Laundry Room Dresser/Shelf

Ok, Although I am not completely done with my Laundry Dresser I am posting an update.  I don't have my doors completely done and hanged... but other than that fully functional.  I have had it in place and using it a few months now and absolutely LOVE it!  Read more about my laundry room here

Here is a BEFORE of my rickety rackety sorter and hanging space:

And an after!!!

I still need to figure out what to do on the top of my shelf... Look at all of that space!!!  I think I can fit 6 or so fabric/wicker/wood bins.  Yes I am undecided :)  I do know that I want a home for items to donate, things that need to be mended... and... hmmm what else can I store up there??  ideas anyone??  I think I want to either stay in a woodsy wicker look (nothing too dark... or go with a creamy/tan neutral color up there.

As you can see clothes are filled in the baskets an they are very sturdy! Each person in my family has their own basket now.  the 6th basket is for fabric napkins and towels.  They can hold dirty clothes... or clean, and slide in and out just like a dresser drawer. 

I ammended the Ana White Laundry Dresser plan  I built 2 dressers, however for the top piece I cut one piece (instead of 2) to help keep them together, then  I squared them up when I put the backing on.  I was going to do a ceramic tile countertop and build in the whole thing like cabinets... but then I started thinking about if we ever needed to replace the washing machine or dryer and needed to move those out of the room.... I had to keep the laundry dresser moveable too... so it is NOT attached to the wall and I left the baseboards in place :) 

Eventually I will build a sink cabinet... and replace the utility sink... I will secure that piece of cabinet in place and the dresser will butt up to it.  I had to keep this under a certain height so that my ironing board cabinet would still open and be usable :) 

So all that said I joined varied lenghs of 1x3's which I sanded an distressed.  The stain is ebony and red mahogany mixed with 2 coats of poly on top for a smooth finish.

I also added wooden brackets with a rod for my hanging area.  I came out enough to allow for hanger to hang and had to add a block of wood to the tops because I didn't account for the shelf being in the way when hanging... It works... same distressed look :) 

How about some more pictures???

For the rod I drilled a hole in my wooden brackets.  The design was free handed and then cut with a jigsaw.  I added another bracket for the end pieces that do not have holes drilled for the rod.  This was they are set in place and will not shift or slide

Close up of bracket

Close up of folding area.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my finish!!!

And I have made my doors... aside from my beadboard backing that I need to purchase and cut.  an I need to figure out the hinges.  I have bought euro hinges that hopefully will work and be hidden.  The doors will be painted glossy white like the bottom of the dresser.  and I plan to glaze them with dark walnut stain.  Which I plan to also do on my existing white cabinets that hang above my washing machine and dryer!  Here are the door frames:

I have decided to wait until my kiddos go back to school to finish the doors.  This summer I am commited to getting my oldest son moved into the bonus room (which was the playroom) and have a BED to be built!!  All 3 kiddos will be in school this year and I will have plenty of time to myself for projects!

Checking in on my goals for the year

OK, first off... I am way behind in my blogging, and my apologies!  As I sit here and ponder my unfinished fireplace... well, I feel behind, unaccomplished, slacker, you name it... haha... I feel like I have been super busy though with project after project, keeping up with my business, kids, house, etc.

Tonight I decided to read my goals for the year... which mainly were house things I had hoped to accomplish.  Here is my post

Only when I read it do I realize just how much I have gotten done, and even though my fireplace is not done...  I have completed my laundry room cabinets/hanging area aside from finishing my doors for the front of the cabinets (need to blog and take pics), I did build my farmhouse bench for my dining room!  Here it is!

 and in the past few weeks we have been slowly tackling converting the bonus room into a bedroom for my oldest son.   And I have also done some projects that were not on my list... yo know all those interest inspired things LOL.

So far here is what I have done:
      built him a desk
      made DIY hanging globe lamps for above the desk area (actually hubby and son did this for me :)
     decluttered tons of toys and slowly moved many of my son's belongings upstairs
     purchased a bedding set.  Which in itself was not an easy task.  Taking my boy who hates shopping
         to store after store and trying to find something that was not too expensive, good material for
         washing and durability... something that wasn't a "theme" per my sons request... oh that day
         was fun.  Walking by the bra section as there was giggling from my son... preteen hood...
         I am not sure if I am ready for you!

OK on with the list here!

     buillt a trophy shelf.... well actually 2 because my younger son wanted one too...
     Promise pictures are coming!
     Made a NFL Saints pillow for his couch, and a USM Eagle pillow too!
     built a room divider to section off my ribbon section from his room.  And since hubby said I was not
           aloud to slap up 2x4's and sheet rock for a real wall :-)   The room divider turned out awesome,
           with built in cubby's ,  hooks for hanging, chalk board, bulletin board, and magnetic
           board section.      Post is coming I promise!

The 2 main things I have left are to built a angled wall piece thing that will sit on a bookcase and serve as a wall to hide the remaining ribbon area visible. And the biggest, most scariest, overwhelming thing... will be building a queen size captains bed.  Complete with headboard, foot board, and 12 drawers... yes I am a little scared.  I know myself and once the project begins it will consume me.  I am not sure if my family will get a meal type of consume me :-)   I am going to purchase my wood this week!  Eeeek!  The drawers are daunting!  Once we have a bed though he can begin sleeping up there....

Here is the plan I am going to use  Ana White Fillman Storage Bed Plan

Oh and the crazy part I am trying to work into this crazy mess that drives my husband crazy?!  I am planning on taking my queen mattress upstairs for my son to have... and some how simultaneously built a king bed for my room and purchase a  king mattress set.  Yeah, not sure how this will all work out.  Thought about buying king mattresses and just setting them up on the floor temporarily.... but hubby vetoed that idea immediately...  building will take a few days, and staining with take a few more... and well throw in life and 3 kids I am thinking each bed will take 2 weeks or more.  Perhaps I can build the queen bed and use his twin mattress on it until I can get the other bed built....  hmmmm... we shall see

School goes back the beginning of August... and I will be on my own for the first time in 10 years!!!  Yes all 3 will be in school. Bittersweet, bittersweet!

Mini Laundry Room Redo

I am trying to start thinking about ways my laundry room can function better.  I have plans to build a set of base cabinets with a counter top for folding, and area underneath for dirty clothes and baskets.  Replace the sink, come up with storage for the cat and dog food that is more functional.  I love the colors that I painted when we built the house, but would like to add the extra touches.  I hang out a lot in here...  I really would love a comfortable chair... hmmm how can I figure out a way to fit that in there???  No, really!  The kids & hubby  usually steer clear if mommy is in the laundry room!  I envision having a cup of tea and reading a book while washing clothes.  Serenity now! HA!

Ok, well I am not doing anything major at the moment.... But I did come across these great bins a couple of days ago at my local Walmart... and guess how much?!  Set of 3 for $4.50. 

I grabbed 2 sets of them for a total of 6.  Figured I could always return them if they didn't fit or find another spot to use them.  They had them in Red, Black, & Purple...  I got black...  Now if they were chocolate brown that would have been perfect, but again for the price I thought I would try them!  Here is a little photo tour of my laundry room.

I plan to update my blog as I redo the room.  Overall I like most of it, but the functionality of the space can be better so that is my goal with it....

I was not looking for these, but when I saw them I stopped in my tracks!  Took one out and judged the size and thought it might fit perfect in the space above my laundry room cabinets... which was sorta an out of reach spot that I threw a few things up on, but heck... It's a new year and I am a lady on a mission!

Here it is... In ALL her glory...  That blue baskets sits there most all of the time and I hate it!  I fold cloths right from the dryer and put them in piles and carry to their proper rooms... I don't even use the basket except for things I am too lazy to put away at that moment.  It stays in my way...  I am constantly kicking it or moving it....  Yes it must go!

Here is a before shot of the top of my laundry room cabinets

This shows one main wall.  I have had my wonderful dream machines for a few years... Yea, I probably should reposition that picture on the left wall... But I just never get around to it LOL

This area to the right I think can be better used.... Maybe some built in shelves next to the cabinets and around the kitty crap box...  Really not sure what I am going to do with this area.... Suggestions??? Please share

The corner has a basic sink.  Pretty much the cheapest thing we could find when we were building.  Built into the studs of the wall is my ironing board cabinet.  Which I adore!  It has a few shelves to store my iron and other items, plus the ironing board folds up.  I made my shade and based my paint color for this room off of that fabric

Corner of the room.  You can see my retractable clothing line here... It hides in the corner nook next to the cabinets above the washer & dryer.  I do love my clothing line!

My retractable clothing line

This is the other main wall.  Right now I have a rickety laundry sorter.  Which works ok for it's purposes.  Please excuse my tacky boxes above.  It's better than it was :)  I did have piles of the outgrown, donate, or needs repair items up there.  I was going to purchase some pretty bins or totes, but then decided to build cabinets for the base... and I am still trying to come up with what to do for the top area.  I would like a shelf or 2 up high for storage (maybe put some pretty bins there for my donate/repair items).  I definitely want a hanging rod above as well.  And this area will have a counter top and be my new folding station!

Right now the dirty clothes area has 3 baskets.  I have 5 in my family and wash each person separate. It would be nice to have a spot for each person's dirty clothes plus an extra for delicates or linens

Here is another view of the room.

This is the wall area behind the door.  I like the broom/mop holder thing... And my Roomba's home it there... Whatever I do I need to keep access to the electrical box you can see in the left on the wall.  That said it would be nice to cover it up with something decorative so I am not staring at it :)

This wall will stay as is :)

 

Here are my new bins above the cabinets.  They just so happen to fit pretty great I think!

My DIY Wooden Drawer Organizer!

Yay! I did it...  So very pleased....  I did a little decluttering and moved all my canning stuff that really should not have been in this drawer in the first place.  I used the Kreg Jig to make pocket holes which I LOVE and highly recommend for joining wood.  You can also use countersunk screws instead.  So for my custom drawer redo I purchased 1 piece of 1x3" wood... I think it was around $2.50 at Lowes.  I measured my drawer... my cuts approx cuts were two 19" pieces, two 8" pieces, and one that was around 12"...I did get all of my needed cuts from that 1 piece of wood!  Crazy that I probably paid about the same for the 2 baskets that poorly fit in the drawer... and left a ton of space where everything would just get jumbled.  Now for the silverware drawer!!!

Here is my before shots again

Side View

What a mess!

For a while I just cut 1 piece of wood... I really wanted to figure out just how I wanted to divide the drawer up

 

I ended up with approx 2- 8" cuts, 2- 19" cuts and 1 about 12".  Here is my 1x3 wood cut and I joined them using the Kreg Jig

Ready to play in the drawer!

Here it is all organized!  Yay! I did not screw it to the drawer itself... but it fits securely in place...  I am very pleased with it!

 

My Little Helper :)

My Little ChalkBoard Easel I made

Here is one of my recent woodworking projects I did.  I was itching to get back into woodworking.... and a little intimidated by the miter saw that was sitting in the garage.  One day I saw some old wood laying the the yard... Actually they were the stakes I used in my garden last summer.  The kids had been playing with them... they were wet, dirty... really almost threw them out... Started looking them over and envisioned a chalk board I could write my menu on.... Originally I was thinking something I could place on my small buffet table in my breakfast nook... After taking some measurements of what I had on hand I thought I would go bigger to place on the floor or even use for outdoor parties down the road.  I love cooking, and just thought it would be a cute piece to have... Something just for me!

A quick call to my husband that went a little something like this... "hey, how do i use the miter saw?"  He was a little leary to say the least.  He told me to hold my wood firm, wear eye protection, and be CAREFUL!  uh ok honey lol :)

This is about 30 inches high... I built the frame for each side and then used some scrap 1/4" wood I had as well ( I painted those with black chalkboard paint) I used a black wood stain I had leftover from another project and then coated it with some poly.  I used 2 hinges on the top and twine with 2 eye screws to secure it from flopping on the floor.

~My little Chalkboard Easel~

I just love how it turned out!  Now when the kids ask what is for dinner I can just point :)  and as a bonus I can use both sides :)   I am linking up to a great Link Party.  Lots of great home organizing ideas for you to browse... Can't wait to see more ideas!