She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. Proverbs 31

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Spring Clean 2008 ~ The Laundry Room

First, I must preface these photos with this disclaimer. The photos you are about to see are shocking beyond belief. My mother raised me right and she is not responsible for the state of my laundry room before I cleaned it. (How is that, mom?)

Let me also say that this is one of two worst areas of my home. I tend to throw everything in the laundry room or master closet to keep the primary areas of the home neat & tidy. But no more! My new motto is:
"A place for everything and everything in its place!"

BEFORE


AFTER




BEFORE


AFTER


BEFORE


AFTER


To accomplish this amazing transformation, I:
* Removed everything from the room including emptying the cabinets & storage shelf
* Clean the floor thoroughly
* Cleaned storage shelf & cabinets
* Returned only the items that really belonged in the laundry room
* The remaining items were returned to their proper place, the attic or Goodwill
* Cleaned the washer, dryer & utility tub thoroughly
* Made a curtain to hide the storage shelf and make the room look more orderly

Well that's it folks. Did you hear my husband gasp when he first opened the laundry door? I think he was amazed because he could ACTUALLY open the door! LOL

Now on the dining room & pantry today! This is really fun!

Be blessed,
Lea

21 comments:

Cora from Hidden Riches said...

But Momma DID teach you to stick to the job until it's done, didn't she?????? Perfectly done! You have inspired me to do my laundry area. On top of my dryer is all my shipping stuff --- tape, box cutter, bubblewrap, etc. I could really use some cabinets in there, for sure!

Loved the pictures, Lea! Before and afters are so wonderful!

Cora

Nancy Jo said...

LEA,
Good job, I just love doing those kinds of things. Looking forward to seeing the rest of your cleaning frenzy.
NANCY JO

Beemoosie said...

Oh what a fine job you did!! I kinda started the same thing myself...my laundry room I think is worse though, and I almost felt like spring cleaning the beginning of the week when it was 65 degrees. Now we are under a foot of snow and ice again, so I think I will find a good book and brew that lovely tea you sent me!!!
Have a great weekend!

Anonymous said...

Oh wow, I am sooo shocked! I bout nearly fell off my chair at such a site! LOL. EVERYBODY has those kind of places! I love the before and afters. Now, I gotta get busy, you just stirred me up and I needed it! Thank you!

Pam said...

It looks great! I should get at some cleaning myself!!!!

Just found your blog; I really enjoy it.
:)

Linda ★ Parker's General said...

I think everyone has a 'space' that takes it rough. For us it is the family room. The dogs are there and we watch tv there and eat snacks. It seems to never be clean and lots of 'things' just seem to take root there. Someday soon......when the weather is warm enough to shampoo the carpet?

Kimmie said...

Hi Lea!

You sure did outdo yourself cleaning and organizing. You shamed me into doing some organizing now! :-)

Your blog is looking beautiful as it always does. I love it.

I see you have alot of books on your bookshelf! Winks...

I AM TAGGING YOU for a little meme and I think you are going to love it. Please come to my blog to get the directions. It is lots of fun! You'll see.

Hugs,
Kimmie

Devon said...

thanks for your encouraging comment! i appreciate it!

your "before" house looks like mine! LOL! i should really start spring cleaning--but its still snowing outside!! i just can't bring myself to do it... but i could take some tips from you! i def need to find a place for everything!

Devon said...

*i just noticed your comment on my other post* yes, that is my wonderful car... only for use in good weather! its a 69... and pearl metallic yellow! i also have a 73 baby blue super beetle... (trying to sell it)... and a 77 vw camper (pea green). i am a vw gal!

Paula said...

Tee hee-I love the disclaimer! Every room in my house has one, too! lol

Katy said...

oh my goodness gracious...Lea..when you told me your laundry room was HORRIBLE....i expected it to be HORRIBLE...that isn't bad at ALL!!! But the AFTER pics do look fantastic! Great job!!! Do you feel awesome about it now?? :)

Zaankali said...

Excellant! Thanks for stopping by, I am excited to have someone else to help spur me on.
Smiles!

More than Survival said...

Well, wait till you see my laundry room!!!! It is by far the WORST room of the house! When you see my pics you will think that your before's are my afters!
Thanks for visiting my blog! Nice to "meet" you! It looks like our lives have a lot in common!
Heather

Lynette said...

Looks really great! I love the curtain idea!

HouseholdWords said...

Looks awesome Lea! you did a wonderful job with the reorganizing. I love spring cleaning, LOL I find a lot of lost things when I start pulling couch cushions off and pulling out the refrigerator to clean the floor and stuff. It's almost like Christmas finding lost trinkets everywhere. :)

Love the plaid curtain idea, also.

Linda said...

Hi Lea!

Great progress you're making! :) (I always love to see pictures of the finished results.. they're really motivating!)

As a reply to the comment about the soap.. you asked me where to get beef tallow. I don't know about the USA, but here in the netherlands it's sometime sold in the frying fat / oil isles. So anything that sits around there carrying the name 'ox' or 'beef' is what you need.

But really you can use ANY type of fat! Sunflower seed oil, margarine, I even made soap once using chicken fat that I actually cooked out of chicken parts.. *lol* (and people are washing themselves with those now! It's a strange thing when you think about it!)

One thing you must keep in mind though, is that different sorts of fat need different amounts of lye and water. There's a neat tool on this website: http://zeep.vanderleden.com/zeepesizer.php

The site is in Dutch, but the tool itself is english. You just add the fat you have, and the weight in grams. Then on the bottom of the screen it says the amount of lye (NaOh) and water to add :)

greetings from the netherlands! :)

Monica Wilkinson said...

Wow! Way to stick with a big job - your laundry room looks terrific! :)

nancy huggins said...

I keep saying that I am waiting for spring and a little bit warmer weather :)
But of course when we get some nice warm weather I will want to work in my yard and Garden and I will be saying I will wait until cool weather (LOL)
I guess all the cleaning that needs doing will be there waiting for me no matter how long it takes.
nancy
Hugginshaven.com

Linda said...

You actually HAVE a laundry room! I wish I lived in the US, where there's space inside people's houses for such a thing as a laundry room! *lol*

(Our washer & dryer are in the kitchen, some people have them in their bathroom)

greetings from the netherlands!

*Linda Pinda* said...

Ok... girlfriend,
Your before pictures look like my after pictures!!! LOL!

Oh, dear... maybe it's a good thing we all don't live close enough to visit afterall....

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well... I gotta go scrape the peanut butter off of the dog.

Talk to you later!

;)... *Linda*

Farmhouse Blessings said...

Aren't you just the sweetest bunch of encouragers! Thanks so much. I'll get to that meme, Kimmie! Just be patient with me.

Linda, I would love to have you drop by for coffee even on my worst of worst days. I love to have a clean home, but there are some days when you just have to step over the piles and just enjoy whatever the day brings!

About that dog .... LOL

Be blessed,
Lea