Airing Out My Dirty Laundry

I got quite a few projects on my home to-do list done over the New Year weekend holiday.  It's a good and bad thing when this happens.  I'm happy that projects are done, but it puts me in the mood to get more done. Why is this a bad thing, you ask? Well, for one, projects cost money, and two, they take time. Especially the ones on my list. Projects like:

• tile the downstairs entry area and laundry room
• finish the unfinished downstairs
• add a sliding glass door downstairs
• finish the unfinished bathroom
• add a storage niche in the boys' bathroom
• convert each of the boys' closets into a desk area
• replace the ceiling fan/light fixture in the master bedroom (it's HUGE)

There are sooooo many more! I made a list in excel and printed it off.  My husband saw the list.  God rest his soul. Okay, that's a little overkill, but he and I don't see home projects the same way. Something that I see as a simple project can be very daunting to him and he is never able to imagine my "vision."  He's learned after 10 years of marriage to trust me, but let's face it. I am an impatient person.  I start thinking of a project and I want it done right now (surfing blogs does not help!). Honestly, it sometimes borders on obsessive. My poor husband.

Now that you know all that unnecessary information about me and my husband I'll move on to the first project I got done this past weekend.

Meet my laundry room. Wait, room isn't really the right word.  Meet my laundry closet! Yes, that seems more fitting.

If I had to do it again, I would have not gotten the pedestal drawers they are on and stacked them so I would have one whole side for a folding counter and shelves. If I wanted to change it now it would involve calling a plumber and electricion to move either the pipes and/or the vent and electrical outlet. $$$. No thank you. I'll just work with what I've got... for now.

We lack storage space in our house, but we had all this room above the washer and dryer. So, I pulled out my table saw, circular saw, paint, and paintbrush to build simple shelves using plywood I already had and recycled boards from my boys' bunkbed-turned-single beds project. This project took me about 90 minutes all together. I love having new projects done before my husband even walks through the door so he can be impressed with me!

Then, because who wants to look at the stuff you store there, I added a curtain. It's folded under right now because I haven't  hemmed it yet. I plan to use heat-activated hemming tape. It's so much easier and quicker than sewing.

The other side has a wire shelf that we put up shortly after we moved into our house four years ago. I'll be replacing that with another wood one (I ran out of plywood). I decided to add the upper shelf after I had already painted the ones on the other side, so that will get a coat of paint after I replace the wire shelf.

Because our laundry closet is so small we used to not have anywhere to put our dirty laundry while it was waiting to be washed. A good friend of mine got one of these rolling laundry carts from Costco for her laundry room, and I knew I had to have one. It's heavy-duty, and the best $45 I've spent for laundry. It has solved three problems for us; 1-there is now a place for "laundry-in-waiting," 2-we can easily sort everything, and 3-there's a handy place to hang our delicates to dry. Since it's on wheels it is easy to move and it fits perfectly between the two machines when we aren't doing laundry.

I'll have another project to share with you tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Remember your blessings!
Amber