A Laundry Room Transformation October 10, 2012

Laundry Room Transformation

Before Laundry Nook

They say “Love grows in a little house” I believe that to be true as well as “Clutter grows in a little house as much as love.” If you know me, you know I do not do clutter and I have a little house! One thing that bothers me is my laundry nook, like how I used the word nook. This closet (Yes! closet size)  is located off of the eat-in kitchen area.While looking at laundry rooms on Pinterest, I noticed that they had so much more room to decorate and organize then I did. This got my wheels a turning and I was challenged to make my nook functioning and organized. As you can see from the pictures above, this space was quite an eye sore. I would never think to open this space when I had company. Just because you are challenged with a small space, don’t let that hold you back.

For months I wanted to transform my nook, I had so many ideas but not so much money to invest in it. I kept my eyes open and a friend of mine had a cabinet hutch sitting in her garage. I loved the country charm it had. Well after a couple visits and seeing this hutch, I got brave and asked her about it. She was just waiting to get rid of it. SCORE!! At the time I knew I loved this piece but was not sure where I would use it until a light went off laundry transformation (my husband does not like these ah ha moments, as it means more work for him)

Let’s see what a little bit of paint, some shelving hardware, and some decorating can make:

Total Cost in Laundry Project (35.00)

After Transformation

Step One:

Pull out washer and dryer and clean nook. Wiped off walls, swept floor, and cleaned the baseboard and pulled down old wire shelves.

Step Two:

Paint the area using left over paint in garage. My house is made up of more neutral tones, so I had two colors left over and mixed them to create a similar color for the laundry nook. This saved me from having to buy paint (No money invested yet)

Step Three:

Measured the space for my new cabinet and painted cabinet with leftover paint (I wanted a shelf over the washer and dryer and the cabinet to appear as it was coming off the shelf)

Step Four:

Put up shelf and cabinet (Money went into buying the shelf and hardware for mounting the cabinet. $30.00)

Step Five:

Move back in!!! Put back the washer and dryer. Fill cabinets with cleaning supplies and decorated my shelves (Everything that I used to decorate was already in my home some where (including the close-pins from my craft area). I’m in love!!!

So with a little time, paint, and used products you can turn a not so organized mess into a Pinterest style laundry nook for almost nothing.

Their Journey, Not My Own

“For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”

Jeremiah 29:11

I love being a mom, well at least today I do. I am sure we all have days were we would love to change our names for just a few minutes but for the most part being a mom is my passion. I know I am biased but God blessed me with the most beautiful girls that have the most bright and radiant personalities. He has gifted them with talents far beyond what I could have imagined. I’m sure we can all relate to the over whelming feeling of complete “awe” when we look at our kids.

On the weekends you can usually find our family on the soccer field, our entire family loves the game of soccer and our oldest daughter plays on a local travel team.  I will sadly admit “I am one of those soccer moms” I occasionally become “Unglued” (reading Unglued, by Lysa Terkeurst at the moment) and I allow my emotions to get the best of me. This season my daughter is playing on a travel team that is undergoing some changes and transitions. The changes and transitions are a bit over whelming for our family (my husband and I) and I can sometimes lose perspective of the purpose of the gifts God gave my child. Instead of realizing that the gifts my daughter has been blessed with is for a working purpose God has for her life, I allow myself to get caught up in the politics of soccer and forget that these “issues” are not relevent to the journey God has for my child.

Sometimes as a parent (screaming “IM GUILTY”) I lose perspective of why God made me a parent. It’s my job to guide my child to love Christ and to seek His will for their life. I sometimes focus too much on my will for my child, that I forget to acknowledge that they are gifts from God and His will for them is far greater than my own.

Being a mom we always want whats best for our children. As a parent I get caught in a trap that I can provide all my childs needs, as well as make all the decisions based on whats best for them. Sometimes (okay many times) I forget that my girls were placed in my arms because my Heavenly Father knew that I was the mother for them, however I am so slow sometimes to offer them back up to God and pray that he shows me His plan for their life. I forget these girls were gifted to Paul and I for a short time. It is our job as parents to guide them, but we can only do that correctly if we seek His council by prayer (lots and lots of prayer).

Sometimes the only thing holding us back from being the best parents we can be is the amount of space between the floor and our knees. May I remember as a parent that the little things in this world are so superficial to the plans and journey God has for them. May I also be sensitive as a parent that my girls are watching how I handle every situation and I am their biggest example (No Pressure)!!!

Hug your kids today and rest assured that God has a plan just for them.

Tile Subway Art Craft October 2, 2012

Fall Tile Subway Art

Here is a quick and fun craft to do at home. Pretty inexpensive as I used a lot of supplies I had from home. I did use vinyl lettering on mine and you can find the link to Uppercase lettering below. If you havent used them, I suggest you check them out. You may be hooked.

Supplies:

12×12 Tile (Had some left over)

Vinyl Lettering or Stickers (Lettering I used is from Uppercase Living)

Modge Podge (Optional)

Directions:

1.) Clean tile very good

2.) Practice Run: Arrange letter on tile before you decide to stick them down. Make sure this is how you want it to look.

3.) Create subway art by sticking the letters and or pictures to the tile.

4.) Optional to use modge podge as a sealer. If you use stickers then I would encourage you to modge podge the top to seal it.

Have Fun and Be Creative

 

Vinyl lettering I used was from www.wallwords4u.com