Getting Organized: Laundry Room and Hallway

Happy New Year!! One of my resolutions for this year is to complete all of the projects currently on my to-do list. It's a pretty ambitious goal, but I am hoping I can do it. For the new year, I have created a new page/tab that will keep track of all the projects I want to get completed in 2013! I'm hoping this will help motivate me, and keep me accountable to getting them finished.

First up, I finally got around to organizing a space in our house that was driving me crazy. Our laundry room had become a catch-all for too many things, as it also serves as the entryway into the house from the garage. It had become so bad that I didn't even have room to put my laundry baskets in there anymore (not too impressive, given the size of the room, though), which resulted in the boys using them as "pillow baskets," as Ethan calls them, or seats for watching TV. :)

Hey, brother! This sure is a nice seat for watching movies!

As cute as their pillow baskets were, I really wanted the baskets back in the laundry room, along with the rest of the room cleaned up and organized, so I decided it was time to tackle it! I was tired of looking at the space every time I did laundry, or we left the house. I hate having less room than we did in our Georgia house for this space, but I was determined to make it all work. So, I emptied everything out of the room, to start from scratch. I threw a lot of stuff away, moved things to other areas where they belonged, and then organized what was left! Yay!!

I purchased some inexpensive baskets from Walmart to fit inside the cubbies to hide the contents there, and give it a cleaner/neater feel. They coordinate with the ugly wallpaper that I haven't had a chance to take down yet, so that was an added bonus. I would still really love to paint the ugly oak cabinets white, or cream, like the kitchen/bathroom cabinets, but I don't think hubby will let me. :(

Before and After

I used an old hanging mesh rack that I used to use for sweaters, to hold our shoes, instead of the wire cart I was using. This freed up room on the floor of the cabinet for all of our boots now.

Before and After

I love how this space turned out. I no longer mind going in to do the laundry, and I love that when we come in the door, Ethan puts his and Noah's shoes away for me in their respective cubbie. :)

Another project that I had wanted to complete was a "kids' station" in the hallway right outside of the laundry room, across from the downstairs bathroom. Ethan brings home lots of abstract beautiful artwork from preschool, and I wanted a cute way to display it, aside from hanging it on the refrigerator, as it's getting a bit cramped there. So, I purchased two 11" x 14" picture frames at Michaels (buy one, get one for a penny!), some burlap material, and small clothespins. I wrapped the burlap around the cardboard insert and placed it back in the frame, leaving the glass out. Then I colored the pins black to match the frames (easy to do with a permanent marker!), and hot-glued them to the burlap. Now I can hang his artwork there to display it!

I also wanted a coat hook rack to hang their coats and Ethan's backpack on. I found this cute oil-rubbed bronze one at Target. It's perfect for their little coats. :) To balance the rest of the wall out, I found this decorative mirror and small picture frame (both have an oil-rubbed bronze finish) at Walmart. For now, it's decorated with our last initial, but I'm planning to swap that out for a picture of Ethan on his first day of preschool or one his "official" preschool pictures, then update it each year with a new school pic.

Hallway "kids' station"

I am so happy with how this project turned out and I now love this otherwise under-utilized hallway, which was pretty lonely with just a chalkboard/keychain hook rack. This area of the house is now pretty and organized. On to the other end of the downstairs now...my office is next on my list!