Let's Take A Tour - The Laundry

If I could point to one space in my old house that I didn't like, it would be the laundry area. My washer and dryer were in a corner in the hot, humid, dusty garage, underneath the water heater.

I loved the washer and dryer themselves; I bought them from Lowe's in 2016 after my washing machine, which was original to the house, finally gave out. These front loaders worked so well and were wallet-friendly, since they use less water than the old style top loaders. But I was constantly having to clean them because of all the dust in the garage. I knew in my new house I would want both a garage and a washer/dryer, but not together.

Thankfully, I was able to get just what I wanted in my new house. Sort of...

Down the hallway next to the kitchen, adjacent to the dry bar, is the a/c unit on the right, the master bedroom straight ahead, and on the left a laundry closet. Not a room, just a closet, but it's not in the garage so that's a plus.

 

It has a working washer and dryer (though older models), and wire shelving above it for storage. I was very thankful for it, but I didn't love it. Heck, I didn't even like it. It was very dirty. The laundry closet is a forgotten space; if, like the previous owner and myself, you don't have a need to do laundry daily, you don't give it a second thought. It's a utilitarian space and nothing more. Until you're moving in your stuff. That's when you start to notice things. Like how sticky the wire racks are because of years of laundry and humidity in the room. Or the amount of dust inside the brackets when you try to clean said wire racks. Then there's the washer and dryer themselves, covered in sticky dirt. I tried to clean them; I used soapy water and microfiber cloths on everything. The washer and dryer I was able to get fairly clean, but those wire racks were a whole other story. No matter how much I tried to clean them they were just as sticky and gross. This needed more than just some basic cleaning. This closet needed a makeover.

I took the wire racks down and replaced them with wood racks that I found at Home Depot for $9.99 each. They aren't solid wood; these are covered in laminate, which is why they're so inexpensive. The brackets were the most expensive part of this makeover. They were $7.47 each but I needed 6 of them to make sure the shelves were secure. They look so good! And they're much easier to keep clean. On the wall I put up hooks to hang my mop, broom, and plastic bags. 

Outside the closet I put up this cute Laundry sign that I picked up at Hobby Lobby for just $9.99. It gave color to this otherwise neutral space.

I changed the light fixture here in the hallway in front of the laundry closet. This was one of those white glass ball fixtures that contractors use in new construction, except this house is over 30 years old and so was the light fixture. I picked this one up from Walmart.com for $16.34. I wanted something in oil rubbed bronze and that wasn't closed, since those tend to get dirty and full of bugs. Can anyone say yuck?! I don't have that problem with this light fixture. 

Just recently I made a few more changes to the laundry hallway. I had this picture on the wall that I got years ago from Kirkland's:

This has been a favorite of mine for years, and I knew I wanted it in my home, but I had to admit it looked small on this particular wall.

I thought about maybe doing a gallery wall here, though I'm not fond of gallery walls. Thankfully my daughter offered me this gorgeous painting:

She had bought it for her bedroom but decided on doing a different color scheme so she asked me if I wanted it. I knew the colors would work with the master bedroom so I said I'd take it. When I saw it, I knew it was perfect for the hallway just ahead of my bedroom.

The size is much better on this wall. I added the runner, a steal at $14.97 from Costco. The colors work beautifully with my decor.

Most of the makeover was done back in March, right before quarantine. It's been a great improvement, but I knew there was more I wanted to do. For starters, the smoke detectors in this house are so old they've yellowed. I don't even understand why there are 2 smoke detectors in this small hallway, but both are dingy looking. I want to get those replaced or at least painted. The bifold doors are another project on my list; they're metal which makes them creaky, and they also have yellowed. I want wood doors, or at least something that looks like wood.

This is the wall behind the washer and dryer, just below the shelves. I didn't realize how stained the wall was until I put the new shelves in. I thought about painting it, maybe even in a contrasting color, but I've decided on something else: wallpaper. I found some on Amazon that I've ordered. Hopefully I can start on this next week. I think it'll give this laundry closet a boost. That, and the flooring...

Again, no one looks at the dingy laundry closet floor but the homeowner, so it's never a priority. But I look at it and I hate it. This linoleum has been here for over 30 years. I took the washer & dryer out and tried to give it a good cleaning, but it's just too old. The color has yellowed and the dirt is encrusted into the grooves, so it won't come out. To take this out and put in ceramic or porcelain tile would be tedious, expensive and unnecessary; only a small piece of the flooring actually shows. Instead, I've found a better and easier alternative: peel and stick tile. I looked at Home Depot and Lowe's but ultimately found what I was looking for on, you guessed it, Amazon. I'm excited to get this project started and to see my vision come to life.

I'll try to remember to take pictures this time as I work on this area ;-). Next up in the home tour: the master bedroom. I can't wait to share this special space!

Weekend, Day One

Something about today I wish would never end.  The weather.  Oh my word, it is such a gorgeous day!  We started off with 59 degrees and have stayed in the low 70's with the most scrumptious breeze imaginable.  The sun is shining, the sky is baby blue, the clouds are puffy white.  I'm so gonna enjoy this, because the weather forecast calls for rain for all or most of next week.  While the rain is needed and welcome, it doesn't trump a day like today.  This is the day The Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!

I didn't get out of bed till 8:30 this morning.  Yet still, I was tired.  That's because the stupid smoke alarm decided to let us know, in the middle of the night, that its battery was running low.  Not during the day, nooooo.  At night, when we're too tired to get up and go rummaging through the garage for batteries.  Of course, after we got up it quieted down for hours.  I swear, these things are programmed to only go off at night.  I was so frustrated!

I had my breakfast, an English muffin with an egg and bacon, then I got to work on the floors.  With all the schoolwork we'd been doing all week, I pretty much neglected the floors, and they were nasty.  Our dog Molly sheds enough hair to build another dog, and even though I'd Swiffer'd them they were starting to get fluffy.  Not to mention that she drools.  A lot.  There were drool marks in all the places where she huffed and puffed after going for her walks.  Then there were the blood stains.  No, not that; she's fixed.  Molly has a growth under her belly that, according to the vet, is most likely a type of blood cancer.  He didn't look much at it, didn't touch it or anything, then said to be sure what it is it'll cost about $500 - $700.  He would remove the one growth but said she was going to get more.  He also said he wanted an additional $60 to test her for anesthesia reaction.  She'd just been spayed a few months before and had been just fine, so I knew this was unnecessary.  I told the vet we'd have to decide if we could afford this amount of money, and left.  I was so upset, and my daughter A was even more so.  She was heartbroken at the thought that Molly could have cancer; I was fuming at the vet who did no type of examination, just started spewing off dollar amounts.  We discussed our options: obviously, we could go to another vet and spend another $50 - $70 on another diagnosis plus treatment.  Or, we could wait.  Truth be told, she's been normal for the most part, just as active as ever and with a healthy appetite.  If this is cancer, I would not put my dog through treatment.  That may sound cruel to some people, but to me putting a dog through chemo and radiation is even more cruel.  Dogs don't understand what is going on.  Making them sick and suffer through greater pain than they're experiencing will only make them think they're being punished, and they have no say in the matter.  It was decided then, that we would take the best care of Molly that we could, keeping her happy and comfortable if the time came when she was suffering.  That time has not come.  She doesn't complain or act any differently (though today she had an upset stomach; I suspect she found something outside and ate it.  Not the first time).  But occasionally she scratches at the growth on her belly and it bleeds, leaving blood stains on the floor.  So I got the vacuum cleaner and vacuumed up a ton of hair, then mopped and dusted and cleaned till I was even more exhausted than when I'd gotten up.  My only consolation was having the windows open and having the breeze blow inside the house.  That part was sweet.

This morning I got an email from Ulta stating that there was an online special for today only: place an order of $50 or more and get 3 free Too Faced cosmetic items.  It just happens to be that last week I got a coupon for $10 off any $50 Bare Minerals purchase, and there were a couple of things I wanted to get.  I'd told my daughter I wanted to go to Ulta to redeem the coupon so I wouldn't have to order $50 worth of stuff in order to get free shipping, but then I wouldn't get the freebies.  Or as my daughter says, they're feeding my addiction ;-).  I decided I'd just place the order online, but when I totaled up my order it was $46.  I was $4 short of the coupon AND the freebies.  Thankfully my daughter wanted some Bare Minerals concealer, so she added it to my order.  Not only did I get the $10 off and the free Too Faced cosmetics, I also got a free Bare Minerals Matte foundation deluxe sample, which was a bonus.  Since I was ordering, I went ahead and checked the Real Techniques brushes that I'd wanted to buy last month but were out of stock.  They were in stock alright, and they were BOGO: buy one, get one half off.  I decided to go with the Core Collection which was what I had intended to get in the first place, then added a powder brush as well.  I had $3 off in reward points, so the 5 brushes with case totaled $19.99.  Real Techniques brushes are great quality - I have the eye makeup brushes as well as a blush brush, and they're really soft.  The order has been placed and I hope to see it in the next week. Yay!

I'd been looking at reviews for the Bare Minerals Bareskin foundation.  I have this foundation, and I like it a lot, though not as much as my Original powder foundation.  I found that my t-zone gets a bit oily with the liquid foundation, a problem I don't have with the powder.  One reviewer complained about the same thing, saying this makeup isn't ideal for people with oily skin.  Then a Sephora employee that works at the Bare Minerals counter said the key was not to wear any primer with the Bareskin foundation.  Bareskin is not a regular liquid foundation; it's a serum foundation that contains really good stuff for the skin and no binders or fillers.  The purpose of a primer is to fill in fine lines and wrinkles, and hold on to the foundation without it getting into the skin and clogging pores.  But since Bareskin is a serum foundation, you actually do want the serum to penetrate the skin, and wearing it with primer doesn't allow it to, so the makeup just kind of sits on the skin, making it feel greasy.  I decided to put this theory to the test.  I washed and moisturized my face, then put 5 drops of Bareskin foundation on my face (2-3 drops is for light coverage, 4-6 drops is for medium coverage, and 7-8 is for full coverage).  I've been wearing it all day since 10:00 am, and I have to agree.  Except for a small amount of oiliness on my forehead which I was able to lightly dab off, my skin has been oil free.  What's more, my skin looks flawless without it looking like I have makeup on.  Bareskin looks like the name: it's so natural, it's like it's your bare skin, but without blemishes or redness or imperfections.  My daughter even asked me if I was wearing makeup because my skin looked really nice but she couldn't tell if it was because of makeup or not.  That's what I want my makeup to do.  And I don't feel it on me.  Bareskin is very light and comfortable to wear.

For my daughter, switching to Bare Minerals has been a Godsend.  Since using the makeup and moisturizer in conjunction with Michael Todd's skincare products, her rosacea has diminished considerably, and even her serbo psoriasis spots have softened.  These dry patches on her skin can be annoying, because the makeup sticks to them and enhances them.  They have become considerably less noticeable with Bare Minerals, and now that they are softening and aren't as dry as before, she can use less makeup and her skin looks impeccable.  She's happier about looking at herself in the mirror every morning.  That makes this mama's heart sing.

I took down the outdoor Christmas lights and decor, finally.  I think our house was the last one on the block with lights still hanging from the rafters.  While I was outside, I saw my neighbors from two doors down.  They were looking at the house next door, the one between theirs and ours.  My next-door neighbor is selling her house.  We are sad to see them go; this was a new development when we moved in 14 1/2 years ago, and most of the original neighbors are still here.  I do understand, though.  She and her husband divorced, and she's working pretty far from the house.  She's spending a lot of money on gas, and a lot of time away from home.  She decided it was best for her and her kids to move closer to her work.  When she mentioned that she was planning to sell, the couple next door to her decided they wanted to buy the house.  When we first moved in, they were newlyweds moving into a small house.  Now they have two small children and not enough room, but they love the neighborhood and want to stay here.  Buying the house next door would be ideal for them: it's probably about 600 square feet larger than the house they're in now, plus it has a really big yard for the kids.  And it would be the easiest move in history!  We are really hoping they buy the house.  We love our neighbors, and having familiar faces next door would be great.

Dinner was a debate.  We were all hungry, but no one could decide what to eat.  I will eat just about anything, except for Papa John's pizza or Domino's.  As far as I'm concerned, both those "pizzas" should be removed from the face of the earth.  Domino's has the worst tasting sauce (even after they "improved" the sauce), and Papa John's is just plain awful in my opinion.  I'll eat Little Caesar's because it tastes okay, and what do you expect for $5?  I think it's a decent pizza for the price.  It's what we usually have when we eat out, but my daughter said she was tired of eating the same thing and wanted something different.  And that's where the debate started.  My daughter and youngest son went back and forth for over a half hour trying to decide what to get.  Ultimately, they got two pepperoni pizzas.  From Little Caesar's.  Kids.  *rolls eyes*

After dinner we watched a DVD I got for my son R for Christmas: Weird Al's Greatest Videos.  Oh man, did that bring back memories!  I've been listening to Weird Al since the early 80's when he got started doing song parodies, and I introduced my kids to him when they were little tykes.  We are all great fans, so when I found this DVD I knew I had to get it for my oldest son, who appreciates it most.  We had a lot of laughs and totally enjoyed oldies along with newer videos.  I'm pretty sure my son is happy with that gift.

Well, that's pretty much it for today.  I washed and exfoliated and now my face feels soft, silky, and clean.  Tomorrow is a big day: Winter Jam is coming to South Florida, and we are going!  I have to admit, I'd forgotten it was tomorrow.  For some reason I thought it was next weekend.  My daughter reminded me a little while ago, and I wanted to kick myself, because I was gonna help E study for his finals but I'd decided he'd already had such a full week that I would leave it for tomorrow.  Now it's probably not gonna happen.  But hey, Skillet will be performing!  That's something to look forward to!  Good night, sleep tight, God bless.