Laundry Redo {January's Project}

Our laundry is more of a hallway than a room. I've always covered it with a shower curtain to hide the "mess." Yes it was organized with clear baskets and it even had things hung up on the wall, but it definitely didn't make me happy. Now it makes me very happy and I have yet to close the curtain, because I want to see it!

Here's the only before picture I could find....

 blurry and only a partial picture from almost 4 years ago when we first moved in. I guess I was too embarrassed to take the full view picture.

Here it is now!

 Most of the fabric was purchased several months ago for another project, but I just had to use it in here. I think there is still enough to complete the project it was meant for as well. We'll see when I actually get around to doing it. I was also able to use several fabrics in my "prize stash" from Jonquils and Ladybugs! Love it when things work out like that!

The Embroidery hoops were definitely inspired by Sara at one of my favorite blogs Sara's Art House.

This hoop was inspired by something I found on etsy, which I can no longer find so it must have sold. Loved and remembered it even though it'd been months and tried to duplicate it! They had sewn on the pennants, but I was too lazy to get out the sewing machine, so I glued them on instead.

The fabric wreath is inspired by Sara's Art House again. Such an inspirational blog!

First painting of the year. Complete with a fabric flower that was inspired by...yep Sara again!

I also created a fabric bunting using fabric, rope and this wonderful "paint on" tacky glue I found. Perfect solution for this project and several others in this room!

 

One of my final projects was to cover this box with fabric again using that wonderful tacky glue in a jar. I loved the box, but it just didn't go with the colors any more. Add fabric and tada, perfect match to my theme and a great hiding place for the butter knives we use to open the lent trap. {We love the washer and dryer we were given even if they do have dents, are missing knobs and have a broken lent trap. They still do the job well and the price was ideal. FREE! We keep wondering when they will give out, but they worked well for almost 4 years now.}

Only problem is the shower curtain "cover" definitely no longer fits the theme. I've thought of taking it down since I love looking at the new decor, but there might be a time when I still want to use it so its staying for now. At least when it pulled closed it matches the rest of the kitchen.

The whole project cost less than $20! I used coupons on several of the items including the rope, that wonderful tacky glue, the styrofoam for the fabric wreath and the embroidery hoops. Plus a lot of it was stuff we already had. Most of the money was spent on the basket. Could have been cheaper though... right after I purchased the baskets I found this very inspirational blog Make it and Love it with these lovely boxes made out of cardboard.

I totally would have made these had I not already bought the others. I am loving this blog and I have a feeling you will see some of her projects in the coming months. LOVE, LOVE her style... spent a good couple of hours browsing her blog the other day and didn't even hit all the fun projects! Love all the sewing projects. I really need to stop being lazy and get it out!! Better add that to my 2011 goals! Even though I didn't actually do any of her projects, I'd have to say that the Make it and Love it blog was definitely inspirational in this redo!

Now I'm off to take care of my poor husband who has come down with a nasty flu. At least I'll be able to wash away all the germs in my happy "room."

2011 Goals - FINALLY!

Well, my week long break turned in to a month long break. Not from Internet, but from this blog. I have several blogs in my head, but I decided to start with my 2011 goals. They are nothing special, but I decided to still put them up for the accountability. So here it goes:

Cooking/Meals:
* Menu plan for every week.
* Try out a least one new recipe every week
* Continue to work on coupons and getting the best deals at the lowest prices.
January- I've started the year off well. One of my gifts from my husband was $5 dinners by Erin Chase of $5dollardinners.com. We've already add a few favorites to our list. Menu planning certainly does make cooking easier. I don't know why I stop doing it!

House:
* Go through whole house at least once (preferably twice) and organize and get rid of junk.
*Make every effort to  keep house straight. (Pretty generic, but still on the list.)
January - Started out well so far doing one room a week. Christmas didn't come down until the week before last...far later than it has ever happened before! Last week I organized the laundry area. This week I've started on the kitchen. Hopefully I'll finish it tomorrow!

Hobbies:
* Try to accomplish at least one craft project a month.

January - The next post will be a display of this months "craft" It has something to do with the picture at the end of this post I posted several months ago. I ended up winning the giveaway associated with Jonquils and ladybug's Technology fast. My prize... a box full of fabric scraps, an awesome pincushion , and a book of inspirational crafts! Didn't get a picture because I was too busy digging into all the goodies. Definitely going to be seeing some of it in my post tomorrow!

Finance:
* Go to New York City for 30th bday! My ultimate goal is to finance this with extras, such as craigslist sales, rebates, etc.We'd love any ideas of things to do or see from those of you that have been there.  I am SO excited!!!
January - I signed up for groupon in New York City and living social. Plus I've been able to get a nice start on my savings. We are currently at about 20% but I'm working on it!

Reading:
* Read at least 6 books.
Here's some that are on my list:
 * A Life that Says Welcome: Simple Ways to Open Your Heart and Home to Others ~ Karen Ehman
 * Don't Waste Your Life ~ John Piper
 * Because He Loves Me ~ Elyse M. Fitzpatrick
 * Dave Ramsey book
 * ??
 * ??

January - Not too great, but I have at least started Because He Love Me

So there you go... my goals for 2011. So excited to see what the Lord has in store for this year!