Cleaning House

  Christmas came early this last weekend for my dear friend, Natalie! A little background information is needed first for why I wanted to do what I did for Natalie's xmas gift. Natalie and her family purchased a cute little house in the town when they moved up here for the first station. Months after moving in (a long story, short) they had some pretty horrible water damage occur in their basement and when cleaning it up found nasty black mold and asbestos which was hidden from inspectors. :( So, that lovely tax incentive money they were given back for buying a house went into making the basement mold free and livable again. 

  This summer I started to think about just what I wanted to get our family and friends for Christmas (yes I start in the summer, like mother like daughter in this case) and I thought I want to do something to make their basement better.  I brainstormed about a place they use almost daily, and something which will help with resell in only a few years from now.  It immediately came to me, the laundry room! I didn't take pictures before my husband and I began our work and am still kicking myself for not having one.  However, when we went downstairs it was more important to begin our work.  It was go time! :) No matter who you are you always look at a house and expect the laundry room to be a clean, inviting place.  Otherwise, it could be a deal breaker! My dear friend was cleaning her clothes in a dirty, white, cobwebbed, lent filled room. The clothes would go in, get washed, dried, and go out and back upstairs to fold and put away. Now, she can go in, clean her clothes, fold her clothes and enjoy the space! 

  I can't tell you the amount of money spent to make this room beautiful and bring it back to life as Natalie is a follower of my blogs. However, I will say it did not break the bank at all (just 'few' hundred which sounds like more than it really was) since we started this summer getting the items needed and thank goodness for IKEA! We began painting at 10 am Sunday morning and at 3pm Sunday afternoon the project was complete! 

  From this angle you can see almost everything we added to the room. Before we began, it really was just a cabinet with her detergent and the washer/dryer. We used yellow: lemon tree in a semi gloss to brighten the room up. And brighten it we did because within one hour into working the sun was bouncing off the walls and we had to turn the light off; it was soo bright! :) To the right you are seeing a closed hanging clothes storage unit. On the back half wall is a holder to put Natalie's iron and ironing board on it when she isn't using them. The white circle is actually a retractable clothes line she can pull across the room or just pull over to the exterior wall next to the storage unit to air dry items. They are going to close off that wall before selling (as well as do the flooring throughout the basement) so extra paint and the paint chip information was left with them to finish the room when they do! The shelving and workbench/laundry folding table was bought through IKEA, the clock: target, the little dog butt hangers: IKEA, and then there is a 3 compartment hamper for dirty clothes to separate the loads! 

 In this picture you see two black shelves which are also from IKEA that replaced an old ugly brown cabinet (I think it was a kitchen cabinet actually). The open shelves holding her detergent and other laundry accessories (when she stocks up more she can place on her workbench shelves and move over when it is time to use again) are simple and neat looking now compared to the ugly cabinet that used to be in its' place. 

 The dog butt holders were personalized to look like their Great Dane, Samsons' back-end by dipping the tip of the tails in white paint! I love this wall! Besides the grey and yellow, black, white and yellow is a wonderful, uplifting, and modern combination.

 Me with my creation. You can also see in this picture that we painted the piping yellow also. I almost painted them white but decided when we were painting that yellow was better. Now, it almost seems like the pipes blend into the walls better like they aren't even there! In this picture you can also see the white tipped tails! 

 Taking it all in and explaining how everything meant to Natalie.....

And the reaction: You think she liked her Christmas gift?!? Many thanks and words like I love came out of her mouth. I love that room soo much and we are slightly jealous of it after we did the work! She would be crazy if she didn't fall in love with her new space! 

The laundry room turned out even better than what I expected! Later on that evening Natalie wrote me a text message that read: "Announcement!! I just folded laundry on my laundry table"! Hehe. 

That text right there is the reason I did this for her. They now have a room in the basement which has been a past source for so many negative memories.  Now, that space is bringing them more positive, happy memories. This room shows just what a little time, cleaning, paint, organizational tools, and a few personal touches in accessories can do to a dark, unloved room. It brings it back to life!