Laundry Room Updates!

This post has been a long time coming!!!  We have finally finished the last of our laundry room updates, so I'm ready to share all the pics!!!

When we first moved into this house seven years ago, I knew that the laundry room was not ideal.  Of course I would love a large room where I could separate all the colors of clothing, have a lovely countertop to fold it all, and a long, sturdy bar to hang-dry all my.....well, pretty much everything of mine gets air dried!!! But without a big renovation, I'm stuck with this "area!" This little room gets lots of traffic, as it's the only way to get to the garage from inside the house.  This also means it's the first room we come to when we enter the house from the garage.

If you look beyond the heaping piles of clothes and clutter, you can see that it had nice cabinets above the washer and dryer.  There was also a small utility sink with storage underneath.  I added the bar for air-drying our clothes, as well as the two sets of hooks on the opposite wall.  But the room was not working for us.  WHAT A MESS!!!!!!!!

What I hated most about this laundry room:

1.  There was no place to store laundry baskets

2. That utility sink was useless (we have a large one in the basement)

3. There was no storage for backpacks, winter stuff, etc.

I reeeeeeally wanted to just install beautiful built-in lockers and move the laundry upstairs somewhere.  But that costs money.  Actually, it would probably cost a A LOT of money!  Not to mention, we'd have to give up a big section of our guest bedroom or renovate the master bathroom to get it done.

So after many months of brainstorming and planning, I came up with a fairly inexpensive solution.  And after one year of living with the new and improved set-up, I can say that I am very, very glad we did it!  It has worked great!!!!!!

First we removed that awful utility sink and cabinet. 

We removed the cabinets and relocated them to the garage. 

Then we stacked the washer and dryer by using a simple kit from Amazon.

The final step was to find a something that would hold the "stuff." We needed a place for all the laundry supplies, of course, but also: light bulbs, extension cords, backpacks, hats & gloves, the kids' socks...... I looked for weeks and weeks for the perfect piece that had a bench and hooks and cubbies. But in the end, we found this cabinet from IKEA!!!  Over one year later, I have NO complaints about it!!!!  

Here it is before we had the walls patched and painted.  We also had to get a new washer and dryer a few months ago, so you may notice that in the photos at the end.

The shelves store light bulbs, extension cords, laundry and cleaning supplies, and laundry baskets.  The kids each have a drawer for their socks and the other two drawers hold hats, gloves, scarves, etc.  The bottom cubbies are perfect for backpacks, cheer bags, basketball bags, etc.!

I found the collapsible rod on Amazon, so now I have a great place to air dry all my jeans and sweaters.  

At some point, I'd love to update the flooring, but for now, I'm just happy that the room is functional! 

Buffalo Check Christmas Coffee Bar

My little coffee bar has undergone many changes over the years.  I have it set up in my dining room--a room that would otherwise be used just a few times a year for parties and potlucks!  

This year for Christmas, I decided to go with the buffalo check plaid theme!  Most of the decor is from Big Lots or Dollar Tree or items I already had.  The "Jamie's Coffee Bar" sign was a gift from a friend (from Etsy).  

The walls will soon be painted a light gray.  The bottom wall under the chair rail used to be a dark maroon, and one day I got so sick of it, I used extra leftover paint from one of the bathrooms and just painted it!  

FALL 2019 COFFEE BAR

Painting Our Trim WHITE!!!!

Well....we finally took the plunge!!  This is a home project that I've wanted to do since we moved into our home five years ago: paint the trim white!  Our trim and doors were an awful oak orange and I knew from the second I stepped into the house that some day we would paint everything.  We decided it was such a huge job that there was no way we could sanely do it ourselves, so we hired a wonderful team of painters.  It took three whole weeks to complete the entire house -- main level and upstairs.

My favorite room and the biggest change was the family room.  I'll be adding more photos soon to zoom in on the beautiful wainscoting.  I used BEFORE pics that were taken prior to our new floors getting installed in October of 2015 so you could really see the change!

This one is right after they finished painting, prior to finishing all the decor:

The staircase was a project in itself!  I stained the railing and steps with Java Gel Stain prior to the painters arriving.  It took one painter 14 hours just to tape off the spindles!!!!!

We also got new carpet.

I had to include a picture of the hideous light fixture that used to hang in the entryway!!!  It was awful!!!

The dining room walls still need painted and we have some touch-ups left to do, but I'm so happy with the improvement!!! 

My photography is not the greatest, and I plan to use my nice camera to capture some better pics when the lighting is nicer.  I'll also add pics of the kids' bedrooms, master bedroom, and the kitchen.

:) Jamie

  

DIY Flower Banner

Hi everyone! I was so excited to find these cute paper pennants at the Dollar Tree (Spring 2018)!  I originally considered just weaving them through a string, but I thought I'd try connecting them with brads instead.  So quick and easy! I am so pleased with the final result!  This is a beginner-level craft and would be great for kids!

SUPPLIES NEEDED:

Paper pennants from Dollar Tree

Brad fasteners (any color)

Mini hole punch (or regular-sized one would work too)

Pink nail polish

Ribbon (optional)

1. Start by punching holes into the top right and left corners of the pennant flag.

2.  Attach the flags together with the brad fasteners.

3.  Use pink nail polish to paint the brad fasteners.

4.  (Optional) Add bows to each end.  

FINAL RESULT:

Jamie My Fashionable Designs

Etsy | Blog | Facebook | Instagram 

Tag @myfashionabledesigns in your photos using my ideas or printables!  I'd love to see them!

Easy Christmas Arrangement DIY, Under $5.00!

Hi everyone!  I have a Christmas craft project for you today!  We have various pine trees in our yard, so I figured that I should be taking advantage of them for the holiday season!  I'm not talking about cutting them down to use for our Christmas tree (we're not the Griswolds😛!!!), but they have beautiful branches, pinecones, and let's not forget the fresh smell of pine that is fabulous for crafts and decor!!!  Here is a very simple and inexpensive fresh arrangement that I made for under $5.00!

I'd love to see your arrangement! Tag me on Instagram @myfashionabledesigns.

Supplies Needed:

Wire Basket or box (plain or paint to your desired color!)

Wet Foam Brick

Branches from evergreen/pine/spruce trees, various types and sizes

Pinecones, berry stems, embellishments

Ribbon

Floral Wire

Wire and/or Branch Cutter

Step 1: Soak the wet foam in a sink or bowl of water.  Allow to absorb water naturally, usually about two minutes.

Step 2: Cut to fit your container. 

Step 3: Place in the bottom of your container. 

Step 4:  Trim branches as needed and stick into the foam. You can't go wrong!  Just start pushing them into the foam and add more and more until your desired fullness.

Step 5: Use floral wire to attach any embellishments. 

Step 6: To cover foam block, just shove in some greenery! 

Step 7: Attach a bow with floral wire or just tie it around a branch.  

Great gift idea!  Get creative by adding ornaments, glitter branches, candy canes, lights, etc.  

Here I added a few embellishments:

Don't forget to add water to your foam every day or two to keep it from drying out!

:)Jamie