A Decorated Laundry Room

I really love my laundry room.


When we built our home, I did a few things right.  Four of them involve the laundry room:
1.  We put it upstairs where the bedrooms are instead of on the main floor where the original plans placed it 2.  I had the cabinets painted red!


I LOVE these cabinets.  They make me smile every time I see them.  Funny how something so simple can make such a big difference.

Because I needed so few of them, I splurged on a special order starfish knob for the doors and drawers.  I love them!


The third thing I did right was have the room built to hold two sets of washers and dryers, one stackable set and one set side by side.


These machines are my friends.  Every time I start some laundry, I pause in the doorway when I turn off the light.  I love to look back into the dark room and see the digital lights on all four of them, assuring me that they will do their job while I do other parts of my job.

You see, these friends are the only things in my house (next to my dishwashers) that I can count on to work even when I’m not watching.  I have 8 children, and the real workers are the machines! (I know, I know, I must be doing something wrong but please tell me that when you look away your children start playing too!)

You can think I’m weird, but I give thanks for those machines EVERY TIME I turn them on.  I don’t ever want to know what life would be like without them!  I’m so grateful for the 847 loads of laundry that they help me to do each week.

True story (except the part about 847 loads.  It’s not really that much, but it sure feels like it sometimes).

Well, when I placed my new runner made from placemats on the dryer this week, I suddenly had NO DESIRE to fold those 847 loads of laundry that were sitting in baskets in my bedroom.  All I wanted to do was play in my laundry room!

I liked the flag and vintage chairs that I have sitting atop the washing machine, but wanted to do more.  A little trip around the house yielded this:


A silver mirror with lead between a set of old shutters.  Both were just waiting for me to do something with them.  (Yes!  I love it when I finally put something to good use!)  I like the way it helps the room feel a little bit more open since it’s long and narrow.

Notice the laundry sign at the end of the room?  It says: Laundry Expertly and Neatly Washed & Folded under personal supervision.  Sometimes that’s my accomplishment; sometimes it’s my goal.  And sometimes it’s my joke.  Either way I like the sign.

The fourth great thing I did in my laundry room was to add a door between the laundry room and my closet.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been thankful for that thought!  I decided to add something to that door to help the room feel more pretty.

I am a collector of old linens, but generally I don’t collect items of clothing.  A couple of years ago, however, I stumbled upon this vintage slip.  It is nothing short of incredible.  To me, It’s awe inspiring.  It’s hand embroidered, and I can’t begin to describe how beautiful it is to me.  I bought it.


I’d like to meet the woman who spent dozens of hours working on this piece of art.
I ironed it and hung it with an old wood hanger.  I then tied some ribbons and a lavender sachet made from old embroidered linens to the hanger.  I added some millinery flowers, and hung it on the door.








On the laundry room counter I keep a few things:


A bucket of lavender laundry detergent for my vintage linens, fabric softener for them as well, and a basket holding lavender sachets made from lavender I grew and some pretty ribbons to tie around my favorite pieces.  On the other end I keep:


Soap, hand sanitizer and my favorite lotion in a cast iron tray with some towels for hand drying.  I also keep a wooden spoon which I use when I’m soaking linens in the nearby sink.

And that’s my laundry room.  I felt so happy when I finished decorating it!
Which brings me to the fifth thing I did right in my laundry room  (Yes, I said four, but now I have five).  I filled it with things I love.  Making my laundry room a place I like to be sure helps motivate me to do the laundry!  Hey, if you’re gonna do the work, why not do it in an inspiring atmosphere?

HH

I love white paint!

I really, really love white paint.  It can take anything and make it beautiful.  Well, most anything.
I’d been slowly accumulating old picture frames from the thrift store, so I finally laid them all out and got to painting.

They started in various shades of gold and brown. (And, yes, that’s an obnoxious vinyl tablecloth that I use to paint on) IMG_8439 (Large) This gold one I’m really excited to work on.
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I quite like this frame, too.  Great detail!
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And this mirror was a find!
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I confess I did no priming at all, just went right to work on them with my white paint and a brush.
I just paused every hour or two to brush another coat over everything until I was satisfied…

Just look at this great collection now!
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I’m so pleased with how they turned out.
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Most of them will end up on my dining room walls with family photos in them, but the mirror is already on the wall!
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Sigh.  I love my living room…
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I also love this sweet face.  She had to try one on.
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I just wish you could hear her little voice saying “cheese” IMG_8502 (Large)2 “Tseez!”  I love those pudgy little hands…
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Too bad you can’t hang that on the wall!  Ka-yoot!

Mr. Wonderful

This post is a little late in coming, not because it hasn’t been in my heart, but just because our house is so full of LIVING that I blink and suddenly I’m behind in the chronicling of it all.

Remember the haircut ?  My husband felt so bad.  He didn’t mean for it to be so short, and he certainly didn’t enjoy my post about it all.  But because he is so wonderful, and because he loves me, he spent time the next day enabling a feature on my blog that I’d shown him recently on another blog.  He did it without my knowing, and I appreciate it.

Well, I just wanted to redeem myself a little.

This is my husband, Mr. Wonderful, holding our 8th baby minutes after she was born.
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He really is the better half of our marriage.  He’s more patient than I am, more inclined to be positive and optimistic.   He knows how to diffuse anger with humor.  He’s quick to drop what he’s doing and connect with the children.  He consciously plans ways to spend time with each of them.  He’s also way more fun at bedtime.   And while he’s not perfect, I’d say he’s certainly several strides ahead of me.   It’s a good thing he’s still got a few rough spots to polish, because otherwise there would be no reason for him to put up with me.  Mostly, though, he’s perfect for me.

Last week he came home to a noisy house, a cluttered kitchen, hungry kids and a wife who was just sitting and typing.  Granted, I was typing something important to both of us in preparation for Family Night.  But there was an awful lot that was being left undone in order for me to do this one thing!  Well, he packed up some volunteers and headed out to get pizza (unasked).

When they came home, there was a large bundle of fresh carnations included in the package.  He was a little embarrassed that he’d just given me carnations but he’d had the input of a certain seven year old who was very passionate about it.

And to tell you the truth, I was actually really excited about the carnations.   There were enough of them that I could play and experiment a little with my flower arranging skills (translation:  see if my hands could actually produce the kind of thing I could picture).  Mr. Wonderful’s mother really likes roses.  I just like flowers.  Flowers of all kinds, and especially flowers that are in season.

Well, we ate the pizza, had Family Night, put the kids to bed and then I got to work on the carnations.  (I’m sorry I didn’t take pictures.  I really just needed the experience of being creative.)  I started by separating them by color, and then went on a hunt for small containers to place them in.

I started with the bright red carnations and three little ceramic baskets that I picked up on clearance after Easter a few years ago.
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Funny that it’s taken me so long to do with them what I pictured when I purchased them.
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Next I chose a silver sugar dish and the bright pink carnations.
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I like the juxtaposition of elegant silver and the lowly carnation.
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Another silver dish and the crimson flowers.
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And finally, the variegated flowers all together.  Initially I had them separated into two colors, but I liked the way they looked together.  Again, I chose a silver bowl.
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When I was done and the counter was once again clean, there I stood with 6 flower arrangements from one big bouquet!  Not only had he brought me flowers, he’d also brought me an opportunity to be creative, which happens to be the #1 way for me to unwind and feel good about life again.  The trickiest part of all was just choosing where to put them!

Every time I’ve looked at them for the past week, I’ve had to smile a little at life and at how grateful I am for him.  Thanks, sweetie.  I love you.

Jennifer

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