Our Farmhouse Laundry Room

I'm so excited about doing laundry.....said no mom ever. But, I will tell you that this update to our messiest room in our home will make it easier to bear. 

I started thinking about ways that would make me enjoy seeing this room 546 times a day. It's our family's entrance/ walk-thru each time we come home. It's where all of life's stuff gets stored (and washed). And I hated it. It was too loud. 

The goal was to make this look like any other room we have in our home....so the door can stay open and guests are free to enter without me being too embarrassed. And maybe, just maybe, the mundane chore of laundry will be a little more enjoyable.

 Remember the dark red walls? The barn tin wall looks so much better now....

Better, right?? And that huge laundry cart has SAVED MY LIFE! 

Now for the mudroom side.....We finally have all the mess tucked away behind doors! This is probably a no-brainer for most people. But we lived with open style lockers for so long that this in itself is a game-changer! 

. 

Baileyhusband built those doors for us using plywood and trim. Simple, yet very effective! 

Those leather handles? Yep, we got our DIY on and used scraps we had. I love the added color and texture they give to our plain jane doors and cupboards.

The hat hooks on the outside of our lockers had to stay. With 3 boys (sorry, honey I'm including you) living in this house, I desperately need to keep a place for them all to land....instead of the kitchen chairs! 

So this is what it actually looks like with ALL THE HATS...

Still a little busy looking, but I have to choose my battles around here. 

I brought in things that aren't usual laundry decor. I wanted this to be another part of our home that showed our style, but just so happened to have a washer and dryer in it! :) Art, plants, rug, even a pillow...... TEXTURE! 

Using mostly what we already had on hand....leftover white paint from our basement, one of my favorite prints from Vol. 25, macrame plant hanger, pillow, old window, leather scraps, vintage laundry cart, farmhouse bench....and only actually purchasing a new rug from RugsUSA (that was super affordable and is almost always on sale). 

We now have doors on the lockers, YAY!! We kept the cupboards above the washer and dryer, but adding the same leather handles as the lockers helped incorporate them into the room. 

Don't be afraid of re-doing a room in your own home that just is not working for your family. I will be honest that Baileyhusband was not on board at first, I just started painting one day. Of course, I needed his help on many things, so after he saw a little of my vision, and wanting to get this done quickly because of a party this weekend, he joined in and got it done for us! He also just wanted to make sure it was done right.....HA! 

This room doesn't scream at you now, it quietly whispers Welcome Home.

What is missing from any of these photos are all the muddy poopy farm chore boots that we all own. They are usually thrown all over this room. And guys, this room STUNK.  But bringing in this rug has helped (for now) to remind them to TAKE THEM OFF IN THE GARAGE....(said in a nice, non-yelling voice) 

Thanks for stopping by our little blog today, you can follow more of our day to day activities and farm life on our Instagram or Facebook. 

An updated Farmhouse laundry room: the BEFORE

I have shown our laundry room here before. And I remember being quite excited for it at the time. Let's walk down memory lane......

We built these open lockers with hooks for everyone. Put "hat hooks" on the outside of the lockers. I had 3 basket hampers to help sort the laundry that came with 6 people living here. 

We installed some old barn tin on one wall, while painting all of the others a barn red. I kept a large bulletin board to organize all of the kids' school activities. But, it did not stay this pretty.

And I did like this setup, and I was happy with this.......until I wasn't. Then I was NOT HAPPY with it every single day. Even when it was technically clean, which was not very often, I just didn't like that this was our WELCOME TO OUR HOME room. I have been fighting tooth and nail to get guests to use our front door when they come over. I'm done fighting it. And besides, this is the room that our whole family uses as our entrance. Shouldn't it be a welcoming room for us too? 
 My kids have TOO. MUCH. STUFF. Sports equipment, chore boots, school bags, and every single shoe they own ends up getting piled high in this room. The so-called lockers were spilling out onto the floor. I should have taken a picture of what it actually looked like on a daily basis....but I am too embarrassed. 

We aren't going to make MAJOR changes structurally, but this room needed something done to make me like it again..... I am craving light, bright, clean.

We have our big annual 4th of July party here on Saturday. And just like we always do....Let's start a project that we don't have time for??? But let me tell you how proud I will be for everyone to come through this more welcoming entrance. It's still a laundry room and mud room, but now it's pretty too! 

Stay tuned for tomorrow's reveal! 

Painting our bookcases WHITE

We built our home in 1998-1999, when the "popular" color of stain was this honey oak color. Now....not so popular. Or remotely our taste. Like, I hate it. (sorry if I offend anyone who still has this and likes it)

 ALL our woodwork in this home was that same color of stain. The trim, the kitchen and bathroom cabinets, and these built-ins in our front room.

For the last couple years, we have been working on transforming this home of ours into the style we now call our own. And the woodwork and old stain of yesteryear has been slowly leaving....room by room. 

The new hardwood flooring, the white wainscoting and white trim, and some furniture additions...this room was getting there. But those bookcases. Not my style, but trying to work within a budget, I decided that some paint would work wonders. 

We purchased Bulls Eye 1.2.3. Primer...this stuff is MAGICAL! And then we went with Pittsburgh Ultra Interior semi-gloss White paint. (which happens to also to have primer in it, we didn't want to paint a thousand coats!) 

And now, I am much more happy with the look in this room. 

Here are the shelves while I was trying to style them. You can see that the walls needed some touch-ups.  

Adding white into our home, definitely helps in brightening things up around here. This front room serves a multitude of purposes. This is our LIBRARY, HOME OFFICE, READING ROOM, and MUSIC ROOM. 

Our house is, for the most part, designed with neutral (nature-y) colors. This summer I have had a little fun adding some color to this particular room. I am working on a summer tour of our home for a later post, if the sun ever comes back out so I can take decent pictures! 

So stay tuned for what this whole room looks like for the summer. But for now, here is the side-by-side (before and after) of the shelves...

Love them! Now, if only our kitchen cupboards were just magically painted by some wizard...now THAT will be a much bigger project!! Hopefully some day!

A thrift shop re-design

Recently, I spent an afternoon (alone!!) shopping. I found myself at a thrift store and snagged a ton of great deals! This tray was one of them.

It was in decent shape, besides one of the handles being cracked, and was a very sturdy piece...just not my style. 

I know from experience that Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (ASCP) covers ANYTHING, so I thought that I would try an experiment. You see, that black and gold pattern was actually a paper covering. Seeing that I have no patience...NONE, ZERO...when it comes to crafting, I want something done fast! So ASCP it was! I used Old White, it is my go-to color for everything. I just painted over it all. 2 coats and it looked like this:

It looked too plain, so I came up with an AZTEC-Y design on paper

After cutting it out, I couldn't decide what I wanted to dominate, the black or the white, so I laid out both ways

And ultimately decided I liked seeing the white more. I traced the pattern on

I did this project while drinking a pot of coffee, so my unsteady hands and black paint were not a good combo, but think it turned out alright anyways. Perfection is never my intention! :) 

I just used black craft paint, then I did put clear wax over the whole thing to help seal and smooth the chalk paint.

Next, I used some black leather strapping that I had on hand, this can be purchased at any craft store. And just hot-glued those things on...super simple!

I love how this tray turned out! Aztec designs are so popular right now, and I like how they look in our home. 

And just because the inside of my home doesn't have good photo-lighting, I tried to prop it outside, you can see that my paint job isn't perfect...who cares, right? It just adds character! :)

Did you see that little arrow in the photo above? I had aztec/Indian on my brain and happened to find the perfect feathers in our yard yesterday! 

This is where it ended up....for now

I'm sharing this on: Jennifer Rizzo and Liz Marie Blog 's Linky parties

Class Dismissed!

Summertime is officially here, and I feel like my A.D.D. is kicking in BIG TIME!

Just like any busy mom, there are 40,000 things on "the List" that we would like to do or accomplish over the summer. And since I work for a school, the summer is my time off. I am so excited that I don't even know where to start on "the List"....so I just sit and read or play with our new puppy instead! 

This is the newest addition to Irishman Acres...meet KODA....and if you know us at all, this was the furthest from any creature we thought we would ever own! But just look at that face!! He was 3 months old when he came to love live with us, so almost potty trained....and we are completely smitten. He is a "designer breed" called a Teddy Bear. (A Shih tzu and Bishon Frise mix.) 

So for now, I have a list of things that need accomplished, and I thought it would be fun to write them out here and see if they will get done....and hopefully I can share them as I go! 

1. My niece is moving in with us at the end of the summer because she is going to a local college. I am over the moon excited about this, but have to get a room ready for her!! And the only room we have is currently being used as a craft/ decor storage room...actually just a messy catch-all, but storage room sounds better. So I have my work cut out for me....moving things around and getting REALLY creative with my storage! 

2. We purchased a really cool work bench at an auction last fall and have been wanting to bring that into our home somehow, I think I know where we are putting it, but have some re-arranging of things in the room where we are putting it and maybe some painting....CANNOT WAIT, but won't share any more info until I know for sure that it's a GO! :)

Working on my outdoor spaces: 

3. The chicken coup and enclosure has been on my radar of needing some TLC. I have started on some interesting things there and will share those soon. (and when I say "interesting", I mean it is interesting to me and maybe other onlookers, but I really think that the chickens could care less. But I think it should look pretty, and so it shall! :)

4. I have some additions to our back porch this year, and am almost done getting it camera ready....but it still needs some sewing projects completed, lucky me that my daughter took a textiles class this year and will be my little design intern! (hahaha, said in an evil cackle) 

5. There is a water feature that I have had on my honey-do list, well at least my honey-help-me-please list! Baileyhusband is extremely busy with work these days and I feel so guilty asking him of things, but hopefully sometime before our big 4th of July bash we can get this thing accomplished. 

6. We have added a strawberry patch and herb garden to our farm, and it is so cool! 

I posted it on our Instagram page, you can follow along HERE. So, we have quite a large amount of crops to tend to and will keep my boys and I busy this summer! 

And there are a slew of projects in my brain for our home, and our new-ish camper. We purchased a 1998 Dutchman RV the night before we went to the county fair last year, so we really only have used it that week. And now I am in the process of making it our own by getting rid of the 90's mauve look, and adding in our style. This is a fun project that I will be sharing. 

So I will say adios for now...I need to get my A.D.D in check and get something started (and finished) around here!! 

the bathroom gallery wall

Boy, I know for such a small room, this little makeover is taking FOREVER!!!

And although I am NOT a patient gal, I suppose I tried! 

Poor Baileyhusband....paint was hardly dry and I was a-hangin-machine...

could not wait to get some artwork up on those walls and see my "vision" come to life!

As you can see, as of this day, there is no trim around the doorway, and we have the new cabinet fronts to stain, and some other touches to finish....but this is now a fully functional bathroom again!!! YEAH!!!

I have been promised that this weekend....this handsome tiny room will be ready for its full reveal.

Hey, as long as all the little men in my life can take showers and do all their "boy stuff" in their own bathroom again...all is right in MY world! ;)

~Kim

The Tile Shop

When you begin a makeover at our house....it starts out as a negotiation over coffee. 

We list our wants vs. needs....and what we can actually afford!

And then several trips to different stores, sometimes dragging uninterested children, and hopefully sometimes calling it a "date" with just your spouse!!

After several of these trips, we ended up at The Tile Shop....where INSPIRATION ABOUNDS!!

Ok, so these two bathtubs are not really the look we have....but could not help taking pics of these bad boys! FYI: the tub pictured above is all stone and is about $10,000.  

I have had a BOARD on my Pinterest page called: Rustic Bath ...and have secretly been dreaming of this makeover for awhile now....but didn't think it was in our cards. Here are a few of my favorites:

LOVE the old wood and stone

Add a tin water bucket....PERFECTION!

We narrowed down that we liked the look of slate for our flooring....and found plenty of options:

And look at this bathroom display ...love the different tiles used.

Our budget was a major factor...and after weighing our options, decided that the flooring is where we wanted to spend the majority of our budget. Most of the other elements we already have or are hand making on our own. Besides, the room is extemely small, and we only needed 40 sq ft of slate. 

So which one did we get?? Stay tuned to find out!
(it's being laid as we speak:)

~Kim