Reclaiming My Space

Today I reclaimed my Laundry room. I wish I would have thought to grab some Before pictures of the disaster that it was and has been for more weeks than I care to admit. While cleaning and organizing it I decided to take some pictures to remind myself of what it CAN and SHOULD look like. Also, it is true what "they" say....."Take a picture, it will last longer." So I did. I also figured it would help me this year to have these pictures to reference to while I make BIG plans for this room. Because I do. Have BIG plans for this room. I can't wait, but I will, so will you. Until then, I will enjoy the multi-function and organization of this room. Compared to my last Laundry room, this place is a palace. In our old house I pretty much had to give up on putting clothes in and out of the dryer by my 7th month of pregnancy. My girth and I just couldn't fit. Although now that I have had this beauty for over 3 1/2 years there are some upgrades that I would like to implement to make it even more amazing for our growing brood. So, anyhow, I hope you enjoy this tour of my Laundry room, because I guarantee, it won't look this good if you ever come see it in person.

I really love this yellow basket I got at Tai Pan Trading. It holds all of our umbrellas in it. I really like my 3 nesting boxes too. They are more for decoration that function. I have always planned on putting some words on the label holders but I am not creative enough to come up with something. Of course I could do, THIS AND THAT, or ODDS AND ENDS, but something in me would love something more original. It's already been over 3 1/2 years, they can wait a little longer, right.

Thankfully the builders of our home had the foresight to bump this little area into the garage. I thank them mentally almost daily for this little gem. I LOVE this area. Nate was awesome and installed the beadboard for me last year. We then added these amazing hooks from Restoration Hardware. Love them. They hold So Much Weight. Ethan tests this out weekly, wish I could get that kid to clean out his backpack more often. Then again, who am I to talk.....have you seen the inside of my purse?
I LOVE having these bins. I even emptied these out today, vacuumed them and everything. In the summer we use one for the girls shoes and one for the boys shoes. During the winter we combine them, one becomes our home for gloves, scarves, hats, etc. and the other one ends up with all of the kids shoes. You have no idea how hard I had to fight myself to NOT go put all of the winter gear in the bins in the garage. I just knew that if I did I would be pulling them back out tomorrow because of some snowstorm. Spring fever, what are ya gonna do? I figured I would be patient, no sense in jinxing myself.

I love this thing. If you don't have something like this, get one now! Super helpful.

I got these cute little drawer pulls on clearance from Pottery Barn. I love having them for labels for the kids.

I LOVE having a sink in my Laundry room! It is great for rinsing off muddy shoes, and putting gross towels in so they don't have to mingle with the rest of the clothes until I get them washed. Nice. This plastic ironing organizer is great. I have had this same ironing board cover since our wedding. I have wanted to replace it for something fun for a while, but have yet to find one that calls to me.

We asked the builders to extend the countertop from what they were originally planning on doing. So glad we did. We just did a standard counter top so my w/d stick out a bit, but it was less expensive than a custom cut one.

I keep these signs in here to help remind me that one day all of this laundry will be gone. So will the kids. It keeps my perspective in check when the mountains of laundry seem to multiply by the second.

This board is about to undergo a bit of a makeover. This is where we keep the kids chore charts. They are also undergoing some review. Can't wait to have them redone. I bought them at Tai Pan Trading. The corkboard is really thin and hard, so the pins don't stay in well. That is part of the makeover. Add nicer corkboard so the darn thing can actually serve it's purpose better. Function before form in this case.

So there you have it. I noticed you can't really see my hampers in any of these pictures. I do have them, they are at the end of the countertop underneath the clothes rod. Yesterday I spent the day making them completely empty. Today, one of them is already full. Welcome to the Laundry room of a family of six. Should have taken a picture yesterday to remember that later. Oh right, keep my perspective.