Just Jabberin' Today 11/19/2013

This is my laundry room just above the washer and dryer. For years I used a large box of Tide with a handle on top and one on the side to pull it down to use when I'm doing laundry. Well, I've had to tape it with very strong duct tape to hold it together as it's getting a bit flimsy. So I tried a pretty box that was strong to put my detergent in. After a while I thought it might break the small metal handle. So I looked around the internet and found this metal one at Pottery Barn for $29 and hubs said to go ahead and get it since I just couldn't make up my mind. So here it is and it may get painted white and decals put on it. We'll see. But it fits there perfectly at 8" X 8" square, very strong and not so tall that it wouldn't fit in there. Score!!! I love it; however, I didn't throw away the old Tide box. Why do they change styles on things that we love and worked for us? I don't think a mother/woman/executive would design like men are doing now. No, I am not a feminist but women do have a different view as to what works for woman who are homemakers. I absolutely love being home all the time.

Okay, this is my very first foray into buying Cath Kidston. Squeeeeallll!!! I've always loved her style but especially her dishes. So recently with a coupon and free shipping I bought these 4 gorgeous little bowls...

and these 3 cups. Hubby has his own favorite mug to drink hot chocolate out of so I just got three for me. I'm telling you they are simply gorgeous in person. These are called Stanley mugs and are much bigger than one of our "regular" mugs here in the U.S. They had a Crush mug but it was a bit smaller I think and a bit different in its shape. But I chose these Stanley mugs and love displaying them in my kitchen.

I really do like the look of some French things around my house, but I'm not one to go all-white. I love pink and that's what color my home is. I just couldn't have all white as I'd find it too boring. I love color! So after making over those little foot stools with drop cloth fabric (see that post here), I'm also going to make a pillow or two for some chairs. I have so many beautiful pillows I've bought over the years and hate to get rid of them but it might just have to happen. Granddaughter will have first choice when she's here for Thanksgiving and then the rest might go on eBay. Many are feather-filled pillows. Some are beautiful European prints. All are gorgeous. If any of you are interested, send me an email and I'll take pictures of all of them and you can make your choice. I'm not going to bother putting them all on here. I'll just take some pictures and keep them for any inquiries, but I doubt you'll be disappointed in any of them.

I actually love the look of things like this out in the open. I don't have a large kitchen, in fact, it's small, just the size for senior citizens (that's old people to some of you) and people who don't like cooking everyday and love eating out (that's ME!). I don't have enough space in my kitchen to do this, but I have vases and beautiful pitchers holding kitchen utensils in my kitchen.

What a delightfully colored chandelier.

I like the look of this mosaic table but I'd paint it white. I do love white furniture.

Another squeeeeeallll! Isn't this adorable? I saw it on the internet and have no idea who did it but I'd love to have one to hang on my porch.

See what you can do with a plain ol' chest! Jazz it up with stencils. I find it darling.

Now this? Ooooohmygosh. Of course, I love Christie Repasy's art but she outdid herself with this little gem. I'd love to have it but I'm not willing to pay high prices this probably got. My hubby would probably faint if I spent money on something that looks like it's falling apart. He just doesn't get it and never will. ;-)

I'm going to make one of these to hold...something, just haven't figured out what. But if it turns out cute then I'll make one for a giveaway. Wouldn't you like something this cute to hang in your laundry room? I already have 3 darling ones I made hanging in mine but there's always room for a few others. :-)

Yes, I also like these little baskets but I don't have room for a lot of "fluff" around here. I would dearly love to have one though as I'm very visual and just looking at gorgeous things makes my heart flutter and my eyes glaze over.

I'm old enough to remember these drying frames and love seeing my whites hanging on a line drying. The sun actually bleaches them naturally for you and just seeing them out there brings back memories to me. I recently found some indoor drying racks on a pulley system in the UK but they were several hundred dollars and that ain't gonna fly with this chick! They were really nice looking and would be great to have for winter time and if you didn't have a dryer.

I'm not this organized but I love looking at it. I rarely give gifts so I don't wrap a lot of things. But when I do wrap it's on the kitchen table. I hate wrapping packages. I really do.

And I love looking at white linens. That reminds me that I need some new sheets. I have some Lily Pulitzer pink patterned ones and I love them but apparently she isn't selling sheets anymore as I cannot find any. I also love very high thread count sheets and will only sleep on great sheets. I feel the difference actually. My daughter bought 600 count sheets just for her spare bedroom for when we visit. She was taught well by her mother! That would be ME!

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Laundry Rooms Can Be Very Pretty!

Okay, here's a giveaway for this darling little ribbon tree. I made it months ago and gave it away but never heard from the winner. So I am trying again. I simply can't imagine someone entering to win this little cutie and not checking back, even after I sent them an email that they won. Oh well, let's try it again. You know the drill. To win this, you must leave a comment and be a follower. I love my followers and they get priority for their loyalty.

I am also including this Alexandra Stoddard book I mentioned a week or so ago.

The winner will be announced this coming Friday, the 27th. You can tell your friends to drop by and try winning it also. But Friday I'll draw the name, put it on here and notify the winner. Ooooh, there will also be some of those coffee filter paper roses included also. Very nice prize if I do say so myself. Here are what those roses look like.

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In our house before this one I had a pretty big laundry area in the pantry of the kitchen. It was much nicer than the one in California as that one was in our garage. But the one we have now is really made up pretty. I like doing chores in pretty and charming places, no matter in what room the chores are done—office, bath, studio, bedroom, kitchen, wherever. I like pretty! So this time I'm showing you my present laundry room. Soon I'll show you some other laundry rooms that are lovely and some even huge and exquisite. Nothing in your home need be ugly or uninviting. You can do whatever you want to do with a room if you have the desire. Hardly any money went into my laundry, just thought and things I had around the house.

This is a decal I made and put on our laundry room door leading from the hallway into the laundry room.

I bought this little bucket to hold laundry detergent.

A little tin holder I bought and painted white. It holds clothes pins or little packets of laundry detergent I've received from friends. The little wood basket I painted rosebuds on. Not the best but it was my first try.

A shelf above a little green bench I painted white and made a bit shabby. It holds greenery, which makes washing laundry a nicer chore in a beautiful place. The walls are pink of course. The bright pink clay pot on the left I painted and decoupaged with a beautiful rose and put a faux plant in it. I saved pretty seed packets and just tacked them on the wall with Fun-Tac, easily removable when I want to change something in there. Other photos that have been given to me by JoAnn Coletti when I helped her with her computer a couple of years ago. She sent me several little cards of her pictures of her rose garden and some of her paintings. I love them; they're gorgeous.

This is an old redwood board from the fascia boards of our old house. I saved several boards, which were 50 years old and well-seasoned and made signs out of them to go around our house. I made the decals on my computer and printer.

I saw this gorgeous rose border and had to have it. It is in my laundry room. My laundry room doesn't look like any I've ever seen. Just shows you what you can do when you want it badly enough. I did! It's a unique laundry room and my style also.

Rather than the kitschy stuff you'd usually find in a laundry room I wanted this picture of a cottage in the woods with a lovely garden. When I wash clothes this is what I see. Much nicer than a wall.

I bought wood letters and put different kinds of roses, polka dots, plaids, stripes and paisley fabrics and gussied them up with rickrack, lace, bows and ribbon roses.

I made several clothespin bags and gave a few of them away in giveaways here on my blog. This should tell you how nice the items I give away are. No junk here. Handmade crafts. I also gave away some of those letters once. The three clothespin bags I have left are hanging in the laundry with clothespins and various other things a laundry would have.

Iron hangs on a holder on the wall next to some old french packets of soap given to me.

This is the door to a pantry in the laundry room. It hold fruits, cereals and cleaning supplies along with paper plates and napkins and other sundry stuff.

This little plaque has knobs to hold my decorated hangers, baskets or keys. Also notice I use lace scraps in this room or lace trim.

The rose border goes around the whole room except over the washing machine and dryer. It has shelves that hold detergents, cleaning supplies, bleach, spot removers, etc. I chose to hide them behind a pretty curtain.

Notice I even covered the pole with fabric to hang clean shirts out of the dryer.

Much nicer not seeing all that junk up there. All this was very easy to do and it adds a lot of pizzazz to the room. When a room is pretty, you tend to enjoy doing chores in it more than if it was dark and dank and a mess.

Even the ironing board has a cover when I'm not using it to iron. It's really a lovely laundry room and a great place to decorate and not have it so boring and ugly.

These last 2 photos are ones taken by my young best-bud-forever with that wide angle lens she had rented for a couple of weeks. She just popped over while I was doing laundry and I didn't think nor have time to set it up for a photoshoot. This is what it looks like on any given laundry day.

I'll show you some other laundry rooms I've come across on the internet. Some are fancy. Some are cute. Some are gorgeous and huge. Some are simple and small but with great design features. Soon, very soon, I'll show those to you. Just keep a lookout for them in the next couple of weeks or so.
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