpool Duet washer and dryer to facilitate my review.

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