The laundry room, loads of fun!

Our laundry room is right off of the garage, so it has become Grand Central Station. Whenever we leave the house, we go through the laundry room. When we get home, we go through the laundry room. Plus, I just do a lot of laundry period. So I spend a lot of my time there, unfortunately. And to say we needed to change it a bit isn't true, I was just really, really hoping we could. Hoping for a long time...It was just super ugly and not functional for a family of 6. I'm happy to say it's had a complete makeover and it makes me so happy now! I picked a sunny, warm yellow for the walls, white for the cabinets, and I really wanted wood floors. But the flooring specialists (our Dads) said that was a bad idea because of possible water damage if the washer ever leaked. Whatever. But then we found this tile that looks like wood, and they even had barn "wood" so I was thrilled. I'm so happy with it, it hides dirt really well, which is almost as important as how cute it is. My parents were so sweet, they drove all the way up here on their one day off so my Dad could tile the floor, pro bono. Thanks Dad! We hired Todd's Dad to make the cabinets, and then a bench with cubbies for shoe bins, and an upper shelf with hooks for coats and backpacks, with littler cubbies for mittens and hats - or baseball caps and sunscreen for those 6 weeks of Summer we get around here. He did a beautiful job on the cabinets and I have so much storage space compared to the wire shelves that were there. Everything has a place, I love that! I couldn't find baskets for the shoes that fit, and I didn't want actual baskets because the point was to contain the dirt, gravel and grass. So we had bins made out of galvanized metal to keep the grubby shoes in. I sewed up a couple of fabric baskets for the upper cubbies, but haven't quite perfected the size, so I'll have to keep working out the kinks so everyone has a basket on the shelf. I found a light fixture made out of mason jars, which is one of my favorite parts of the whole space. I have a countertop for folding laundry instead of throwing it all on the couch so the babies can throw all the folded laundry on the floor as I fold it...There are a few things left undone, but I wanted to reveal it and I couldn't wait! I'm still working on a curtain out of vintage hankies, and I'm going to paint the kids' shilouttes under their hooks in chalk board paint. And we still need to hang the hooks on the wall for me and Todd. But here's a sneak peak at the new and improved laundry room. More to come...

Before....

After!!