The time has come, I have given up, given in and got to work! My laundry room (really it is a closet but I can pretend) was a dreaded place for me to be. Not just because of the piles and loads and mounds of laundry that await me each day, but because it was aesthetically unpleasing to my eyes! The thought that my piles are going to increase with adding a new baby to our family got me on the move! I had to solve this ugly, dreaded problem. No wonder the laundry would pile... it is called PROCRASTINATION! I wanted a space that I wanted to be in. A space that could be peaceful for me. A place where my mind could wander and ponder thoughts as I dump clothes in the washer and fold them from the dryer.
I began pouring through the Internet to get some ideas or inspiration. What I got at first was depressed! So many beautiful laundry rooms out there to be desired. So I wiped away the drool and came back to reality. I decided I would challenge myself to be creative with what I have. The result... a laundry room makeover that only cost me my time, oh and the big sum of $5.00! Guess what, I also had fun doing it! Though it will not find it's way to any magazine pages or even cause one to drool, it is a definite improvement from what it was before! My goal was accomplished! I now have a place that is not dreaded but peaceful and transporting. My thoughts can think and I can accomplish a necessary chore for my family happily.
Here is what took place
I first thought maybe I could live with a small change. So I replaced not so pretty laundry baskets with ones I like. NOPE not enough of a difference to make a difference. Something more HAD to happen!
I painted the walls with Quietude from Sherwin Williams. I had a whole can left over from painting our master bathroom. The color looks and feels different being in the laundry room due to the difference in size and lighting. The pictures do not capture the true color at all!
Here is the whole of it... the laundry closet room that is!
I will change out the blue bins (or spray paint them black) and find a solution for the laundry soap. The clock I thought would be a good idea to glance up at when a load is put in the washer and dryer. Since I am notorious for forgetting my laundry and end up rewashing loads maybe knowing the time will help. I can be hopeful!
The small jar used to hold Alfredo sauce from Classico. For fun and whimsy I hung the picture using clothes pins and ribbon. The jar holding clothes pins also has seashells from the beaches I grew up on! Peaceful! All of this sitting on my thrift store shelf for a whopping $.99!
I painted all the frames and two shelves with the color I used to paint my classroom. I also made all the signs! Amazing what you can do using Word, different fonts downloaded from the Internet and a color printer!
Hiding back behind the baskets is a trashcan to store toss all the dryer lint and sheets.
I wanted some Bible verses and inspirational reminders of what this room is now intended to be.
I took ideas from the Internet of laundry room sayings and then either changed them a bit and made them my own or made up my own like the one below.
Oh joy! There is the dryer chiming now, inviting me to come and enjoy my new space as I, wash, dry, fold and repeat (another cute laundry room saying out there!)
Hope you have been inspired to be creative with what you may already have to beautify a space you want to be.
I write this with mixed emotions of sadness and excitement. For the past seven months we have had some of our very dear friends living with us. They now are "spreading their wings" and flying away to their own apartment. I am so excited for them to have their own place... a place where quiet days off exist and silent moments reside. Something a young married couple has the blessing of experiencing. As for our home with four little girls those times are few and far between. I am sad because we love them so very much and they truly are like and aunt and uncle to our girls. We have greatly enjoyed having them in our home and in our lives on a regular basis. Thankfully they are staying close by so seeing them often will still be possible.
I shared with you in a previous post (The Classy Classroom), how my classroom was in the basement and then needed to move due to friends moving in. I now would like to share with you how an unfinished basement can be transformed into a cozy and inviting living space. At the age I am and the stage in life I am, living in an unfinished basement just is not something I would do. However for a twenty something trying to save money, it could not be a more perfect place. What a great blessing for them this arrangement has been.
My sweet friend allowed me to set up her new home. The pictures below reveal what I came up with while using her things (minus the antique table that is my treasure waiting for some TLC). Living out The Created Home! Enjoy!
Cement walls means very challenging to hang anything. My solution, heavy duty Velcro. Nothing ever fell off the walls!
My friend and running partner. Picture taken after a race... what fun we have living out life! Can not wait to witness and or help her decorate her new place. That is if she will have me! Smile, smile!
A friend of ours came over the other night for Bible Study and his comment to me, "a blind man could not live in your house." He was making reference to the fact that my living room has changed once again! The furniture is rearranged and curtains have been hung! Finally! The hold up has been the ridiculous cost involved in curtain rods for five windows! I just could not nor would not spend a fortune on a "stick" that attaches to the wall!
I found all the curtain rods I needed for the windows you see here, as well as the adjacent dinning room window for the wonderfuly cheap sum of $23.00 at Ross. I hung every rod by myself, so that is a great sense of accomplishment for me. It also explains the lack of perfection too!
What a difference curtains make in a room! I love the cozy, warm feel fabric framing a window does for my senses! I just feel more relaxed in my living room simply by hanging curtains! The other great benefit is, the curtains help to break up the paint color that surrounds me in the vast majority of my home. I find my eye needs what I call "color breaks". I need different colors for my eye to fall upon as I scan a room. When unable to paint, curtains are a great color break for the senses! A little information: The curtains I have had since my husband and I were first married nine years ago. They are in perfect condition and I still love them so I just had to use them once more in this home. The original throw pillows have since been laid to rest! I made the current ones myself. The matching pillows were made from napkins my mom gave me when I originally purchased the curtains.The lamp shade and other throw pillows match because they also were created by me. These pillows were my first attempt at sewing a zipper and I do have to say to my shock, it works! Not to be closely examined by my mom who is an amazing sewer! Oh and last but not least, the flower arrangement hanging on the antique door... yes all me! I know there is no limit to my talent! Okay I am cracking myself up. See if I can fumble my way through creating a home I enjoy you can too! After all it is your home, a place for you to be yourself!
Notice all my terrific yard sale treasures around the room?
Here are some before photos for my living room. I have been rearranging the furniture, trying to find the arrangement that I just love. Here is what I came up with before I hit some really spectacular garage sales! I will reveal those photos too! First check these out so you can see what I have been up to.
Here now is another way I rearranged.
I had the couch under the above window before these two rearrange crazes. That is where my husband prefers the couch. For me... as always, around my house, if I can physically move it, it will be moved! Furniture beware! You may get pushed, pulled or dragged around!
In one of my next posts I will share with you all the "new" treasures that have come to find a home with me. Thrifiting galore!
Oh yesterday, you have gone and now in your place is today. Yesterday I decided to rearrange my downstairs. This is not strange for me to do. However I made a pact with myself that I would stay focused on my master bedroom redo. I knew that if I started moving things around in the rest of the house I would find all the things I "need" to buy to decorate, redo or re beautify my home and therefor loose focus on the project at hand. Since for me my budget is so limited, I knew the wisest plan in accomplishing the master bedroom redo is to stay focused on only that room. Yesterday I deviated from the plan and though it was not with out fun, (because I love seeing what moving the couch from one placement in the room to another does for the look of the room) it was with out final result. I am unsatisfied with everything I came up with, because moving furniture and accessories caused me to feel, "if only I had, this piece or that accessory, then the room would be grand!" Also resulting in my mind being occupied with what I could purchase to bring to life the vision in my head for my living room and dinning room. Again not a bad thing, except it all comes down to budget. If I spend "there", I then don't have money for the master bedroom.
Yesterday has gone and today I am back on focus and heading out to Sherwin Williams to see what glorious paint options they have for me in my master bedroom redo! Staying focused is not always easy, but it is something that can always be regained. Do not loose heart if you have a project you once started and then were distracted away from, just get re focused and get it done! Let me know what you are up to. What way are you allowing your creativity to be free? Pin It Now!
