Operation:Laundry Room

Operation laundry room main objectives:

1. Increase functionality.

2. Increase cuteness.

3. Do it without spending any money.

I can't say that I really have a "room" for my laundry. It is the hallway between the garage and the kitchen. It has always needed some TLC, but it hasn't really been a priority.  Kathy gave me some upper cabinets that were in her basement so that was the push I needed to get something done in there.  Here is the beautiful before shot: 

 Nice eh?  I tried to create a different design for a shelf one day and I really didn't like the way it turned out, but I figured at least it would give me a place to put all of my laundry junk.  It always looks like chaos in there so I welcomed the cabinets that Kathy gave to us just so I could have some doors to hide all of the cleaning supplies/gardening supplies/laundry soap/everything else that doesn't really have a place.  

I decided to go with a brown color scheme because of one major factor: I already have all of the paint I need.  I painted the cabinets a dark chocolate and changed the hardware. I choose simple silver knobs for one reason: I already had them.  I painted the wall a lighter brown and since the cabinets are heavier on one side and don't fill up the entire space, I decided to paint some stripes and add some vinyl lettering to try and even it out.  Here is the after shot:

  I'm hoping that the improvements will encourage me to do my laundry more often. I'm not counting on it, but I am happy with the end result. Mission accomplished!

I'll have a blue, blue Laundry Room~

I started out with a blue Laundry room. Blue as in sad. 

Complete with a sorry pile of clothes on the corner. 

The Joe was jumping for joy when I asked him to be included in this project.

He had no desire to spend his day off project-ing, but I could tell that was all just a ruse.

He secretly loved it. 

Ok, that's not true, he was openly annoyed, but helped me anyhow which was very sweet. 

First things first, come up with a plan. One that includes:

*Materials that we already have.

We are having a tight month and can't justify spending money on decorating the Laundry room.

Hmmm...that's fun. A litte challenging, but who am I to back down from a challenge.

We had 4'X4' sheet of bead board, a quarter of a sheet of mdf and a little bit of trim.

Oh, and a 2X2 that The Joe had turned into a device for leveling out the yard last summer.

We cut the mdf down to make a shelf, and saved the extra thin pieces to use for trim.

We hung the shelf by placing 2X2's under the edge, along the wall.

Next comes the beady board that we cut into 1' strips. 

We had to piece it together to make it work, but hey, that's the middle name of this project.

We cut the extra mdf strips to the same width as the mdf shelf and the 2X2 support, 

so it would feel more like one piece when we put it all together.

And then put the piece of trim across the front of the shelf, so you couldn't see the support boards.

Time for putty and paint!

I tried really hard to paint it a light neutral color. Really, I did.

I just couldn't help myself. The color temptation was TOO STRONG.

I love the new blue! 

I wanted to keep it pretty clutter free, so I didn't decorate it very much.

I did have to put up a sign, you know, just incase one of my house guests ever unsuspectingly stumbles into that room and can't figure out where they are.  We wouldn't want that to happen, now would we.

Inspire me laundry...please INSPIRE me!

Image via La Dolce Vita

Image via Super Saturday Vinyl

Image via Pretty Organized Palace

Image via Live Laugh Love

Image Via 30 Duo

Image via Vintage Indie

Image via House and Home

Image via Sharon's Scrapbook

Image via Desire to Inspire

Image via Living Etc

I will conquer the laundry beast today....I will, I swear! 

Parade of Homes Day No.5!!!

Welcome back to the final day of the parade of homes!

I just have to say that it has been an enormous pleasure and honor teaming up with such inspiring woman this week! 

Thank you to all of the participants! 

And thank you to all of our viewers!

We had a HUGE number of hits this year which made for a very exciting parade!

Tomorrow morning I will be introducing the linky party with a tour of my own home.

{{no laughing, please}}

I would  love to see what your home looks like too! Be sure to join the party!

Now put your hands together for the fabulous final four!!

{or maybe just put your fingers to the keyboard and leave them some comment love}

 Isabella and Max Rooms

 In My Own Style

 Freckled Laundry

Much To Do With Nothing

If this is your first time here this week, start at 

No.1

Thanks for coming and have a wonderful weekend!

Laundry sign~

Can it be Friday already?? Seriously..it was just Friday 30 seconds ago. This week has flown by. Today I feel pretty happy with myself because I made a frame and used the table saw!! Woo-hoo. I was going to try and make a star outof casing and after I made the first cut on the chop saw I realized I'll have to work up to that. Maybe I can handle a frame though. Just a few 45 degree angle cuts and a handful staples later and we have ourselves a frame. I cut down a scrap piece of bead board and glued it to the frame using my high-tech clamps...AKA paint buckets and bleach containers.

After letting the glue set for a while I painted it. I should have painted the frame before I glued it to the bead board .

That would have made it easier and crisper looking...ah well, it is what it is. I grabbed myself a few random letters from the Provo Craft Outlet the other day that were $1.25. I was going to make monogrammed things for the market, but decided against it because if they don't sell I wouldn't know what to do with them. Instead I'm going to use them to make different signs. I think it's kind of cute to have one blocky letter in the word. For the rest of the word I cut some vinyl lettering. Did I spell that right? That looks weird all of a sudden.Welp, that's about it for today! I hope you have a wonderful weekend! Enjoy this warm weather while it lasts!!

~Andy