project homeward: lovin' the laundry room

Since there are limited projects I can undertake right now, 

I'm focusing more on the 'organizing' part than the 'decorative'.
I try to work some decorating into everything, though ;) 

That was the case with the laundry room project... 
make it work well, AND make it pretty!

...and can I just say first what a JOY and a BLESSING it is to HAVE a laundry room?!

To not have to schlep everything out into the garage where the dust bunnies reign?
After spending a lifetime doing just that, my Mom is positively giddy over having this room!

Up above you see a 'before' on the left and an 'after' on the right.
It's small stuff, really it is - it just all adds up to a big change. And I did it all in one day!

I cleaned up the exposed shelves, arranging the contents as uniformly and neatly as I could,

many of them contained by function in simple plastic containers from Dollar Tree.
Then it was time to make it LOOK good!

I began with the tall cabinet... three coats of some white semi-gloss paint 

(which was the trim paint that we brought with us from the old house)

and it looks fresh and new - and also looks less 'heavy' in the small laundry room.
It now holds reusable fabric shopping bags and stuff we take to the pool!

You may remember that cabinet from this Thrifty Tropical Makeover post,

where it's shown out on the back patio at my parent's old house:

We're just re-purposing what we already have, saving money and being creative!
(Yes, we brought the patio furniture and the swing, too... more of them soon)

So as long as I had the paint out, I decided to get creative...

That space over the shelves is HUGE and needed a decorative touch.
I went into the garage and grabbed one of four vintage cabinet doors that I've had for a few years
(found them by a dumpster near my former storage unit!)

and painted a vintage-looking sign:

blank door, cleaned up                                   measured & penciled lettering  

 painted lettering first coat                           second coat, with more detail added

...and my BIG TIP? Use a 'Magic Eraser' sponge to erase the pencil marks! ;)

It won't leave marks or affect the paint finish like an actual eraser does. 

PS: yes, I freehand stuff like this. 

I've had years of practice painting things - from signs to furniture to murals - 

and I frankly don't want my signs to have a computer font that everyone else uses from a template.

The sign took me about half an hour, start to finish.
It fills in this big space, adding some contrast, visual punch, and graphic interest to the room.
It's actually the first thing you see when you look through the doorway...

Because I knew that there would be items sitting in front of the sign here,
I didn't make it complicated. Just simple letters.

After that sign was done, I made another one... using an old sign from one of my show booths...

 I repainted it white, sanded the edges to rough it up, and added the letters and graphic. 

I like the way it LOOKS - but I like the way it WORKS even better:

The hand towels hanging on it cover the unsightly box where the water hoses connect! 
(The washer & dryer sit opposite the shelves shown in the other photos.)

In a plastic storage bin out in the garage
(you've figured out that the garage is basically a storage unit filled with boxes, right?! No cars yet!)
I found bags of  heavenly handmade soaps and bath products from Tamila at Urban Farm . 

These were in my beautiful island farmhouse - in storage since I left it five years ago. 

They smell SO good, and look so gorgeous -  I knew I wanted them on display again.

And then I remembered the jars! Mom saves jars. BIG jars.
(we eat a lot of Kalamata Olives, what can I say?!)
I grabbed the jars, and quickly cut some stickers to cover up the original labels.
No, it's not cheating to not remove the original labels, OK?! 

It's lazy, but it's not cheating!

When I filled the jars with the soaps and bath salts, and put them on the shelf,

the room just bloomed with beautiful scents. It really does smell as good as it looks!
Plus, dig that sweet little label that was on one of the bath salt bags - JOY. uh huh.

You see some wrapping paper in there, along with a few plastic bags too...

AND a tiny tin can  - this is his backside. 

His front is a Pumpkin Face - one of my original Painted Pails.

The 'bucket' holding the plant on top of the cabinet is a stack of plastic pumpkin buckets, facing backward.

This stuff is here simply because it's orange...

I'm a sucker for a color story!

shared online:

cupcakes & crinoline | project inspire{d}