It's Laundry Day!

What day is laundry day at your house? For Bill and I it is Saturday. I love my laundry room on a bright Saturday morning. It faces the street, so I can check out what my neighbors are up to for the weekend. 

I was laughing when I uploaded pictures. 

I had no idea I caught my neighbor weeding! I feel like Mrs. Kravitz. 

I haven't always loved this space. Most of the time it has been an eyesore. Now that it is just the two of us, I hope I will be able to keep it a little cleaner. Actually I'll let you know that Mr. Bill has been doing a good portion of the laundry lately. He even knows to take my tops and hang them instead of putting them in the dryer. He really is amazing! 
The laundry room is very narrow and since it is at the front of the house, people walking down the street can see in the window.  Not only that, the builder cheap waded us on cabinetry. We don't have any. Some of the neighbors have cabinet is their laundry room. We have open shelves instead. When we moved in there was only one shelf. Bill installed the 2nd.  At first I used the shelves the way they were intended, but since this room is off the kitchen I wanted it to look somewhat cute. As it is, there has always been a basket of unfolded laundry that can pile up to my waist or higher. (I just really don't like folding laundry)
I also use this room as a makeshift butler's pantry during parties.
I wanted a fun looking place to do laundry. I decided to decorate the shelves using some of my antique and vintage toys. They had been in storage for a long time. 

Some of these belonged to my mother. The washboard and the sewing machine were hers. The stove is not a toy, but a salesmen's sample. I let my son play with it when he was a preschooler. It should have been indestructible, but he dropped it and broke one of the cast iron legs off.  One of Mr. Bill's customers was able to weld it for me. 

The dollhouse is a German lithograph toy.

I absolutely adore the teal color of this toy sewing machine. I bought it one at one of my favorite junk shops. 
I love collecting little vintage oil paintings.  I don't know how these end up in antique stores so often. I can't understand why heirs would get rid of them. The most I have ever paid for one is $20. Usually I can find them for about $5. I would rather have a painting by an amatur painter than an overproduced print. 

I love the doll irons. (Looks like it is time for new shelves.) 

My depression era cupboard fit perfectly in a spot designed for a freezer. 

The cabinet originally had panel doors. I pulled out the panels and inserted the chicken wire instead so that I could have some display space. I use it to store my cookbooks and overflow china.The Blue Willow was my grandmother's good china. I have service for 27.  It is easy to collect, because it is at almost every antique shop and thrift store for differing price ranges.

I love the chandelier that I found in a little antique shop. It was only $5.00. 

I really believe most rooms look better with a chandelier. 

A laundry room seems like an odd place for one but it makes this room better to look at when I am in the kitchen. 

 The vintage hamper and pot for laundry soap came from a favorite junkteque store. 

When we bought the house I stenciled vines around the top of the wall. Green ivy was a huge thing in 1993.  A few years ago I did glaze the walls with a Martha Stewart Mocha color. I liked that I could see the ivy under the glaze. The walls however reminded me of the sponge painted wall treatment I did in Rebekah's nursery in 1987. I think that is why I am not a faux finish fan.  All of my wall techniques ended up looking like I just took a sponge to the walls. 
The curtain treatment is a Better Homes and Garden's drapery panel from Walmart. I turned a 84 inch long one on it's side and stapled it to a board. I attached the board to the wall with L brackets. It was so easy and no sewing. I gathered the middle with a vintage drapery tie.
The sconce and the picture came from a garage sale. The original oil paintings all came from various antique shops. I usually pay about 5-10 dollars a piece. The color is Sherwin Williams Kilim beige. 

I hope you are inspired to decorate your laundry room. It is a fun place to add a little whimsy. It makes doing laundry just a little more fun.

Here is something I picked up at the grocery store to add fun to these winter days.

Check to make sure you know what day the floral department gets their truck. You don't want flowers that are almost passed their prime. I've done that before. 

I have also planted some paper whites. I will update you on how they turn out. I got the straightest ones they had. I hope they aren't going to grow all sideways like that. 

As you can see, I have been playing with chalkboard paint. 

I will do an update soon about all of the fun I am having with that stuff. 

Sprinkles with whimsy,

Katie