LAUNDRY ROOMS -- EXPOSED! (A TRUE TEST OF OUR PRIDE, LADIES!)

{Photo credit: Home Organization Solutions. A company whose services I could dearly use!}

Okay, so how many of us have cracked open a magazine and seen a spread about someone's FABULOUS laundry room?

You know the ones... the kind of laundry room where if you weren't doing laundry in it, it could easily double as a guest suite -- for a foreign dignitary.

Yeah. Me, too. There are the gorgeous European built-ins, housing the fabulous European laundry equipement (with price tags to match a European luxury sedan).

Countertop space for folding and sorting, stretching out as far as the eye can see.....

Then you walk into YOUR laundry room to do that 5th load of the day and REALITY HITS YOU!

No pristine, custom built-ins here.

Brand new Italian tile floors? Nope. Tile floors alright -- but they're the icky mud-brown ones I "inherited" with the house that I painted a couple of times but still the paint scrapes up and gets nicked, revealing the nasty shade of brown beneath.

Home-y white beadboard walls/ceilings? Nah...try cracked & rotting plaster walls/ceilings. (Let's just say roof leaks and plaster walls DO NOT MIX). I've painted over most of it (except for the bad ceiling areas) and pretty much no one would ever know "what lies beneath" all that paint! :)

Oh, and how about those miles and miles of countertop space and vast storage behind those custom built-ins? Nope to that, too. There were NO built-ins and what we "inherited" with the house was SOOO bad, it was one of the first things to go to the dump.

I did buy a couple of nice cabinets on sale at Crate & Barrel years back and they have served me well! A cast-off wall shelf from my daughter's bedroom now stows a few things.


{Seeing the cabinets in these pics tells me I might want to staple up some fabric behind those glass doors! See the bottle of Spray & Wash?"}

BELOW: The hot water heater, beast that it is, is not so beautifully hidden behind a makeshift "screen" we made out of two wooden hollow-core doors hinged together.

{Photo note: Hey, do you like how I keep silk greenery on the "screen"? Yeah...that really helps...}.

;)

CONFESSION TIME: We made this 8 years ago with my full intention of painting it and then doing some lovely hand painting on it (you know -- like a gorgeous trompe l'oiel French chateau door or something) but guess what? As of this writing and these photos taken Sunday afternoon --- 8 years later --- DOORS STILL UNFINISHED.

I know one day I will do that special painting on it and turn it into something lovely instead of just this huge wooden monstrosity. And won't it look cool when I do? Someday....

Add that to the lengthy "to - do" list of mine. Right up there with dusting all my light bulbs! ;)

And, I do love my great eBay find - my black tole-painted laundry hamper. I got it for a great price also about 12 years ago and I do like it.

Oh, and then there are the burlap pocket bags I found online about 10 years ago. I didn't even know what I'd use them for, but even that many years ago I loved the combo of burlap and black. I think I paid like $5 a piece for them.

I stow things in them like vacum bags (BEFORE my sweet hubby sprang for the Dyson!), dryer lint cleaner brush thingy, vacum attachments, etc...

The laundry sink is always so full of junk , I never really use it to actually wash anything. (DOES ANYONE? JUST WONDERING.)



I keep an old cutting board perched on one corner of it for extra "counter space". Hey, whatever works, right?

Since I am such a visual person, I love to keep bulletin boards around the house and I tuck in special cards and photos from over the years. So, when I'm in the laundry room, even then I can look up and see something pretty that means something special to me.

I will say this -- hubby "forced" me to spring for the set of large capacity machines a couple of years ago and HEAR THIS -- they really are worth it!! I do far fewer loads than I used to and the machines apparently use less water, etc., and they are so much quieter!


{Photo note: The clothes in basket on the dryer? My "ironing pile". Do you have one? See the dark rectangular thingy in the pic to the right of the rug? That's my floor vent (a/c-heat). It is so smashed in that one day I swear I'm going to absent-mindedly put my foot through it and break my leg.} :)

I never cease to be amazed at how much I can cram into that washer! At least the equivilent of two loads in my old machine! So, I'm not only saving water but also TIME! Put a set on your wish-list! :)

Another "quirk" about the room is that it has THREE DOORS! One goes to my daughter's bathroom, one to the family room and one .... to the ENTRY WAY!

{This is the door guests are greeted to at the end of our long entryway. I try to "dress it up as much as I can, and have added shirred fabric on the door, concealing the clear glass window which otherwise looks right into the laundry room!}

That's right -- when you walk in my front door, facing you down the long, narrow hallway is my laundry room door of all things! :)

So, just wanted to "come clean" with pics from my laundry room...its typically the LAST ROOM any woman ever wants to show anyone! Even her best friend! So, I guess that means you guys really rate! (You do!). ;)

SO...WHY ALL THIS TALK ABOUT LAUNDRY ROOMS AND WHY WOULD I DARE SHOW YOU MINE??

There is a blogger out there who is having an "UGLIEST LAUNDRY ROOM" contest/giveaway and I thought you might like to know about it and enter -- if you dare! The deadline is April 8th and the link to her blog is below. :)

If you want to enter the "Ugliest Laundry Room" contest, click over to Parisienne Farmgirl's blog to enter!

Good luck and show us those laundry rooms!

{Just a note: I hope you all know my comments about my laundry room are in fun. I'm thankful to have a laundry room, no matter what it's condition. I'm thankful I don't wash my clothes at a muddy river bank. So, in light of my last post, I do want to at least mention this. I'm grateful and thankful for the room where I wash my family's clothes. Just thought you'd like to know about the giveaway over at Parisienne Farmgirl's blog -- and have a little good, clean "laundry room fun"}

~~Ruth~~