Basement Laundry {A Reveal Of Sorts}

Well this is real life and the laundry is as done as it's going to get for the moment. I am very proud of it but it definitely is not "magazine-worthy". LOL It never will be but it has come a very long way. We have a few more things we want to do but they will take a little more time, money and shopping.

I am a strange breed of woman....the breed that actually likes doing laundry. I know some people just cringe at doing laundry but I actually don't mind it at all. I don't even mind the folding and putting away part. But if you ask me to dust my whole house...that's when I cringe. I hate dusting.

Any who, my hubby and I agreed it was time to make the most out of our little basement laundry situation. It was dark and dank and just not a fun place to be. We set out to make a more function space with what we had to work with and to make it it's own space. So here are list of things we did (well Michael did most of it).

• Bought our new Samsung washer & dryer for a steal on Black Friday weekend. They came from Lowe's. We had to wait 2 months for them to come in. :(
• Bought the material and Michael built washer & dryer stands from some plans found here.
• I painted the stands in Misty Aqua from Glidden (Wal-Mart)
• Painted two concrete walls in our basement white. We did not paint around all our plumbing. We are going to put up a curtain to cover that.
• Brought in an old bathroom vanity that was in my craft room. It was give to us by my in-laws. It's my new folding table.
• Made some curtains out of fabric I had on hand.
• Made some wall art using stuff I had or bought at flea markets. I spray painted all of the frames and used scrapbook paper and stuff to decorate them.
• Laid down a carpet/rug that was left from when we redid our living room carpet.

Here is the before again.

Here is the final product....so far.












The pole on the right is hopefully going to be removed soon too.

We are planning to put up a curtain above where all the plumbing is. That is the old wall color.



There is one window in this area but the window is actually under our porch. So not a ton of light comes in. I dressed it up a little bit though.


Another shot of the whole area. We are also planning to put up a metal bar from the ceiling on the left side of the star. For hanging up clothes out of the dryer. Sorry about the bad lighting in the pics.





I love these stands and I'm so proud of my hubby for making them! He did such a good job!




My new folding area. It's already seen lots of action!





I found this free printable on pinterest and I kind of based all the colors off of it.


The two round frames are just scrapbook paper and I can write on the glass with dry erase markers to make myself lists of things we need to pick up at the store.



I am so thrilled with the results so far! It is now a happy place to go to when I do laundry. I also am totally in love with my new washer and dryer. I can do all my laundry in one day if I want to now. Also a special thanks to my Dad for coming over and helping Michael get the washer & dryer moved and installed. And he helped run the electrical to the outlets in our new wall. It's nice when you Dad is an electrician.  Linking up here 

March 2012

March has been a great month of time spent outside and with friends and family! I took Jonah to our local city park one morning. He was still way to little to really play on anything there. But he did have a ball playing in the wet sand that day. Here are some pics I got of that.





































Also, last weekend we had a fun time! On Saturday Jonah and I had to run to town and get groceries. He did so good and we stopped at Chick-Fil-A for lunch and he ate really good. It's fun to take him places now and he can actually eat what I am eating for a change. :) On Sunday we went to a small local church where Michael filled in for their preacher. It was his first time ever preaching!! He did such a wonderful job and everybody bragged on him afterwards. I was very proud of him! Turns out I am actually distantly related to several of the congregations members too.

Later on Sunday we went to my grandmother's (Roro's) house for a little birthday celebration for my Aunt. My cousin's boys were there too and Jonah played so good with them. Here are some shots from that day too.

























We have a busy month of April coming up too with lots of plans in the works. I am throwing a baby shower and having a birthday (my 29th) the early part of the month. And then later on we are going to be going to visit some family that live a little ways away from us and hopefully (fingers crossed) we will get a start on some work outside in our flower beds. We will see what all we can get done and still just try to enjoy each day as it comes. Of course as soon as you tell God your plans.....

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Joining in on WILW again.

I am loving that my Mom hosted a Thirty-One Purse party last night and I ordered lots of goodies. I love that company and the wonderful totes and bags they make. I have several that I use all the time. This season the special was this organizing tote for $8.

I am also loving this beautiful Spring weather we've been enjoying this week. The high will be 80 something today!

I love Mexican food and we do not have a good place close by. Sooo.....I am so loving my new quesadilla maker that was FREE. I had a bunch of points from using my debit card as a credit card and got to redeem them for this Quesadilla maker. It is great!

Also I have found the best flour tortilla's to get are the "ready-to-cook" ones for using with this.

I am also loving my new wash and dryer in my soon-to-be finished laundry room! I think they may be smarter than me. I think they will be a real energy saver too.



A Wedding Shower {Black & White Damask and Lime Green}

We had the most beautiful wedding shower held at our church yesterday afternoon! Not only was the couple beautiful, but the decorations were too. I had no part in decorating for this shower, but some very talented ladies in our church did. They did such a good job and I just had to show off their talents.

I took all these shots before the shower began so I would not get anyone in the shots. It's all about the decor and did not want to post pictures of people if they did not want them up for all to see. This theme is also what she is using for her wedding too. I can't wait to see it too!

ENJOY!



























A very talented lady in our church had these letters cut out of wood (J for Josh and L for Laura) and mod-podged some pictures of them onto them. I just love this idea!





They will be reusing the damask runners for their wedding reception.


Gift table centerpiece


A really cute packaged gift.



Another neat way to do a gift. One of the bride's Grandmother's cookbooks was wrapped up in that towel. It had her writing in it too. Such a sweet treasure!

This was the gift my Mom and I went in on. We just got a storage bin and filled it with all the cleaning and laundry supplies you need as you start your home. The bride loved it! It saves them a lot of money on buying these things as they start out.



This is the whole set up. I couldn not catch a pic of it without littles running around.


Another neat idea at the sign-in table. These were strips of paper for us to write one piece of marriage advice. They will roll them all up and put in the glass ornaments for their first Christmas. They also read all of the advice out loud at the end of the shower. So fun! My favorit was "keep God in the center of your marriage and everything else will fall into place." So true!







Another great idea was the thumb print tree for all the guests to add their mark. I think they will be using this at the wedding reception too.






We have a very talented cake decorator that attends our Church and has made lots of yummy cakes for all our recent showers. She did such a great job.



Josh and Laura are a precious couple and they got lots of nice things to start their life together. I hope you enjoyed the pics!   I liked up to Home Stories A to Z's Tutorials and Tips link party