Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Last touch on the Laundry Room!

What helps create mood in a room? Color and lighting are a big factor when considering how a room "feels"!
When we renovated our Laundry Room (which was over 3 years ago.... as I said, it took me forever to write that post) we knew we wanted a feeling of fresh, clean and welcoming. After all, that is the room that has the door that leads to the backyard, the door that we come and go from all year long and most importantly as room where we do our laundry, lol, can't overlook that!
After the renovation, we looked around so happy and proud of the change! One thing stuck out... the terrible builders fixture.
And what made that worse, when we purchased the house, the builders fixture was here and the house was built in the 1970's- OH NO! A designer never keeps builder's fixtures! Not ever! Here I was the shoemaker.... (for all who get that reference, lol)
I wanted to do something creative and different here... I got this great idea from a dear friend; Emad.. thank you! I found a fun trash can one day at Home Goods, on sale with great lines and the perfect size.
I then went with my handy husband to Lowe's to buy a light kit. My handy husband drilled a hole (more like punched a hole) in the bottom of the trash can. This is no easy task; you need to be sure you find the center of the bottom, measure the item that needs to be inserted for the bulb and then proceed with caution... the right tools, protective eyewear & gloves. Next step was measuring how low you want the light to hang (our brothers are VERY tall so we needed to consider this) secure the wire at the right height, then proceed to turn off the power to the room before we (wrong pro-noun... before HE, lol) did the installation.
I could not be happier with the outcome! The design in the wire container gave off such great shadows, and added that perfect touch to my room! Funny thing was as I was tossing the tag to the trash can, the name of the item I noticed was "lantern"- how appropriate!

Monday, February 12, 2018

Laundry Room continued.... tub sink top

So my last post was about my new laundry room... not so new, it just took me forever to post it! I teased and told you that two special touches I added to this room made it mine.. I feel it is important to use the space you have in the best way possible.... today's key word would be small space living or small space solutions. With the popularity of the HGTV shows and booming thoughts of home renovations and "making the space your own" it was about time I got this into writing!
One of things we did in our renovation was to add a utility/ tub sink. I paint an awful lot, and my husband and I do many home renovation projects. We always found ourselves washing the paint brushes out in the kitchen sink and the mess it made, let alone the guilt that "we eat from this space" and paint does not mix with this thought.... I always wanted a "work sink"!
The issue was that I didn't want to store things IN the sink for everyone to see ... and saw this as a missed opportunity to use this space the best way I could. So I had my handy husband cut a piece of wood to fit the top. He did amazing cutting the top corners to best fit. I sanded the edges so they were rounded and he cut a hole where the faucet would sit over in case of dripping water.
Well I could not leave this white, oh no! I set out to figure what inspires me in this room... how can I express a message of fun and creativity?
I chose a theme that suits my family; Kody our family pup being washed in a tub, a tree of life framing the space with the leaves encompassing the entire work... musical notes as life is full of song and so is our home! I stole a few of the pieces of the art that lives on our daughters (in their tatoos- the butterfly, treble cleff and notes with the small 3) and a single sock on the line in honor of all those "lost socks" over the years!
I continued with some quirky messages that I found funny and appropo... Got Soap, Loads of Fun, Normal is just a setting, Check your pockets (for all the tissues that go thru the wash and litter my black clothes), Self Service Wash... a message to all, lol!
I coated the completed work of art with 10-12 coats of poly urethane allowing it to dry the required time in between... so as to have a hard finish and not to worry about chips and scratches. As you can see, I now have a practical surface space, and can hide all our rags and things in the sink under this top! So it worked for two things - storage and surface space! What could be better!

Sunday, February 11, 2018

Updating a Laundry Room for Today's Living

Mud Rooms/ Utility Rooms - they are not just for laundry anymore!! Practical every day living includes the understanding that it is almost impossible to keep our homes in "model home" condition. That being said, I am a strong advocate for a central "dumping ground" if you will. Families, especially those raising kids, need a designated place for all of the shoes, coats, back packs, school papers, calendars, etc. (I could go on and on!) that find their way home during the school year and bathing suits, sandals, towels, etc. during the summer months. Our laundry room is off the kitchen, just inside the garage door entrance. This makes it conducive to being much more of a family space than just a room to do laundry!
Updating this room can mean a world of difference to the everyday clutter.
I want my laundry room to be a place that is clean and practical at the same time. Our renovation was small, with fantastic results!
Here is what we did:
- changed the flooring to a larger ceramic tile; better look and easy to clean
- added a utility tub sink; great for puppy baths, washing out paintbrushes, and all the messy jobs you don't want in your kitchen sink!
- added a cabinet to store all of the cleaners
- racks for towels, baskets and hanging all of those clothes that you fear will shrink in the dryer
- tore out the closet and made a "folding" station shelf with cubbies underneath and shelving above - added hooks for coats
.... a fresh coat of paint in a fun colors ( soft sunshine yellow) and a rug for feet wiping!
There are two special things I added to this renovation; my creative twist!
I had my very handy husband cut me a top for the utility tub sink... and painted it to create additional counter top space Last but not least a creative light for that final touch... but these projects deserve their very own blog post! STAY TUNED