{Site currently under construction. Grace for my mess?}

Thursday, January 27, 2011

My $2.34 laundry room makeover

Sew, I loved my new 'sew' sign sew much (see below) that I decided I sew had to have another one.  ;)

Only this one says 'Wash', to go above the washer/dryer.  While I was at it, I figured I might as well take this whole creativity blitz a step further and just makeover the whole darn laundry/sewing room while I was in there.  I needed some cheeriness, and that turned out to be just what the doctor ordered.  Without further ado (and, with apologies for the sub-par photo quality)...

First, the awful(ly embarrassing) BEFORE shots:





















Aaaannnndddd.... the AFTER: 


 This room truly is a multipurpose room.  Our back door is the one with the red curtains, and it gets a pretty fair share of foot traffic.  This is not only our laundry and ironing room, but our mudroom, sewing room, storage room, kitchen extension (our 2nd fridge is in here), coat room, and bottled water central (we can't drink the water on campus -- it's horrifically icky, so we go through a LOT of bottled water). 

  

The bones of this room are terrible -- ugly wood cupboards, 80's linoleum, and busted, yellowing walls with crooked switch plates.  My decorating challenge is (always) that I can't paint the walls or anything attached (like, the awful cupboards), or change the flooring or do anything remotely permanent.


The photos don't show it but I hung bulletin boards down the side of the refrigerator in there, and hung vintage prints of 50's housewives giving laundry tips on them for another touch of cuteness.  Best of all, the only thing I bought for this room was the $2.34 tension rod that I hung the brown curtain across (it's peeking just to the left of the "s-e-w" signs and hides a massive shelving area which stores my fabric and sewing supplies and other house miscellany).  The red polka dot containers in the sewing area house my sewing notions (and were made from used-up coffee cans and wrapping paper).  I already had the shelving and stuff on hand.  Yay!

Ok, I know... waaaaaaay too excited about a laundry room, but a girl's gotta get excited about the little things, amiright? 


Weird lighting, I know... sorry.  The sign says 'sew'.  Every room in this house has fluorescent overhead lighting, including the bedroom (yuk!  Hellooooo migraines), so I compensated with a little table lamp.  Not so great for photo-taking, but much easier on my poor aching head.  Does anyone else get migraines from fluorescent lights?  No?  Just me then...

Well, that's it for my little laundry room.  Next is my the master bedroom (which I'm aiming to do for less than $20 and that's a MAJOR job... so wish me luck!).  So far, I've stuck to my "do something creative every day" project and its felt GREAT.  I think I underestimated the value of creative work in my daily life.  Good on the endorphins, methinks!

Thanks for stopping in!

Have fun and get smitten...

16 comments:

  1. LOVE IT!!! If we decide to stay in our house for another year, I'm SO redecorating!!!

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  2. Cara strikes again ... making the most "yawny" (yes I made that word up) rooms into a creative oasis. You put the rest of us hopeful decorators to shame my dear. Seriously. Love all the stuff you do. I wish I had your knack for repurposing stuff. I can do a little bit ... but you take it to a whole new level!

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  3. This is such a cute idea! And a nice change from the "EAT" signs everyone seems to have.

    I'm super jealous that you have a laundry room : / I have a 3 by 6 foot corner of my hubby's garage. I definitely couldn't dress it up like yours. He would loose major amounts of dude points with his guy friends if he had all those cute signs invading his manly man space.

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  4. Liz, I feel your pain! I ran a daycare in a previous life and our entire downstairs was taken up by kid-space. The garage was my husband's man cave and I had no jurisdiction there! Now, we live/work at a children's home and have 8 kids living in the house (7 of whom are boys). With all that laundry, I BETTER be able to girly-up my laundry room or someone's going to get hurt! :)

    Thanks for stopping by!

    And Jess and Adrian -- thanks for the sweet comments. You guys have been my most ardent cheerleaders since... well... age 11 or so. :)

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  5. Everything looks so lovely! I think you should show us your coffee can canisters...those are darling!!

    ~Julia

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  6. Very cute laundry room & your WASH sign is very cheery and fun. I'm putting it in the Spotlight at the PoPP.

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  7. Your blog is cute as pie stop by and visit me I am inspired by your pretty red accents!

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  8. Dear darling~polka~dots,

    I came over from my Lisa@ The Point. (Isn't she inspiring?!)
    Just HAD to see your makeover...and SO worth the trip over! You did GREAT. Made all the more cool by the fact of how little you spent. My laundry area is similar to yours. (We affectionatly call it 'TheWash~Room') It is Multi~purpose, and also has a back door entrance to this 120+year old home. It is actually the room that sold me the house 7 years ago. Too bad, I have not gotten in gear to really 'do it up good' It soooo deserves it. I practically LIVE in it!
    Now today, I am inspired by you...to go try and give it at least a little face~lift. Maybe even to move my sewing stuff in. I had it there once, but it kind of got ran over by other stuff. Recently we did move the 2 freezers into the basement, so it just might work. Love your little made~over cannisters, and the WASH and SEW signs too. Red is my favorite color....once a friend from long ago told me: "every room deserves a touch of red".

    I will try to watch for your next make~over project...from the looks of this, you will certainly do well.

    love,
    Decorating on a shoe~string
    in
    NE

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  9. gkey - I was trying to respond directly to you but didn't see any blog under your profile. In the unlikely event you revisit here... Your comment blessed me beyond measure. Thanks, and best of luck with your own "Wash Room". Oh, and I definitely agree with your friend... every room does deserve red (or, maybe pink, if the red won't work, hah). :)

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  10. dear On a whim,

    Oh, yes I AM revisiting here again! {Not an unlikely event at all} What a surprise to see a comment 'back to me' when I came.
    I did go give my Wash~room the beginning of a facelift. Thought of you the entire time. And by the end of the day how I wished I could tell you how your post here had so blessed ME.
    My space is showing promise of a lovely place to work....just what this girl need to get me over the mid~winter~woes!
    I do not have a blog. I have emailed back and forth a few times with Lisa @ Pennington Point, so if you can connect with her, I would not mind if you had my e~mail address.
    My oldest daughter is The Prairie Hen that you could visit. She blogs about our whole family now and then and is crafty a funny {of course I AM the biased Mama} If you want to, you could 'see' me there!

    love,
    'Smitten' already
    in
    NE

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  11. Your blog is cute as pie stop by and visit me I am inspired by your pretty red accents!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Very cute laundry room & your WASH sign is very cheery and fun. I'm putting it in the Spotlight at the PoPP.

    ReplyDelete
  13. LOVE IT!!! If we decide to stay in our house for another year, I'm SO redecorating!!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. This is such a cute idea! And a nice change from the "EAT" signs everyone seems to have.

    I'm super jealous that you have a laundry room : / I have a 3 by 6 foot corner of my hubby's garage. I definitely couldn't dress it up like yours. He would loose major amounts of dude points with his guy friends if he had all those cute signs invading his manly man space.

    ReplyDelete
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  16. Just wondering if you could tell me how you made your Wash signs. I am in love with them

    ReplyDelete

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