Winners

I have been on the lookout for a fan like this one for about a year now for our office, which is on the south corner of our house. It gets beautiful bright sun all day long, and even though we have air conditioning, it gets HOT! (I usually have to keep the door closed due to little fingers, as well, which doesn't help with the airflow) While I was at Winners the other day I saw the fan. I scooped it up as fast as I could, and then almost talked myself out of buying it since we are headed out of the summer season and into fall (it was also cold and rainy the day I went) I am so glad I bought it. It has been in use almost everyday since. The weather went and got hot again! And now I have a fan that works and looks great! 

I also saw these bottles which I have wanted to hold my bleach and vinegar in my laundry room. Since I have open storage I thought they would just look so much better than big ol' plastic bottles. I saw them at Ikea last year when I was there and didn't get them (I don't know why?), so I was super excited to find 2 (just what I needed) for a couple dollars each (just the right price). Winners - you gotta love it!

On the Hook

Remember to be creative when you are decorating your house. You don't have to use a towel bar because that is what everyone uses in the bathroom. Why not use hooks. Especially for a kids bathroom - they are super kid friendly (the towels look neat when the kids hang them back up and we have had more than one towel bar used as a monkey bar).

I don't have enough space in my laundry room for a bar to hang wet things up to dry, so I use a coat rack. It works great!

This picture is from Home and Harmony. I love this hook (and her blog)!

These next hooks are from Pottery Barn.

The pictures below I found on the internet and have saved over time. 

I don't have a source for them. I always try to do my very best to give the credit 

to the people who deserve it, so if you know where these came from please let me know. 

If it is yours and you would like me to source it or remove it all together, I will be happy to do so.

You can use hooks for so many different things. It breaks things up a little and makes something ordinary, a lot more interesting, and they are just cute!

Another Treasure From Belongings

I went into one of my favorite stores today to look for a galvanized bucket for collecting eggs {Why do I need a bucket for collecting eggs you might ask? I will blog about that tomorrow!} and came out with this mirror. It is just the sort of thing I have been looking for for the laundry room.

My Superman

My husband is just the greatest. I have an idea, bring him a picture and the gets to work! I am so grateful for his love and his talents. He always exceeds my expectations. He spent Saturday building the laundry room unit I asked him for, and I just finished painting it. It turned out so cute. I love it. Thank you, Darren.

The system I discovered from Clover Lane is working so well! So I would also like to send a big huge thank you to the mom and author, Sarah, of the Clover Lane Blog, for helping me sort my laundry!

New Laundry System Requires Laundry Room Makeover

Ever Since we moved into this house I have been struggling in vain to figure out what I wanted to do with our laundry room to make it more useable. Every inch has to count as it is not a big room, and the one main wall houses a pocket door, so there can be no shelves or cupboards anchored to that wall. The first step was easy - rip out the closet and put a wall of cubbies in that space. We did this a couple of years ago - kids love them, I love them, they look great! Next we stacked the washer and dryer originally thinking that we could put in a standing deep freeze or maybe a sink, but what about a folding surface? This room will not fit all 3 of my wants, so I have been going over and over in my mind which option would work best for this space and our family. The sink, as much as I would love one, wasn't really necessary as I have a bathroom right beside the laundry room and if and when I need to rinse something out I can and do use that one. Next, a deep freeze. This was tough as we, being a family of 7, need extra food storage. So we held off making any plans for the rest of the room as I didn't know what I really wanted to do.....Until........I came across this blog and my creative mind started sketching and planning (or should I say idle, by this point I had been in bed for a week because of my foot surgery and to keep myself sane I was coming up with all sorts of new projects and drawing them out to show my husband. Can you guess how excited he was! Ya, about that much) But ever willing, he agreed, and this Saturday we are building my new storage system. I cannot tell you how excited I am to finally have figured this out. Laundry is not my most favorite thing to do, in fact it is my nemesis. Hand me a vacuum any day and I am one happy woman, but the laundry!? I think it is because not only is it never ending, but it is a 12 step process: Make sure everyone puts laundry in hamper, take hamper downstairs, sort, put in washer, wash, transfer to dryer, dry, transfer to baskets, carry upstairs, dump on bed, sort into everyone's individual baskets, call children to come and get their baskets, ask (a.k.a. nag) them to put clean laundry away, begin cycle again, and again, and then again. So although it may seem like I am beginning a new project when I should be finishing the ones I have already begun, really I am finishing one that began 2 years ago. And this project, I am hoping, will keep me a little more organized and free up some time and mental space to finish some of the other ones still waiting. now if only I could install a laundry shoot, humm? Oh, well maybe someday in my dream house!