Oofta!!

This post is titled "Oofta" it is named for the file from whence these pictures came. You see I, like many Americans, have a digital camera. I take pictures until there are so many I become overwhelmed-download them to a file on my computer; label them as to how I feel such as "Too Many" "Sooo Many" "Ugh" and in this case "Oofta". These pictures now seem random, they were taken over the course of the summer-or maybe just the last two months of summer. However, it was brought to my attention that I have not blogged or posted any pictures of my kids in almost a year. To which I replied "Hey, I posted in April!" To which my acccuser replied "Ya, about your laundry room." So here they are!

 I have to go back, but I have a picture of these two together in this very hottub at Red River Hotsprings when Lola was maybe a month old. (Now she's four)

 Does this picture look familiar? It should I posted one quite similar a coupla years ago-when our family consisted of Tahoe, me, Vinny and Lola. Now Vinny is too old to travel and stays at home and we have Amelia.

 Lola's first day of Preschool!! Yes, this really was a momentous occasion-and yes, it probably should have it's very own post.

 

I know this isn't of our children but I thought I should share it anyway. This was taken on Tahoe's *ahem* 39th birthday this year. I am so thankful and blessed this man decide to hop on my crazy train without really knowing what the ride would bring or what we would do once we got there. Without him the previous pictures wouldn't exist, and for that I am truly thankful!

The Original Song That Never Ends

If I've said it once, I've said it a million times: Laundry is the original "Song that Never Ends". When you start adding children to the equation you've lost the battle before it's began. I wish I had taken before pictures, never have I regretted not taking before pictures as much as I do in this instance. Our former laundry room had close to no counter space, the washer and dryer were stacked and made the room dark, there were two cabinets for strorage, one shelf, no closet space and poor use of floor space. It's no wonder that clean laundry accumulated in whatever corner happened to fit the bill at the time and this small room was the bain of my existance.

I've always felt like we would have a laundry room like this "When Pigs Fly"! Thanks to my uber talented husband I now have a shameless, grown-up laundry room that I am so proud of! It's organized and utilitarian, and decorated with a splash of wimsical country.

Sacha's right; we always have a "to-do" list that's never "to-done". Oh well!

This is what we've spent our time doing while we wait for Spring to come to the mountains.

"New" Pocket Door-We used the original door so it matches perfectly!



View from the hall. Since the door will almost always be open I needed a paint color that would go with the "April Love" and "Asian Jute". Since they're both earthy tones and I really like greens; I decided on a "Delicate Leaf" color for the laundry room. Calming and intelligent, right?



So much storage. So much work space. So unbelievable. This is my laundry room. I feel like such a grown up! (Notice the cast iron flying pig on the counter)



More storage and I wanted my laundry room knick-knacks back in here. I've had that glass washboard for ten years. I've always loved vintage laundry decor, but love the technological advances in actual laundering. Back to the washboard though-when I bought it at an antique store the person I was with had grown up in Chicago and had never been to the "Wild West" (Idaho), he actually asked me "Don't you have a washing machine?" That memory always makes me laugh!

I found the wooden crate in one of our out buildings. I have no idea it's history but it's oil stained and has two rusty metal bands wrapped around it and handles cut into each end. Too cute to be in a cluttered garden shed not being appreciated. In the wooden crate are my house tools (not to be confused with Tahoe's or the garage :D)

The clothes pin bags, (with the flying pig pictures) one for Lola and one for Amelia; have tights in them. I find that they tend to last a little longer if they aren't being "tried on" all the time. The vintage hankerchief clothespin bag has a lingerie bag and a couple clothes pins in it. One of the coolest things about the closet center is extra space for coats when we have guests. Yeahhh!

The last touch for this room will be a quote in vinyl wall words that will be to the right of the washboard above the door. "Never, Never, Never Give Up."-Winston Churchill  I think it's a perfect and funny quote for a laundry room!



Poor Vinny! He's stuck under the sink. Oh well, he actually seems to like it. What I wanted to show you in this picture is my really, truly, authentic, vintage laundry basket. I bought it from a lady here in town that used to have a store. She had two of these baskets and was using them to display pillows and stuff. I had been looking for one of these for quite sometime. They are expensive even the reproductions are super expensive. This one was missing the lower crossbar and she fixed it with some trim board she sold it to me for 25 bucks, what a deal! I like it because it accumulates our dirty clothes, but when I am serious about laundry I sort the dirty stuff on the floor and put the clean stuff in the basket so I don't have to stop the laundry for very long.