I spent last week putting the finishing touches on my laundry room which has been painted and decorated in a slapdash fashion, that is by me. I painted the beadboard walls in a neutral colour, attached some ticking fabric to the ceiling and painted the cement floor a dark blue. Painting cement floors is a bit of a thankless task because it needs regular freshening up but it suits the utility of this room. A can of paint goes a long way and I should have my current colour for the next five years at least.
I'm fairly happy with the way my "wrapping corner" turned out. I have a rectangular oak table in the corner which I use for sewing, when not used for that purpose I store my sewing machine under the table leaving the surface of the table free for gift wrapping.
I wanted to create some sort of gadget that would allow the wrapping paper to hang on the wall so it wouldn't get smushed and destroyed. I purchased some dowels at the home improvement store, wrapped some sisal twine around the ends and then hung the twine from some nails. Voila, instant wall storage for the paper.
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| The hanging wrapping paper done in a slapdash fashion. |
I bought this oak peg-thing, below, in England last summer. I've put it to use here holding gift bags, my small sewing scissors and measuring tape. Even though I don't enjoy clutter I like to be able to see the things I use on a regular basis, out of sight out of mind as it were.
There are some old wooden shelves in this room which are ancient and crooked but solid. I painted them all and they provide good storage for my sewing and cleaning supplies.
I'm really addicted to this linen water, below, and I wish I wasn't because it costs $23 a bottle. My trick is to cut it with distilled water to make it last a little longer.
I iron in this room as well as sew and it seems I always have the ironing board at the ready, below is a peek at my latest sewing project, some folded table linens I made out of a floral Provence fabric for the terrace.
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| Ironing board which I covered in the toile fabric used elsewhere in the room. |
There's plenty of room on the shelves to store the fabric I've purchased for my next projects. If I didn't see it on the regular I'd forget what I was doing next of course!
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| Blue toile and ivory fabric for backing: a future duvet cover. |
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| Table linens sewn up for the terrace in a Provence fabric. |
I have an assortment of brushes and my Ultimate Stain Removal Basket for dealing with whites: Dawn detergent (1tsp) + hydrogen peroxide (2 Tbsp) + baking soda (3 Tbsp). I learned that recipe at my Friday volunteer job at the church, that's the formula we use to soak the pure white linens used on the altar... yes it'a a Sacred formula I've shared!
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| Basket holding ingredients for the sacred formula: Ultimate Stain removal for whites. |
I like to store things like candle holders, flower vessels and twine collections in the laundry room. I'm not sure why I have so much twine, it looks like a lifetime supply here:
Baskets are of course key to the laundry area and you may remember I have a slight basket addiction.
However when dealing with PigPen-level dirty clothes woven baskets just won't do it...
... my trusty red bucket is used for soaking the really messy jobs:
Part of the reason this particular Slapdash Decorating project took me so long is that I was determined to create a pleated skirt for the laundry room sink. There is a cheapie builders-type cupboard concealing a cabinet under the sink that I didn't enjoy looking at but I couldn't figure out how to attach the skirt to the front bit of the sink.
I had this amazing toile fabric from France which I was planning to use to sew the sink skirt as well as a large curtain concealing the utility corner (behind which lie the rubbish bins and water softener as well as empty wine bottles). The colour palette is cream and dark blue.
After some slapdash measuring, sewing of pleats and hemming I realized I needed some magical velcro to attach the skirt, finding it was a trick but finally I sourced it at a huge discount warehouse-type place.
The velcro which attaches the skirt:
The velcro aslo attaches the utility corner curtain to a rod so that it can be removed easily for cleaning:
The opposite wall holds all manner of hanging cleaning implements:
I mustn't forget to credit my inspiration for the laundry room and all of the work that goes on there, that's right
Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle herself:
I hope you're having an excellent weekend Darling Tooties!
xoxDani
