(via Sarah Jane Studios Blog) How cute is the paper planes fabric?
(via Sarah Jane Studios Blog) How cute is this fabric from Sarah Jane Studio/Michael Miller Fabrics? I love the combination of traditional dots, gingham, ticking and florals with whimsical scenes and illustrations.
(via Sarah Jane Studios Blog) Hooray Hooray! Beautiful new fabrics from a favourite artist of mine! Wishing I had time to make a quilt now…
Reality & Organization
As I mentioned in this post, it was long past due for me to clean, I mean organize, umm… attack our laundry/storage closet. So I finally did it, and I’m so glad I did! (Especially before I get any more pregnant.) It’s like a breath of fresh air. But I hesitate to show you pictures, because, let’s face it: it’s an organized closet that stores cleaning supplies, laundry gear, tools and building materials, fabric, batteries and light bulbs, and recycling.
It is not the dreamy-styled-for-TV/magazine-idyllic masterpiece that we like to look at. These are some of my favourite laundry room pictures. But let’s be real, shall we?
Design by Sarah Richardson from Sarah’s House on HGTV Canada
Wouldn’t it be lovely if all I had to store was an abundance of fluffy towels and toilet paper?
Source Unknown
Or how perfect would it be if I matched all of our clothing, linens, towels, and laundry detergent to my laundry room paint colour?
Source Unknown
A laundry room will always be perfect if you never bring any actual laundry into the room. This is clearly the laundry room of a nudist.
Photograph by Donna Griffith for Canadian House & Home
And this is my most beloved laundry room. But I’m pretty sure it’s as big as (bigger than?) my living room. And I’m afraid we have more to store than a gorgeous bouquet of flowers and a single cowboy hat.
Truth is, my laundry room is a small windowless closet. But to impress you more by the “after” photo I’ll give you the embarrassingly sickening “before” picture:
Yech. So bad. Step 1 was PLAN (click on the link to see how I did that)
Step 2 was EDIT: I started with unloading the whole thing. I put up signs in the hallway to sort into piles “Keep”, “Recycle”, “Garbage”, etc. The most valuable pile for me was the “Somewhere Else” pile. This was so useful because I am quite easily distracted when cleaning. So instead of taking these things to their new location and then getting caught up in other activities, I just made a pile and stayed in the laundry room zone.
Step 3 was CLEAN: After emptying it all I scrubbed the place down: machines, walls, shelves, floors… Let’s just say I did some climbing that a lady as pregnant as myself probably shouldn’t do. Shhh. Don’t tell anyone. But that place looked good!
At this point I taped signs to the shelves to assign space for the different things I deemed suitable for storage in this space. I tried to ensure accessibility for frequently used items, and less used items were stored higher, lower, or deeper.
Step Four was ORGANIZE: I re-loaded the room mostly according to plan. Some of those storage bins are actually empty, and it’s nice to know (especially with a new Little One on the way) that there’s space to spare! But in my brain this is not the official “after” photo. There’s one more step left:
PRETTIFY!
So early this week I sewed a few items for the room. I sewed a plastic bag organizer based on this tutorial from Martha. I also created a new ironing board cover - partially to match the new scheme, and partially to fit the board better. I based it on this tutorial, and I’m super pleased with it. Finally, I sewed a pretty curtain to cover up the exposed pipes and such.
I still have a ways to go with finishing touches: Sean needs to sort through some stuff, I may want to figure out some different (coordinated) storage containers, I want to hang some hooks, and even find/create some art to cover the electrical panel. So there you go. There’s my real-life laundry room organization. :)
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