Photography by Hayley Hill
When Jessica Ralat used to run the washing machine at the back of her house, you could feel the spin cycle going in the front room. The old laundry room was in a lean-to tacked on by a previous owner, and an awkward storage gazebo behind it blocked their view of the backyard. The Ralats might have lived with that for a long time. They’ve been in the house for over a decade. But when the pandemic kept Jessica — known as Jessie —at home with her husband, Texas Monthly taco editor José R. Ralat, and their son, Diego, she knew it had to go. They hired a contractor to tear down the lean-to and the weird gazebo and build a new laundry room that is so much more.
It’s also Jessie’s office, her sewing room, a storage room and a place for people to gather. Jessie, a logistics coordinator, didn’t realize it beforehand, but she built a “keeping room.” That’s the room off the kitchen that, in colonial times, had a hearth and was the warmest room in a home, where a cook would “keep” guests and family out of the way. It’s basically a den.
The Ralat family’s room is about 400 square feet of new living space that makes their small home so much more comfortable, Jessi says.
“For the first time since we’ve lived here, I actually love my house,” she says.
Contracting
The Ralats hired a female minority-owned contractor in August. But they didn’t realize how much of a disruption the work would be. It took about two months and was so noisy that Jose had to find another place to work. They also had to needle workers to clean up after themselves and wear masks. “I didn’t know what to expect because we’d never done a renovation, and I’m glad it was only two months,” Jessie says.
Financing
The Ralats refinanced their mortgage, a process they started at the end of 2019, switching to a 25-year loan and dropping private mortgage insurance. They made enough on the refinance to pay for the work on their house.
Familiar seating
The Ralats came to Dallas from New York City, so even though their house is small by Dallas standards, they scarcely had enough furniture to fill it. So Jessie acquired some furnishings and artwork that had been in storage from her grandparents’ house. The room’s two comfy chairs are hand-me-downs, and Jessie’s sewing center is a piece that her grandfather built for her grandmother.
“I’m not usually sentimental about a lot of things, but I really value antiques and quality furniture and things that are beyond my reach to buy new,” she says. “They just don’t make things of the quality they used to for a price that’s achievable for everyone.”
Shelving it
This is a multipurpose room, and with no garage and a hard-to-reach attic, storage was a major requirement. They hung their bicycles on the wall and put up shelving to store camping equipment, old papers, cleaning supplies, tools and the like, with curtains made from white sheets strung across to hide the clutter.
“I think rich people probably build cabinets, but this works for me,” Jessi says. “We’re finally at a place where everything has a home. Everything is organized.”
Use what you have
With a limited budget, Jessie “shopped” in her own house and reused as many things as possible, including shelving from the gazebo and Ikea shoe cabinets that she anchored to the wall to hold items like the electric drill. She also painted other things the same shade of white, including the sewing center and a freezer.
Resetting expectations
Her original vision for the room included a dog wash, but that didn’t fit the budget, so they installed a utility sink instead.
“I love having that. We use it all the time,” she says.
She’d also planned to have a workbench built in to use as a standing desk, but by the time construction was over, everyone was on edge and didn’t want to hear another circular saw for a while. So she ordered a stainless steel chef ’s table, which fits in perfectly.
Pops of personality
Initially, she wanted to wallpaper the whole room, but the papers she liked were too expensive, so she chose a coral paint color. Her friends went in together for her birthday and surprised her with a roll of the paper she wanted. It’s from a Canadian company called Lord Twig and features scarlet ibises, as well as carnivorous plants. “I like that dark aspect of it,” she says.
Happy home
“I wait to do things until Jose leaves so that he won’t tell me not to do them,” she says. “Inevitably he’ll come home from a trip and be like, ‘Really?’” She filled the house with fumes from appliance paint while he was away, for example.
“I’m determined to get things done, and I’m very hard-headed,” she says.
Backyard life
The change also opened up the backyard more. They built a low deck and find themselves enjoying that space frequently.
“What we didn’t know we needed, that this has become, is a second living space, which is very valuable during these times when we are all here, all together, all the time,” she says. “It allows us to separate a bit, which is refreshing.”
