Laundry Room: Wrapped Up

Here's the final pictures in our laundry room project. Its been done for awhile, but I've been on Christmas break...back to busines. As you  might recall, I had Sue the Seamstress create this fabric curtain to mount w/ velcro up under the counter, to hide all my junk!

This super fun wool kilim style area rug came from Garnet Hill, and is a runner size 2x8. I totally love it, and its a fun color pop in this room! I love small rooms. You can afford to do crazier things than you would do in a large, more public room. This is a perfect example of that.

There's my "junk" in the Ikea cabinet, as shown in a previous post. Its great to have all my fabric samples and beach towels (I know, that's a weird combo), put away.

I love this mirror. I got this on super sale, thru Ballard Designs, and it adds a lot of light to this small room. Nevermind that my husband was making fun of me for "decorating" my laundry room...."Lamp?" he says. Oh well. Whatever makes me feel good about going in there to do laundry, right?!

Here it is up close. Its antiqued and beveled. So great!

Lastly, I picked up one of those Ikea hanging racks for "All-things-laundry". Holds sponges, scissors, measuring tape, etc. Keeps everything tidy. I love the new laundry room, and I'm almost excited to do laundry.

More Unsolicited Party Planning Advice

Good {Sunny Seattle} Morning!!!

Ready? Isn't this what you need today? No, seriously, you do because the holidays are coming up and hospitality is a completely lost art. I l.o.v.e. having people over, and doing it up right, so I just thought I'd pass on a few of my tried and true tips.

Mark's Mandarin Orange and Dark Chocolate Cheesecake. Will never do you wrong. Soooo good. I'm still deciding if I'm going to post the recipe.....

Colored crystal sugar as sweetener. I mean, who can really use all that sprinkle on cookies that you're never going to make. Serve it at a party alongside some teas. People will swoon! 

I've been keeping my tea selection in an extra piece of my expandable utensil thing-a-majiggy. I don't need it for silverware, and it has handy dividers (from Storables), and is perfect for separating different teas. People are really into tea. Serious. This way I can just pull all the tea out at once, and not be fumbling with all the little cardboard boxes, etc.

Do funky napkins. Just for fun.

And stick with white plates. Most food doesn't look very appetizing on really busy plates. The simpler the better! I'm putting off the cheesecake recipe. Maybe at Christmas...just because....I should probably check with Mark first. Ha!

Enjoy Entertaining!

While I was at it....

...over at Ikea, when I was getting stuff for the laundry, I thought I'd tidy up the Playroom shelves a bit with matching green magazine containers. They're so dog-gone cheap that I can't pass them up. They were $3/2pk (I think...). Here's a before:

I know, its not that bad, but you can't see that all the books are totally junked and crammed into those baskets which aren't really meant for books.

Ahhhh...angels singing. All the books are in those green magazine holders, all "leveled" because my BFF is a second grade teacher, and she will beat me if my books aren't leveled. If you don't know what "leveled" means, just ask your closest elementary school teacher. Ha!

This is a shot of the closet in the playroom (the storage is more than I deserve, I know!) where I moved a lot of those wicker baskets, to hold actual toys, instead of books that were getting rumpled.

Last thing. I had to show you this great little basket within a basket thing that I recently got at Land of Nod. There are four colorful little baskets inside one big red basket, to hold art supplies. Totally wrangles all our art stuff. Phew!

Happy Playing!

You can also find this linked up here:

Mudroom Closet Makeover

Oh my gosh. This coat closet is a mess. Just a fact. And, given my (newish) love for organizing blogs, I just couldn't let it go anymore. The clutter makes me crazy.

See Daddy's tennies mixed with Avery's boots. Really? That's just not right. And, yes those are more Command hooks. Like I said, I prefer to think positive!

There are about 5 coats in there that no one wears. That orange "pool" bag has turned into where I "keep" my fabric samples. Bleck. Terrible. I can't even watch....

This vacuum and the dog stuff on top of the crates are examples of stuff that I think should be/could be fit into this closet. Let's give it a try, shall we?

Eeek! It's gonna get worse before it gets better, people!

Getting a little better. Oh yeah, and I did this at 930p. You know, the best time to take on a big project with lots of noise making, while the little people around the house are sleeping. How I roll.

Ahhhh! Angels singing. Look at all that room to spare. Got the vacuum fit in, decided to take 99% of my shoes up to my closet (I know, novel idea...put them away?) Daddy only has like 3 pairs of shoes, so here's 2 of them. Every kid (and dogs) has their own shelf/basket.

My family is like, "Where's the treats, mom?" Me: "Put away!" Them: "Where?" Figure it out, people!

All kids have their own space, and Jackson likes to have his Bible nearby...ha!

This shoe rack has been in my "garage sale" pile for about 6 months, but I rescued it, and put it to good use.

Even room to spare up top. Put all the camera accessories in the camera backpack, and the basket holds the portable DVD player, as well as our antiquated Camcorder. (yes, we need a flip camera!) Then, you can see my fabric samples got organized, and their own bin.

Whew! What needs an overhaul at your house, at 930p? I highly recommend it!

I linked this up here:

And, here:

A New Outlook

You know when you move one thing in your house, but it changes your entire outlook on your house? That is what just happened to me today. I had this (duh) brainstorm to move my laptop/desk area away from here:

And, move it here:

Now, I can do the following with ease:

1. Watch the dogs nap (look closely at the picture). Its a big job, but someone has to do it. They need almost constant monitoring. I am a nurse after all, so if their breathing/snoring patterns are off, I'll put my stellar assessment skills right to work!

2. Sit. Wow, what a novel idea, that when you're a blogger, you'd actually want to sit at your desk. The majority of the time I'm either standing, or dragging the computer over to the island, on a cold, stainless-steel/granite surface. Check.

3. Stay in the middle of the "Action"; that's code for watch people do homework, and make sure they're not getting another snack or watching Wipeout (the show) when they're supposed to be doing their homework....

I love it. It has inspired me to move more stuff, but now its dinner time, and my husband's car will be pulling into the garage, and Big Dog is usually hungry at 6p. Go move something around!!

Hook Tags

Good Morning!!

I've been in a decorating/blogging funk lately. Well, honestly since we got home from vacation. But! I'm back with a very minor, but very wonderful little nod in the "organizing my house" direction.

I've been on fire reading organizing blogs lately, and I'm speaking on "blogging/blogs" at the beginning of October, so I've been getting ready for that. I digress.....getting organized....

We have the typical backpack-dropped-on-the-floor-trip-over-them issue that I'm sure lots of you have. So, I decided to utilize the space behind the door leading from our garage to our mudroom. "Ooooh, a mudroom. She must have TONS of drop zone space!" Uh, no. You would think, but since our dog crates take up 60% of the mudroom, and there are no large solid walls, we are woefully short on "drop zone" space. Here's my solution for backpacks.

Yes. Those are Command hooks. I know, I know. 3-5lb max. Will they last til Halloween? I don't know, but I'm choosing to think positive. Stay tuned....

I found these totally adorable "tags" made out of thin MDF type material, at Ben Franklin on Sunday. My BFF was leading me astray (I am supposed to be "holding it down to a dull roar" in the spending dept), and she took me there against my will while the husbands were watching football. I only spent $6 on the tags, and the cute raffia type ribbon.

You all know my love for all things free-hand, so I just drew w/ pencil, my kids' initials on the tags.

Then, with my handy dandy black paint pen, traced over what I'd free handed. Easy!

Again, in the spirit of freehanding, I just eyeballed the height of the tags over the hooks, and the tying of the ribbon. Its all very free-formed over here!

Perfect! Just in case Jack forgets his birth order, or forgets that he has the only blue-non-girl backpack, this solves all those crazy problems. Yes, I'm being sarcastic, in case you can't tell. You haven't been reading this blog very long. xoxo

Check out here where I've linked up