Wednesday, January 12, 2011

21 days to getting organized: Day Ten

Today of 21 days to getting organized at a bowl full of lemons is cleaning the laundry room. I have a laundry closet, not a laundry room. That's also on my list of things I want in a new house/addition if we choose to add on to this house. I have visions of a huge laundry room, but for now I have the closet, which I guess is better than nothing!

I've been looking forward to this challenge, because my laundry closet needed some serious love. And during the last nine days of organizing, this is one of the places I've been stashing things I didn't know where else to put (the other place is... this is embarrassing to admit... but the shower stall. That's where all the things to be donated are going for now. I will probably take some of it tomorrow. We don't use the shower and no one sees it, so it seemed like a good idea at the time...)

Now to show you all my baby, the most beautiful machine ever made...



*Angels singing*

Electrolux front loading washing machine.
oooook, that's the tour, move along, nothing else to see here...

What? You want me to open the other door? No, really, it's nothing to see... ugh. Fine. Have it your way.


There! Are you happy now? 

My husband is one of these "if it ain't broke, don't go buy a new one" people. I was so happy when the repair man told me my old washer had gone to washing machine heaven (even though it was only 4 years old, grr.) I did a little dance, which confused the repair man for a minute, because most people aren't happy when you tell them they have to buy a new washer, then he realized what was going on, "You want one of those front loaders, don't you?" Yuuuup.

So now I have mismatching washer and dryer, it kinda drives me crazy. I keep threatening to beat the dryer with a big hammer, so I can get a new one. My luck, I wouldn't be able to break it and then end up with an ugly(er) dented up dryer. I think I'm getting closer to talking my dear sweet husband into letting me buy the matching dryer. Because he's also one of those "I like anything that saves me money" poeple and the Electrolux dryer uses less energy. 


All the crap on top of the dryer. Detergent, carpet pet cleaner thingy (I don't have any carpet in my house, I use it on the couches. Love.), pads for the steam mop, old dust pan, iron, change that has come out of the washer...



Top shelf. Crawfish boiling pot, detergent I can't use now because it's not HE (giving that to my mother in law), bathroom rugs and rugs there were in my bedroom (bedroom rugs went in the donate pile (aka: the shower) and the bathroom rugs went back to the bathrooms.), box of painting supplies and other crap, in the blue container is summer stuff (bubbles, floaties, ect.) and also some Halloween buckets. And a bunch of hangers for reasons I don't even know why they're in here... I don't put the clothes on hangers until I get them to the room they go on. I'm blaming this on my husband. Because I can.



Seriously. 4 mops. Why? Just why?



The drawer of the pedestal. Bleach, attachments to the pet stain cleaner thingy, fabric sheets, and a downy ball that I don't need anymore, more pads to the steam mop...

This pedestal proved to be a problem... actually the whole washing machine did. When the Lowe's guys brought it and put it in, I couldn't open the pedestal drawer, or open the detergent/bleach dispenser all the way (I could get to the detergent part, not the bleach part). I refused to admit to my husband that I may have been wrong about buying the washing machine, so I didn't say anything for a few weeks.

Then I started having bleach withdraws. I have white towels! And white blankets! And white mattress covers! These things need bleach!

So I broke down and told my husband the problem. He went and looked and realized the dryer could be moved over to allow room to move the washer over, and ta-da! I can open the drawer and the dispenser all the way now! Now the question is, what about when I get the dryer. I won't be able to open drawer on that pedestal... but I'm not sweating it, I'm hoping one day soon to have a wash ROOM.


All the crap that came out of the laundry closet. I've been amazed at how much junk I can fit in a space. 



Everything pulled out. Except for the crawfish pot. (look at that Electrolux shinning.)



This was the box of painting supplies and stuff for home improvement... it proved to mostly be a box of junk.



Look at what was in the bottom of the box! The old ugly brass hardware from my kitchen cabinets... that I replaced TWO YEARS AGO! Why did I (really, my husband made me) keep these? 



When my husband first started working in the oil field, I found this little sign and had to buy it. We were so broke, and the guys out there are called roughnecks. It just fit. Even though we're not "Roughin' It" any more, it's nice to look at this and remember where we've been and where we came from. And boy have we come a long ways :)

Now it's time for the big reveal!



Wait a minute. Something's not right. I'm not loving it...

Let's try again!



OK, maybe I was a little dramatic, and I'm sure most can't even tell the difference in the last two pictures :) But to me it was a big deal, and I'm so happy with this space now :) I grabbed my white paint that I still have out because I'm still working on painting all these (stupid) doors, and painted the wood braces under the shelves. See? I know, not a big deal :)

This has been my favorite challenge yet!

10 comments:

Sam W. said...

huge transformation! totally jealous of the washer :)

Unknown said...

I can tell you put a lot of time into this one. Thanks for linking up!

Toni
A Bowl Full of Lemons

Ches said...

I love this space it looks fabulous. I am really wanting a new front load washer and dryer, but new kitchen appliances are on my list as well. Thank God hubby works at Lowes and hopefully will be able to score a nice discount one of these days. This space looks completely different. What did you do with all your mops?

Jenna said...

I decided to only keep one mop. I have the steam mop now (Seriously, don't know how I lived without it), but I kept one regular mop to use for Mop and Glow (whatever it's called). I also had one of those dust mops? Like they used in high school to mop the gym floor, bad idea. My aunt told me it was great for pet hair (no pets anymore though), but I didn't think so. Don't use it, so it had to go. Now all I have is the steam mop, broom, mop, and a thing to use to clean the walls. Go me! Now, I don't know where to put them. They were beside the washing machine, but I'm always scared I'm going to scratch up the washer getting them out and putting them in, but that's really the only place I have to put them. I have a "dirty clothes closet" that I'm thinking about converting into a cleaning closet or something.

Beth's Blog said...

looks really good!

Becky@Organizing Made Fun said...

Wow! That looks amazing! I can't believe how great it looks! You should win some award for working so hard! I know you'll enjoy doing laundry more now, too! {Well, maybe}

Becky B.
www.organizingmadefun.blogspot.com
Organizing Made Fun

Anonymous said...

LOL - your post brought a smile to my face. That washer is gorgeous. When my blew up I did the same type of happy dance until I realized the dumb furnace is too close to get a door open on a front loader properly. Grrrr.

You did a great job! Everything looks super.

Good luck on your quest for the new dryer.

Kristal said...

Love that you have a "dirty clothes closet" and that you are storing things in a shower. We are not alone! Keep goin' on wit' yo bad self!

Andrea said...

Our laundry areas are a lot alike... no space... having to shimmy things this way and that just so door and drawers can open. There really should be a law!

Sometimes I think I would like to have a laundry room too, but then I remember how much junk I'd piled into the closet... just think how much damage I could do to a whole room!!

Excellent job! That blue washer sure is purty! :)

Kristen @ Different Shades of Green said...

When we moved to our last house, I had the same problem with our washer's bleach drawer. I had both the washer and the dryer, and if we swapped them, then the doors were in the middle, and that annoyed me. We hadn't bought the pedestal yet, so we ended up stacking them. Can yours do that? It worked out perfect, and freed up so much space that I was able to put in storage shelves on one side. I know those pedestals cost a pretty penny, but if you do get the dryer, and can't make it work, maybe that would be an option for you. It looks great by the way!
(And I'm kind of envious, because we now rent that home out, and my lovely washer and dryer are still there!)

About Me

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I have three kids:
Blythe Anne, 8
Jonah, 7
Peyton, 4

My husband and I have been married for 6 years, and I spend my days being a stay at home mom while he's a driller on a land rig. So for six months of the year (he works a week on, a week off), I'm raising these kids by myself. I would write more, but I hear children screaming :)

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