Laundry Room Rescue

Our laundry room is pretty sad .  It gets high marks for function, and zip, nada, nothing for style or pizazz.    Last week I decided to fix that.   I had a few goals - banish the beige cave look,  add more light, get rid of the ugly tension rod. and not spend much doing it.

I forgot to take a real "before" picture until I was half-way through ripping out the wall to wall carpeting .  Really - who puts wall to wall in a laundry room?

Boring beige,  ratty carpeting and exposed pipes, including the PVC one with red printing the whole length of the pipe.  Not pictured, but prominently featured - old bookcase stuffed with art room overflow, plastic laundry baskets and a leaning mountain of boxes I've been saving for god knows what.

First up- painting everything - ceiling, walls and floor.  I used up some leftover paint, so walls are sage green and floor dark marine blue. Painted all the pipes so they aren't a focal point anymore!

Next up- the ratty dryer top.  Not sure why, but the top had rusted.  I had pasted some wallpaper to cover it , using enough glue to hold it down in a category 5 hurricane.  Scraping all that glue off was the worst part of the project.  I did some research about painting appliances and read good things about Rust-Oleum's appliance paint.  (Sadly they are not paying me for this glowing review!).

The stuff is freakin' magic!  Cleaned up the washer and dryer and then did a light sanding before painting.  I used a high-density foam roller which made all kinds of tiny bubbles that disappeared quickly, leaving a hard, enamel finish.  I brushed on the paint in areas that were too small for the roller - same great finish.  I did three coats on the body of the machines and six or seven to cover the rust on the dryer.    It's hard to tell in pictures, but honestly, they look brand new - all little nicks covered, plus all that rusty top mess on the dryer.

Now for the fun part - some decorating!   The bookcase got a coat of black spray paint and a serious decluttering !  I added a lamp to get some more light in this windowless room . A cloth Ikea storage cube got a big flower stamp treatment.

As you can see, the ceiling angles sharply behind the washer and dryer.  I saw this  shelf idea on Pinterest and The Captain made it happen.  I love how it is a place to add some interest and also prevents socks from jumping behind the washer .  I found some back there - go figure!  Laundry pods in the silver basket and items from around the house transplanted to the shelf.

The other Pinterest inspired project - a pipe-fitting clothes rack.  The Captain found this one as a kit at Home Depot - well worth  $25.00 .  He mounted it on a board and hung it with these nice brackets- a two-fer - hanging rack and a shelf.

Borrowed an area rug from the family room, added a new laundry basket, and a decorated a switch plate.

And one more fun addition - a metal hanging flower basket added to the boring ceiling light fixture!

Mission accomplished - more color, more light , lots more style for minimal expense.  Now I may actually enjoy doing laundry - WHO AM I KIDDING??!!

Vintage Stamp Caddy DIY Rescue

I went to a doozie of an estate sale on Friday.  Generally the ones run by professionals are organized, prices clearly marked and no safety hazards.  This one was a hot mess - no pricing and lots of junk that should have just been relegated to the trash.

Apparently the man who lived there ran his own business from a tiny office.  It looked like someone had just dumped boxes of paperwork onto the floor until there was really no where to walk. The desk was buried in paperwork, several jars of those little black combs, broken pencils and other assorted flotsam ,  but then  I spotted this from the doorway:

Dirty and slightly rusty, but it still had all its pieces .    I climbed over the rubble to snag it and the "PAID.   CK # "  stamp that was still hanging in it.    Some serious cleaning and a bit of sanding and the caddy was ready for paint.

A couple of coats of  spray paint later my little treasure was restored to its 1945 glory.  I did the first coat with a Krylon black paint - at least as much leaked out all over my hands as sprayed out the nozzle - so annoying.   I finished it with this Rust-Oleum Carbon Mist paint   - a rich charcoal, not quite black, not too shiny - my new favorite.   And no drips - always a plus.  I left the top the original gold color since it was in good shape and a nice contract with the charcoal.

I added a couple of other stamps that have  those great handles and my Distress Ink tools.  And it makes a perfect spot for my corsage from DC son's summer wedding.  You can sort of see the dried rose and greenery on the right.

Turns out that these are collectibles now - not sure how I feel about something made in 1945 classified as "vintage", although that's less harsh than "antique"!   I saw this exact caddy on Etsy for $65.00,  lots more than the $1.50 I paid for mine.

I think I may keep it on my work table - so cute!

DIY Mason Jar Succulent Planters

Big doings around here - DC son is getting married!  Lots of festivities in the works, including a bridal shower.   Soon-to-be Daughter - in- Law loves succulents and mason jars, so this idea for shower favors was a no-brainer.

Started out with these little jars from Hobby Lobby :

Then,  two coats of chalk paint.   The first coat of chalk paint always looks bad- streaky and spotty, but the second coat covers all of that.

I did a little sanding to highlight the raised designs on the jar .

Then the planting.  Here is the sink full of tiny succulents that I used.

I filled the jars about 2/3 full with cactus potting mix, then added a succulent and carefully filled in with more potting mix as needed.   Chalk paint has a matte, chalky finish giving it a wonderful vintage look,  but that super - matte finish means that dirt sticks to it and doesn't wipe off easily.  I tried not to smudge too much potting mix on the paint.

I had these fabric tags from the Michael's in my stash.  I tried stamping  Future DIL's initial on them,  but found that writing the letter with a medium point Sharpie worked best.

Wrapped some twine around the jars, tied on the tags and the sweet little jars are done.

 Here they are on display at the shower:

And en route home to DC:

DIY Beach Art

I've been staring at a blank wall while I drink my morning coffee.  The Captain brings coffee to me in bed - surely one of life's special luxuries!  I haven't been able to find anything to hang between the windows until I saw beach-y scenes painted on pallet boards all over Pinterest.   

I've had my eye on an old pallet leaning against the neighbor's garage that I thought I could use, but then on a recent trip to Hobby Lobby*,  I found these:

The Captain hooked the two together to make the perfect size for my beach.

Here are the paints I used.  I watered them down to just make a wash of color and mixed things up as I went along.  The goal isn't full coverage, just a wash so the wood underneath shows through.

A watery mix of tan and white made the sand at the bottom.

And then washes of light-to-dark blue for water.

A very light blue for the sky with some pounces of diluted white to suggest clouds, a bit of brown along the edges and my beach art was done.

This is my new morning coffee view,  and I love it.

* I don't usually go to Hobby Lobby because, as Snoopy's brother Spike said about his girlfriend, "We have religious differences".   I like religion and shopping widely separated  and employees not subject to employer's idea of what kind of health care should be covered - not the case for either at HL.  

Easy DIY Envelopes

(My sweetie and me at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.  Note that she is writing in her journal !  )

I am now officially pen pals with my Montana granddaughter,  so I've been looking around for some ideas to up my letter- writing game.

I like the idea of handmade envelopes, but not the fussing with a template, measuring, folding, and then still coming up with a wonky-looking envelope.  The problem might be that I'm not good with precise measuring, exact cutting - the whole accuracy thing.

Then  I came across this blog post by Catherine McEver with what looked like a method that even I could master - no measuring, no marking cuts - just fold, crease and eyeball the cutting- a system made for me.

I gathered up some papers - magazine and book pages,  scrapbook papers, and some Gelli prints and got started.

Here, straight from  Catherine, are the directions.  (Since starting this blog, I've learned that it isn't easy to write clear instructions, so I'm shamelessly using hers and giving her the credit!).  The how-to pics are hers, too.

"Start by leafing through your book(s) and ripping out pages you think would create interesting envelopes. Create an envelope template out of a sheet of cardboard, cutting it to the size you would like your envelopes to be. ( I used an old mailer for my template - cereal box cardboard would work well, too).  Place the template on the page, and try to position it over the most interesting portion of the page. This is going to be the front, featured section of your envelope. Make sure to leave at least one inch space on left and right sides of the page (these will be your side flaps), about 1.5 or 2 inches on top (this will be your top flap, sealed after you insert a letter), and enough space on the bottom so that when you fold the page, the edge of the page reaches the top of your template. If you're working with a large page and you end up with the bottom edge of the page overshooting the template, just trim it. You may also trim sides or top as desired. There is no need to measure anything! This is all freehand and eyeball work.

Proceed to fold the page over the template as shown below, as if you were wrapping a package. Again, no need for perfection. The colors and printing on the envelope mean that it's very forgiving visually.

Now unfold, remove template, and then refold the page the opposite way so that the graphic side is showing. Press seams firmly - you want to be able to see these folds for the next step.

Unfold again and open up sheet with the wrong side facing you. The lines on the page below are drawn only for instructional purposes  to show you where and how to cut out the envelope. Again, you don't have to do any measuring or drawing. All of this is done freehand.

Your fold lines become your eyeball cutting guide (though you probably want to take care not to cut your eyeballs). I find it's quickest and easiest to do each of these four (A through D) as one cut. For example, I start cutting up along the A foldline, and when I reach the horizontal fold line, I just pivot the scissors slightly on the diagonal and complete the cut. I want to stress again that there is no need for perfection, no need for the diagonal cut angles to perfectly match, no need for any measuring or drawing. Just cut

Now you're ready to glue your envelope together, which involves simply gluing the two side flaps. Make sure you cover the outer edge of the flap with glue, and glue to within a quarter inch or so of the fold.

Flip your envelope over, fold each of the side flaps inward, and bring the bottom section up and on top of the side flaps. Press and smooth with your hand."

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I  got carried away and made 43 envelopes!   This is addictive and a great activity to do while watching TV if you need to justify all that couch -sitting.  Another benefit - using up some of that scrap book paper that no longer speaks to you - and some pages from all those books you accumulate for art projects.

Some of the envelopes above are made with pages from Somerset art magazines.   These are for personal use only; I'm not trying to pass off someone else's art work as my own.

I made a template for a legal size envelope and made some of those, too.

I

I played with how to make a space for the address.   I stamped a handmade tag stamp on some.  I used a combination of white ink and Distress Paint Picket Fence and it took several times to get enough coverage.  Maybe a more opaque white would work better.  

Sometimes you get lucky with the paper and there's already a spot for the address - like the birdie in the bathtub one above.  Can't wait to write the address on the tub!  

Then I raided my stash of labels - lots easier!  I just ordered some full-sheet labels from Amazon so I can make some free-form, torn edge labels.

My plan is to just glue the flap to close the envelope, but might play with using washi tape or envelope glue.

Now no piece of paper or magazine or book is safe from the "that would make a great envelope" assessment.  

More Simple Journal Pages

Here are a couple more of my simple journals.

I think I picked up the one on the left at Tarjay and love that it has kraft paper pages in the center.  I am in a kraft paper phase - love it with white and black accents.

I  used an Erin Condren journal elastic closure

I picked up the Hungarian postal forms on the right at a thrift store - love the handwriting on them.

The black flowered  Kraft paper tape is perfect!

Another journal from my stash with an Erin Condren elastic closure.

What did we do before washi tape?

Love, love these cloth stickers.

It was so much fun making these plain pages - all done just by raiding my supplies.  Kinda frightening!