Repurpose/Cover Up

So, a couple months ago, we went to IKEA. This is an all day affair. Not only is it a couple hours to get there, the entire family goes, in-laws, aunts, cousins. It is crazy. Then you have to eat lunch there, you have to inventory the place, and then check out... have you seen the lines at IKEA?

Well while we were there, I found this super cute $14 duvet cover with matching pillowcases. I loved the fabric. When I put it on the bed, I hated it. It was nice, but it did not go with my "idea" of what I want my bedroom to look like. Then Mr. Smarty Pants himself, said, "Use it as fabric." I think this is his secret way of saying, he likes me sewing. Lets think about this, not only did he build me a wonderful place to sew, and work, now he is offering up fabric... either he is "sensitive" or supportive?

So, I did use it as fabric, I made a pillowcase dress for Dahlia, and then kinda forgot about it. Which brings us to our current day.

In my laundry room I have had the eye soar of the electrical panel box (see previouse posts for proof). I was not sure what to do with it. Scooter found an old cork board, and it covered it perfectly. Then the dilema is, what do you cover it with? The room is already very blue and white, with touches of black, so I felt it needed something else.
Then Mr. Smarty Pants again say, "What about that duvet cover?" He is amazing. So I seemed ripped that baby apart (during conference, it really helps keep you awake.) Then I put some batting around the board and covered it with the fabric, hung it up, and it is BEAUTIFUL.




I love it. I now can put all my orders up, and keep track of everything as well as not look at the electrical panel.

I also tried to applique. I made my own flowers, and did it up just like Jeanne said, and it worked. I think they turned out kinda cute.



So don't throw out your sheets, or other things, re-use them. I still have about 4 yards of fabric, and am thinking about some shirred sun dresses for the girls.

well I better get back to work. I need to finish a nightgown for Dandelion, and a couple purses need to be knocked out.

talk at you soon
--kelly

Spring has Sprung

Well it is going to be another beautiful spring day in Texas. I know this, because of my constant need to find tissue, and then in turn finding other's tissue throughout the house. The need to hit the allergy meds, the beautiful wildflowers everywhere, and the never ending wind.

I am grateful for the sunshine, we had over 160 days of our high temperature being below 80 degrees. So I am ready for some flip flops, and getting rid of white legs.

I would love to take a picture of the wild flowers, however as soon as they spring up, I have two little pickers that immediately grab them up for tea parties, and presents, and all sorts of thing.

I have been busy using my room. I finished Karen's purse. It turned out super cute, and then I made L, M, and N purses of their own. They all turned out pretty cute. I hope they like them. I uses my raggedy models for display, pajamas and all.





I have been told the Ruby, loves her skirt and purse. Maybe her mother will send us a picture of her modeling it for us, and we can post it.

Well today is one of the jobs I hate the most, moving over clothes. Why is taking out winter clothes putting them in a bucket to save (because in 2 years I can pull them out again). Putting the summer clothes back in, such a project. It will take all day to do 2 dressers. What do other mothers do with more then 2 kids, how do they function, do they have some super power that I am not blessed with receiving because I only have 2? I am not sure if I am just putting off doing my task, or really thinking about this.

Off to work. Enjoy spring where ever you are. Hope you all have a wonderful Easter weekend, eat a lot of chocolate, hide a bunch of eggs, and in the words of Dandelion as we talked about the Easter story, "Mom, it is just to sweet to even think about." with big giant alligator tears rolling down her face.
talk at ya soon,
--kelly

Here is the new door, with its door knob, all painted up. It looks like it has always been there.



Here is the sewing area. I have already used it and love it. It is super handy. I think it is the best because I am not fighting all the stuff that is normally on the desk. Now all the stuff is hidden in the cabinets. So nice.





Last but not least, here is the work area. I iron all my seams here, and cut out, even fold laundry. As well as Karen's purse, it turned out super cute.



So, now you are updated, I guess my little blog, if I keep it up will be about my projects. April is coming over to work on some sleeves tomorrow, I am excited to show off my new space and work with another nerd. Scooter said I should also give her guitar lessons. I think that is in reference to my novice skill level at both, but I don't care, my room is the prettiest.

Off to cut out twirly skirts. Enjoy.
--Kelly

Been a Long Time.

It is done. The Laundry room is done, it is pretty and so nice to work in, and I am just so happy. This is my new problem. I am working in it. It was cloudy the day I finished all the painting touch up, so I did not take any pictures. Well I started using the stinking room, and now it is not picture worthy. I will do my best today to get it picture perfect, take some pictures and post. (however it is also another cloudy day).

I have been doing a few things. I finished Ruby's skirt and purse, so cute if I do say so myself. I should have let Dahlia Wahlia model it and take pictures. I guess we will be forced to wait on Leslie to do that. I got Karen's purse completed and just need to scotch guard it and it will be on it's way. That means, only Jessica, and Jennifer are waiting on purses. Look at me only 2 orders behind.

I also hope to make some white twirly skirts for the girls and I. I am super sad because our local Wal-Mart (I know it is a bad word) is getting rid of their fabric. I never realized what a junky I was. So I picked up the last of their eyelet lace, it is being washed right now, so I hope to get those done today. They will be a nice addition to the spring wardrobe.

We have had 2 beautiful weather days here, and now it is cloudy and going to rain today and tomorrow. I am hoping for very few maybe no,"Booms" (thunder) or I will not get to sleep tonight. At least it will not get below 55. I am okay with that.

Well better go clean the laundry room. I will be honest it has never been more fun and enjoyable.

keep washing your hands, and take your clariton, the allergies are in full force, but it is so beautiful to see the wild flowers starting to come up. You just can't help but be happy.
talk to you soon,
--Kelly

White Cabinets

Well here they are, my beautiful white cabinets, on really pretty not sure what to call them, blue walls.



Here is the sewing center. It give me tons of room to sew, with the cabinet above the desk. Ruby do not look at the cute skirt next to my sewing machine cuz that is yours. It will be the first thing done once the paint dries.



This is the new wall, with the cabinets and work station. It has already been super handy when I was loading up all my cabinets. I folded and laid out stuff, and I still have tons of room in the cabinets. It is so nice.




When I took the pictures (last night) I still needed to do the touch up. Well it is drying right now, and really makes the room look great. I guess finished always looks great. Leaving things almost done, is never very satisfy, when it is a home improvement project or a snicker bar, both needed to be totally done, before happiness can be fully appreciated and felt. The addition of the pulls on the cabinets and drawers also is a big help.

I am so happy that it is done, that it turned out so well, and is so functional. I will take some more pictures once the paint drys. I am still waiting on the doorknob for the new door to the broom closet, it should be here later this week.

It is spring break this week, so I hope to be able to spend some time with my family, now that we are all over the sickness. Spring is starting to spring in Texas, we have the first signs with purple field in the pastures. It is my favorite time of year. I hope you are all doing well, and can do something fun this week.
see ya
--Kelly

Will it ever end?

Oh my gravy,

I am sick of being sick, being around sick people, and living in a mess. You would think that a laundry room would not cause such crazy living situations, but it really does. Think about it, when you do laundry, sometimes (at least I hope I am not the only one) you may not fold the laundry right away, or you have a pile of things that are a bit funky that need to be washed but the washer is going, so you put it on the floor in front of the washing machine... plus all the other things that got on in a laundry room. Then to make it worse all the stuff in my laundry room is all around my house, in random places.

Then add sickness on top of that. So not only is my project on super slow. (Is there a term for super slow, if it is fast, you can say warp speed, or turbo, or hyper, I am at a blank for slow...)

After laying around with sick kids, or being sick, or sick husband I got the caulking done today. Which sounds like very little, and it is, however considering I could not even stand 24 hours ago, I feel pretty okay with my progress.

I am not posting any pictures of the caulking, because, well it is kinda a before and after thing, so I will just post after I get the cabinets painted. I was hoping for a tomorrow start (Tuesday) but Dahlia lost her cookies again right before bed, so we shall see. I am just hoping that this is just a continuation and not round 2. Kinda like, when does it stop being an after shock, and become a new earthquake? Is there a length of time to determine such things?

I am just full of questions, see what happens on lots of sleep and little calories.

I also failed to mention on my earlier post about the moulding being completed, I also received an outlet for my 4 foot of counter space (look on the bead board). Pretty fancy huh. The broom closet also got a light and a switch to turn on said light. It is crazy it is better then we originally planned it when we built the house. However if we would have finished the laundry room prior to moving into the house, we really would have been up a creek with the tank less water heater failure and what have you. I am so happy with it all. I think it is going to be super useful, and handy as pocket on underwear.

Now everyone go wash your hands, and go find someone to use one of Dandee's "word ring" words on. The "word ring" is a ring of sight or commonly used words that do not always follow the phonic rules. One of the new ones this week is LOVE. So go use it on someone. Doing both things (washing your hand and saying you love someone)will make you feel much better, now and later.
talk at you soon.
--Kelly

Progress Baby!

Last night Scooter and PaPa cut the counter top. Then Scooter finished all the moulding today. So now it is all up to me.

As you can see I need to caulk and paint.



This is a picture of when you first walk into the room. Scooter took the baseboards and cut them down to fit under the cabinets. I think it gives it more of a built in look. Kinda like a butler's pantry. My mom has always wanted one, she however would use it more like a pantry and a place for her pretty serving dishes. Scooter said he would use it that way too. Sorry folks, it is my room, and I get to use it anyway I want. (I am so happy)


Since #1 child got sick Thursday night and then #2 child got sick today (vomiting every 20 minutes for 4-5 hours, and then sleeping) I might get to start caulking tonight, but I am not sure.

I get to do the Nursing Home circuit on Monday, Groceries on Tuesday, and Volunteer for #1 child on Wednesday. I am keeping my fingers crossed I am proficient in my time usage.

We shall see. Since the next week is spring break and we have a visitor coming (who is crafty, not Beastie Boys crafty, but Martha Stewart Crafty) I would love to have my room done.

I feel like the Friends episode when Rachel gets the assistant buyer job, and she gets a new suit and asks her friends if it looks like a suit an assistant buyer for Bloomingdale would wear, and they of course don't get it..., then something else happens and she is left in the apartment all by herself. She jumps up with her arms in the air and says in a squeally (it's a word) voice, "I'm an assistant buyer." That is how I feel. No one is as excited about this as I am, and I so look forward to it. As long as Joanna does not get hit by that bus, I will be okey dokey.


Enjoy the pictures. Carry on and make sure you wash your hand a lot. You do not want to get this funk at my house.
--Kelly

A little bit each day

Lets see, it is not really fare to ask Scooter to work all day and come home and work on my Laundry room but that is what he is doing.

Monday he trimmed out the broom closet door. Tuesday night we picked up the remaining cabinets, and hung them, and re-hung the cabinets on the new wall. This is what it looks like when you walk into my laundry room. My sewing table will be right under these cabinets.



Then Yesterday he put the spacers in between the cabinets on the new wall and the base cabinets. Since I have a 53 inch space and only 48 inches of cabinets.




I also went with a laminate counter top. I just could not pull the trigger on the granite. While my guy gave me a screaming deal, it is kinda silly, and a bit spoiled. So I was practical and efficient. Even more so since I picked up the counter top with the gouge in the end. The guy sold it to me for a huge discount. Helped him on inventory and saved me some cash, win win for us all.

This is the side view. The cabinets stick out a bit on the bottom, but I think it still looks nice. Scooter is going to cut down my baseboards to make them a little shorter so that it will fit under the toe kick of the cabinets. I think it will make it look more like a built in.




So here are a few pictures of the cabinets hung, with the spacers in. Scooter is only lacking the baseboards, trim around the paneling, and counter top.

Then It is all mine (not to sew in, just to paint).
talk to you all soon
--Kelly

A little bit of Progress

On Monday,Scooter went after school to get the remaining 3 cabinets. They were no where to be found. They showed that they had been pulled for a customer but no one knew where they were. So we were only able to get 1 out of 3.

Scooter was so frustrated that he came home and trimmed out the new door. I need to caulk all the joints, putty the nail holes and then paint all the white, and a door knob of course. It is starting to look like it was always suppose to be there.






I am not going to get started on the paint until all the cabinets are up, all the trim finished, etc. I hate to clean up paint utensils. Plus, it is going to be a full time job, I thought covering the orange was hard... painting all this is going to be crazy.

Hope you all have a great day, I am off to call Home Depot and try to get my last 2 cabinets, maybe a counter top, and some other misc items, and a church meeting, grocery shopping, and maybe lunch with Daddy. Better get started.
--Kelly

A couple cabinets up

Well, we are super tired and out of cabinets. The other cabinets were on back order. I called and they are in, but we are too spent to go get them.

We have hung the cabinets that we have. Once the cabinets are in, we (Scooter) will trim them out, with molding and make them all pretty. I am going to paint the cabinets white and then load them up, and get to work. I am still back and forth on the counter tops...

Here is the cabinet above the washing machine.




The cabinets, on the new wall. (The water heater is right behind those cabinets.)


And this is the place where my sewing table was, and will be again. We are going to mirror image the hanging cabinets on the new wall above the sewing table.



I am going to go take a shower and lay on my couch.
have a great night.
--Kelly

"It's Like a Little Room"

The door is in, the wall is built and the cabinets are starting to go up. Here are the pictures to prove it.

We got a Door


Here is where the new cabinets are going to be hung on this wall. And then all the space in front of the Hot Water Heater, will be a broom closet.


So exciting!!

New Paint

It looks like I will only need one coat of paint, and some minor touch up. I figured I am going to have to do some touch up after we hang the cabinets so... I am gonna just wait and do it all at once.

The bad thing is, the new color does not show up very well in pictures. It looks much better in person. The the only way I could show the new color to you all, is to take a contrast picture against the white.

I have often thought that primer was not worth the extra time and effort. I will have to shut my mouth now, it really was helpful and made the actual paint go on so much better and easier.

So here are a few pictures of the new paint. As you can see by the first picture, at the top you can see a bit of the white from the primer, and the white of the water heater for contrast of the new blue.

This picture also the contrast of the white doors, with the blue. It is not a very dark blue. I think it will look really nice, with the white cabinets. I am hoping for a dark countertop on the new wall of cabinets.

And here is the new door hole completely cut out. It is really exciting to see that get done. The funny thing is, when you live with concrete floors you do not think about adding new doorways and having to worry about carpet or tile or wood transitions. We now realize that we stained the floors after the framing, so by taking out the plate to the wall, I am going to have to find my stain... I sure hope I have some. Maybe a brown magic marker would work.

Please do not worry about the little cut up in the sheetrock. If you go back and look we have a large piece of molding above our doors, (we call them Top Hats) So it will cover all that up. Moulding is a wonderful thing.

Well, I better go hunt for some concrete stain.
I will post again tomorrow for sure, maybe tonight.
Yeah for ME!!

Day Two

Okay, we have a couple things that have happened. The walls have been primed. The room is not that large, and it took an entire gallon of Kilz to cover the orange. I got lots of, "If you would have chosen a normal paint color this would not needed to happen." I still stand by my choice of orange. I still like it I will always like it, it just does not go with my "plan" for my New Laundry room. And no, I am not going down with the ship.

Okay I digress, Scooter went and bought the new broom closet door on his lunch break and brought it home. Moved the thermostat for the A/C and cut the hole for the new door.

It is very exciting. I have painted the first and maybe only coat of the new color, a light steely blue. But it is still to wet to take pictures. I am really happy with the color.

Here are a few more pictures to document the progress.



The new wall will be about parallel with the orange wall, behind the water heater. I would also like to have each of you take the time to comment on, is it Hot Water Heater or just Water Heater? This is an on going battle for my Father in-law. He gets all in a bother if people call it a Hot Water Heater. Saying the water is already hot. I believe that both are correct because sometimes while the water is still hot in the tank, it needs to be heated to reach the correct or set temperature. Therefore making it a Hot Water Heater. Post your comments NOW. I am also okay if you do not agree with me (but I will also be keeping a running total of those who do not...)




As you can see this picture has the old hole for the thermostat, and the thermostat in the new spot. If you look closely you will see the side of the new door (white) leaning against the side of my Fridge (Black).




And the Door hole has been cut. Pretty exciting, and not bad for a first day.

My Father in-law who is invaluable with these types of things, said, "You 2 need to cut out this Home Improvement Crap, it is a new house leave it alone." My Mother in-law who is also very helpful when the girls need to get out of the way, said, "Most people just talk about fixing their laundry room, not actually do something about it." I took both as compliments, and am so excited I can hardly stand it.

We have to get a guitar tonight, and the worlds best hamburger. Tomorrow we hope to hang the door, build a wall, and maybe even hang a cabinet or 2? Aim high.
see ya
--Kelly

Okay, so here are a few pictures, that I took before the project started and show that I really needed to do something. No one should live and work this way. I also beg of you.... please do not judge me. I am so embarrassed that I lived in this... it is pretty bad.













Now do you feel my pain. It just had to be done. Plus I have the best husband to do all this for me. He is pretty neat.

As I was Painting

So, as I was painting I was thinking that I needed to document the changes that are going to be taking place. For a couple reasons,
1- Some of you have never seen my laundry room
2- I am not very descriptive in my explanations
3- I am a visual learner

So please do not laugh at my drawing, but it was the best I could do.

I have given you a before and an after. I am super excited, because I am getting tons of cabinet space, and a new broom closet. Currently my brooms and steamers have been hidden behind my laundry room door. No MORE!!! I feel so grown up.

I have put the primer on the "ugly A%$ Orange" and Scooter came home and moved the A/C thermostat and is currently roto zipping the door opening... nope wait, the bit just broke... and there are none in the handle... we are on hold til tomorrow.

Enjoy
--Kelly

Day one

Okay, so lets see if this works.

Scooter and I have been talking about doing this laundry room for... well since we have moved into the house, so almost 2 years. The main problem has been the water heater. We originally had a tank less water heater in the attic. Our well water let that happen about 6 months, and then we had to go with the conventional water heater, which takes up a lot more room.

Last Saturday we decided we were going to move the water heater into the attic. Kinda scary siting in the attic waiting for 2 boys to push an empty water heater up an extension ladder, and me just catching the ladder as it is going to fall on the boys.

After receiving much grief for my 10 foot ceilings (I will not budge they look beautiful, so what if changing a light bulb is a 30 minute process). I said, "Move it back to the Laundry room."

My thinking was, we are going to have to change this water heater out some day. And since I plan on living out my years in this home, I do not want to see my 60 year old husband, man handling a water heater just so I could have a larger laundry room.

The water heater in the laundry room, while not my favorite still makes the most sense. We went through a couple plans to change it up, but none really worked until Tuesday.

Scooter came home from work and said, "Okay just hear me out, don't roll your eyes, just listen." So I did, and it is a wonderful idea. I guess I will have to not get so upset when my girls roll their eyes at me, seems they might come by it naturally.

So since Tuesday, I have been on the phone finding out prices, thinking about plans for counter tops, buying paint and all the other things that need to get done.

So here we are. I am going to post some before pictures. Today I plan on painting. I will be getting rid of what some in Texas call, the UT Orange (University of Texas). Scooter is sure the actual name of the color is, "Ugly A#@ Orange." I still like it, but it does not go with my Master Plan.
so stay tuned and watch the progress, hope you enjoy.
--Kelly