Laundry Room Decor

Ok...let's just say I don't have the prettiest laundry room...I'm pretty sure it will never be featured in Better Homes & Gardens...but...I have done my best to pretty it up.  It is in the basement of our 120 year old home, and the walls are uneven, painted, poured concrete...its that old adage about making lemonade...you have to work with what you have.

Below is a cute little sign that hangs by the dryer...saw it on Pinterest and knew it was perfect, and more functional than the lone socks sitting in a pile in a basket that no one goes through. Hoping the array of strays disappears once everyone sees them.

 This is in the corner, dryer on one wall, then laundry tub and washer on other wall. All the pipes are exposed, so when I painted the room...I just painted them too, to at least make them less obvious. Also saw the fabric wrapped ladder on Pinterest, they did it with a flag, but I just took some excess fabric and raffia and did the same thing. Found some extra decor items and voila...I think I like it...:P

 This sign I made...or rather re-made! It was a "Family" sign we bought at Hobby Lobby and got ruined in our move last year.  Only the paper top of it was destroyed, not the wood it was on, so I painstakingly punched all the squares out of paint chips ( our local paint store had a whole box they were getting rid of ) took me for----ever to punch them all out. The colors were chosen for my bathroom, but then I didn't end up using it there...so it sat...until yesterday. I mod podged all the squares on, and then took a brown ink pad and inked all over the top to soften some of the colors and give it a more uniform appearance. Cut out the letters with my cricut and mod podged them on top. It works as the adjacent room is my sewing room and it is tealish in color. The bottle is just a dollar store bottle I glued twine to, and some pine cones to finish off the display. Im thinking I need some greenery along the shelf yet, but Im not sure

Thanks for stopping in today and seeing my latest projects...thats what happens when you get out of bed and go on pinterest...I decided rather than pinning more projects, I would make some of the ones I already pinned...yay, I love completed projects!!!

My Stamp Shelf

So a couple years ago, I was beginning to accumulate quite a few wood stamps, and needed a place to store them. I was praying one day, and clearly sensed God challenging me to ask Him for it? What?? How could this be?? Certainly there are so many more things in the world God needed to do than find me a shelf for my stamps. Well, learning from experience...I decided to take Him up on the challenge and I asked Him for one. Several weeks went by and nothing...I even considered just asking a woodworking friend to build me one. Then one Saturday morning, hubby and I were out yard saleing..and we were driving up to a sale, and there is was...laying on the ground...I had no idea what it even was prior, but there lay my stamp shelf, I could hardly wait to get out of the car...It had a whopping price tag of $2, I was almost in tears...do you know what its like to have the God of all creation answer your prayer? To care that much about every detail of your life? I know now that it was not about the shelf...it was about God showing me His faithfulness, even in the small things, and it built my faith in a huge way. Everytime I glance at that shelf, hanging on the wall in my craft room, I remember that God loves me and wants to give me the desire of my heart. I attached a photo of the shelf, full of stamps, and following a spray paint and glue job to make it look new. I hope you know God wants to do the same for you...you need only to ask and believe!!!

Antiques

Made this little sign up last night out of some wood I purchased at a yard sale. It apparently is wood that was/is used to make cheese boxes...great little planks for projects...so we bought a bunch of them. This one I painted with some leftover cream paint, and then wiped it off before it dried...then used a little black and brown paint around the edges to achieve that old, worn look. Then I created a stencil with my cricut and sure cuts a lot, just out of cardstock, and sponged over. Once dry, I took a sanding block to it to age it some more, drilled holes (getting good at that) and made a jute hanger. It hangs on a chest on our deck we picked up at a yard sale.

Yard Sale Chair Makeover

Ok, so I bought this nifty little chair at a yard sale for $10 two summers ago...wasn't really sure what I wanted to do with it, or where I wanted to put it, but after revamping my sewing room, I decided it had a home in there. Here is the chair almost as I bought it...I usually forget to take a before picture until after I have started the project...so actually hubby had already spray painted the wood flat black for me...cute chair huh???

 I grabbed an old Home Arts magazine I picked up at a local antique dealer a while back and started cutting out the ads and articles from it. It is from 1936 ...you should read some of these, totally hilarious...anyway...grabbed the mod podge too

 As you can see the chair back had some damage and mod podging over would totally take care of it

 Happily mod podging away...one layer at a time..make sure to let each layer dry 15 min before putting another on...especially if you don't want wrinkles

 Tada...here is the finished chair...love the way it turned out...fun and unique!

 Thanks for looking!!!

MIA???

Seems like I've been M I A for the summer...nope, here, busy...working...crafting and hubby had emergency by-pass surgery as well...so it made for an interesting summer. He is recovering quite well and things have returned to normal, well, as normal as our clan can be.

My latest projects have consisted of working on my sewing room. Its just a tiny little room in my basement, adjacent to my craft area...it also doubles as extra storage, so it was a challenge to make the area aesthetically pleasing while making it easy for everyone else to find things when they need them. Also dealing with a less than attractive cement wall that is very uneven and somewhat unattractive...but since there are no plans to change that, I just worked with what I had. Below is a pic of the area emptied out before I began painting. Notice the lovely panel box too...

 Good news is that I have an updated, however small window for natural light...it does look into our driveway, and so in some of the pictures you will notice our cars, but hey, thats life

 Here is the storage area...love all the shelving, its just really ugly

 Here is the first after shot...colour is a tealish aqua-ey colour...now, it did seem a bit dark at first, but one I got all my stuff back in, I was happy with the choice. Notice the small green fabric cabinet...that green is the colour of the craft room...weird combo, but it works, well, I think it does anyway. Made the ironing board cover myself, as all the pre made ones are not pretty and I wanted pretty, even had enough left over for a small valance.

 Here is what I like to affectionately call my "wrapping centre"...in the middle I put some cork boards from the dollar store, to hold bows and ribbon. I covered them with fabric and staple gunned (as my husband gasps) to the wall. I have been wanting to make something for all my wrapping stuff, and who knew I had it all along, so Im quite happy with that. The chair, which you can barely see at the bottom of the picture, was a yard sale find a couple years ago...it had some damage, the veneer was cracked, but I loved the style, so hubby spraypainted it black and then I modpodged the seat and back with ads from an old Craft magazine from 1936 that I picked up at a local antique store we frequent. Another post will follow with the chair project

 This is a peg board I painted, then created a stencil with my cricut and painted the "create" with the same green as the fabric cabinet. I got dowels from the dollar store (gotta love that place) and cut them to hold a spool of thread and the matching bobbin, and then glue gunned them into the pegboard...made some extra on the other side, just so all my stuff is easy to see and grab. Now the pin cushion in the tea cup is an old one that I've had forever, and just last night I made one of those cute ones from pinterest with a jelly jar and the same fabric from the cork boards...but I guess I neglected to take a shot of it.

 Here is the eensy weensy little window with its eensy valance, cute though, and a great window ledge for setting stuff, like my large pinecones, and pics of me and hubby

 Got some mdf letters from Hobby Lobby for 2.49 each, covered them with scrapbook paper, mod podged them, sanded them and stuck some ribbon and buttons on them. Hubby spray painted the piece of drywall the panel box was on, wires and all, just so it looks a little less obvious.

 The wreath I made earlier this year from dictionary paper...it just hadn't found a home where I liked it...but I love it here. The sign I made myself...we were at a yard sale earlier this year, and this guy was selling all these wood planks for $1 each...I bought 5 or so, then hubby went back and got me like 20 more...lol...he knows me so well. I painted it roughly with some leftover paint, and tried not to cover the wood entirely. Cut some letters out with my cricut and Sure Cuts a Lot software for the quote. I even drilled the holes in the wood myself, once I figured out how to use the drill...(hubby usually does this for me, but he wasn't home) and then just ties some jute and knotted it in front to hang it up

 Got some dollar store fabric baskets to hide all the not-so-pretty items that get stored here, then made tags with my cricut and ran them through my printer with the contents of the basket

 The chest we picked up at a yard sale a month or so ago, for like $5...they wanted $10, but hubby haggled em down...I simply rolled up all my fabric and stacked them...I can see almost everything and fabric is somewhat like scrapbook paper, you can never have enough, and I love to collect it

 The only thing left to do is paint the desk that my sewing machine sits on...I want it black on top with everything else an antique white...a friend suggested perhaps black is not the best choice for a sewing table as it will be hard to see...what do you all think?

Thanks for looking...email me if you have questions...