Day 9 & 10 of 21: the dungeon...I mean laundry room!

So I am obviously really far behind!  Fret not I am not all that far behind on the challenges...2 or 3 days I did miss...I think.  I am far behind on the blog side which I suppose is the better to be behind on!

Day 10 was the laundry room...Day 9 was your kid's toys or your toys so I knew I would need to do my toys over the kids but I put it off...then Day 10 popped up with Laundry Room...which also happens to double as my toy room so I couldn't put it off any longer.

Without further ado...

This room is my catch all.  No where to put something?  Just toss it in the laundry room.  The before pictures are are so embarrassing!  This room has actually been a work in progress since the great nesting of October 2010 and got about 3/4 done before Dex made his debut.  Now that he is here I need to get it finished up.  

The view walking in....sweet baby Jesus that is bad.  What you can't see is the closet is open because there is so much yarn falling out it won't close!

Can you even see the floor??? ummm nope, yeah I didn't think so!

  Good thing I was in such a rush to install those shelves only for everything to get tossed on the floor.

The only part left that needs to get painted!  The washer was too heavy to move when I was pregnant and I was too fat to stretch any further than you see.  

Check out the top of the washing machine!  Do I really need all 2,341 bottles of soap?  The front of the washer is really lovely as well.  Why didn't I just wipe off that soap months ago?

Top of the dryer

and 2.5 hours later....TADA!!  that hideous green carpet is visible!  

Yes I washed ALL of that laundry on the floor!  and if I am being honest I had done about 8-10 loads before that before picture was taken!

 Before Project Makeover Craft Room began I had a desk in here but I donated it to a church sale thinking I'd be getting my countertop in here sooner.  The stuff on the floor was in/on the desk.

Top of washer...yes that is a melted chocolate bar

 and after...oooh so clean 

 closet!  I put these shelves in (yep...by myself) when I was nesting like crazy!  This seriously gave me so much more storage space!  

and the yarn...I love that it is all tucked away...I hate that some of  the cubbies are 2 deep and I can't see the back stuff!

Sooooo for those of you that have been around since October-ish know I have been battling this room for some time!  I obviously went with blue paint which surprises me because I had originally totally thought I would go with green but I bought both in case (ouch $30 I didn't need to spend) as you can see I didn't even open the green!  I am still torn on my secondary storage.  Part of me says I clearly have enough crap just stick with what I have and stop shopping.  The other part of me says let's be realistic, I still have the stuff on the floor and I might have another 10 or so skeins of yarn littered around the house.  I just can't decide if I should get another cupboard type thing like I already have or something else.  I do love that the doors shut containing the mess and keeping my yarn dust free or do I want something like this?

Decisions, decisions!  On a positive note I have a $100 gift card and also a $75 Home Depot card soooo I am off to order my countertop this week!  Can't wait to get it in there!  The washer and dryer are going to get dropped down on the floor and the counter will be over the tops of them.  I will only have chair space in between the 2 which sort of sucks but it'll be ok!

Thanks for stopping by to check out my scuz!

Craft Room Rough Draft

I have been talking about wanting to do something in this laundry/craft room of mine forever…. seriously since we moved in I have hated this room.  First of all it is hideous!!  I am very curious if the woman that owned this house before us had friends.  Who on Earth would tell anyone that this green sponge paint and beach seashell themed wallpaper border was a good plan?!?!  Man is it hideous!  Let’s not forget that I said it is also a laundry room.  I DESPISE laundry so hanging out with it while doing my favorite stuff just doesn’t work.  The room is pretty small, I’m not sure of the square footage but I promise I’ll include it when I post my after pictures.  So here is what I am currently working with.  Don't judge me by my messiness :)

Ok so here is the walk in view

Inside the closet; completely wasted space.  I am thinking top to bottom shelves in here

top of closet; totally full, no idea what is up there.  all that wasted space in the middle and on either side of the tupperware.

Unfortunately to top of this waste of space of a closet the desk I have in this room is too big...or the room is too small.  I can't fix the room so the desk will have to go.  At this point it is shoved up against the door of the closet, if I need in the closet I have to move it (and it is solid wood and metal) wiggle in/out and then shove it back so I can get in the yarn closet that I use much more often!

Here is the yarn closest.  This is about the only organization I have going on.  It's really not too bad and is even broken down by yarn weight.  My complaint, it's 2 rows deep so I can't easily see what is on the back row without taking out all of the yarn in the front.

top of yarn closet; the clear plastic things are great because I can see what is in them, pull them down use them, pop the top back on and put them back up there.  The diaper boxes are supplies I rarely use so even they aren't too bad...just tacky to look at. 

Just in case you didn't notice the lovely paint and trim :)

The 4 drawer tupperware is mostly fabric and 2 of the drawers have stamps, scrapbook stuff and random stuff in there.  The drawers are so heavy they squish the ones below and make it really hard to open, not to mention you have to dig a foot deep to try to find something you think you put in there a year ago ;)

Umm yes, I am a pig.  Do I need 4+ bottles of soap?  Especially when all but 1 are empty!!!   My final part in this room would be to install a cupboard on each side of the window.

My plan is to remove the drawers under the washer and dryer and set them on the floor.  My husband I am sure is irritated; I sort of threw a little fit when we bought them.  He thought they were a waste but I swore that I NEEDED them.  They were $200 a piece and oh yeah...they don't fit any normal size soap bottles!!!  What a freaking waste!  Don't tell my husbang I admitted he was right though!  Now they are very expensive yarn holders.  Dropping the W&D to the floor I can install a countertop over them and that gives me a work space that is approximately 31" deep and 80" wide!!!  I will have to sit in between the W&D but this seriously is the best use of space I can think of.

When things are all put away it really isn’t as AWFUL as I make it out to be.  As long as I keep everything organized, only work on 1 thing at a time (nearly impossible for me) and put stuff away it’s ok.  I don’t want ok though!  I want a lady cave!  Somewhere beautiful and inspirational, most importantly I need to make it user friendly.  I don’t want to have to dig through layers of stuff or move a row of yarn to see what is behind it.  I need space in there to create and work.  As my business has grown I also find that I need a better plan for organizing my paperwork/business side of things.  

So the desk will for sure be out leaving that back wall for some storage space.  Unfortunately there is a door on the wall to the garage.  I am guessing it's a fire safety thing so I guess it has to stay.  I am looking at a few options for storage.

The Expedit Shelf by Ikea 

it does come in a few sizes but I would likely get the $199 which is at the top of what I would prefer to spend.

Here are a few shots of it in use

I love this craft room.  Her shelves are super organized though not really the best solution for yarn

photo credit and more pics of this room

Here is the shelf used for yarn.  Sort of an organized sloppy look

photo credit and more pics

I also love that you can just shove stuff in the cubbies, use fabric baskets, boxes, or Ikea even sells cupboard and drawer inserts for them!  Of course that adds to the cost as well :)

I really like the open look of these shelves.  It's a much cheaper storage system but then I'd still have to find something to keep the yarn in so that it's organized, easy to find and looks good.

photo credit and a lot of other craft room pics

and just for encouragement look at what she did with 16 sq feet of walk in closet!  

Here is the before

and the afters!  Not too sure about the cats and litter box (yuck) but she seriously used every inch of space!

No more pity party for me and my "small" space after seeing this!

My original plan was to move the yarn closet out and use it for something else.  Now I am wondering if I just need another one?  Jeez I am so not good at this!  I guess it boils down to the fact that  I love crafting in the dining room out with the family but now that Sawyer can and does climb onto the kitchen table nothing is safe!  Oh and my husband gets insanely irritated with my messes work spread all over the place.  Soooooo after pushing him too far with one too many projects left out for too long he had a mini ultimatum to figure something better out.  Here is my little plan so far!  I’d love some feedback or links to your favorite images of craft rooms.  Unfortunately I can’t just run out and buy everything I need to get it done today so it will be a work in progress but am hoping it’s done sooner than later!  

I guess the first step is getting off this machine and finishing Karly's room so I can start on the next project!