From Messy Laundry to Decent Laundry!

 The Catastrophe!

Well posting this pictures is not easy!... The disaster has no name here... but being five getting clothes dirty or clean plus the little things that one can  find and the "I better hide this here!"... the space became overcrowded and in need organization ASAP!!!...

Let me begin saying that I used to have a shelf were I put A LOT of thing for  years! on the left wall... that shelf had a rod-like so I hanged the clothes in there (so they last more than a couple of times)... and the laundry was managing Ok, not that good but Ok... 

Until one of those days when you are doing like 5 load of laundry ... washing... drying... hanging... folding... I was upstairs taking one of the baskets when I heard I BIG crash!... I ran to the laundry to find that my shelf had come off from the wall (tap-con and all) and the pile of things even block the entry to the little room...  I couldn't even access the wet clothes on the washing machine!, plus wet clothes  underneath the pile of things that were on the shelf... a total disaster!... So I did what I could and put on plastic bins the things (on these picture the laundry is "clean up" he he he he, believed or not! ) and use the space as you can see in the pictures below ...

In this pictures I already got out from the laundry a lot of stuff and have it in these clear plastic bins... as well as the cupboard on the wall usually if full of products inside and on top with things that I don't use too frequently...  

 And all the bags, I had to hang them like this in the mean time...

The other thing is that my four-section-hamper never fit inside the laundry  (I label them Color - Whites - Towels - Other ) so I had to have it  outside and if someone came to the house I'd throw a blanket on top or something like that...Suppously the clothes that are on top are clean and waiting to be folded :P... And of course that folded door there has been open a couple of times only in the last 7 years, because is always block with the hampers!

The Result

So my hubby and mom gave me money as christmas present, specifically for my laundry!... So I grab pencil and paper and the tape measure and came with an idea where everything could have a place...

I saw at a friends house that they had the same model of washing/dryer as us mounted, I thought those were made like that, but with a bracket (and invention of your own too) you can do it!... So starting from there, I already gain a big space in my little room... I decided to put on the left some shelf, meant it for all those things I had on only on one big shelf plus the cupboard products and the things on top of the machines...  Also all those bags, I found them a home on those Ikea hangers (super useful!)... and now I had space to put in my laundry baskets too!!!...WOW!!! ... Oh my hubby found in the garage a light fixture that we used to have years ago on an apartment so he installed it here and Ta-Daaa!!!... See for yourself...

The awful black stain on the washing machine is an anticorrosive that we sprayed there... I repainted with appliance paint later...

I decide to hand made a hanging line by myself and searching in home depot I came up with this, very cheap, but perfect for the job... The laundry has no windows as you can see so that's a disadvantage here... I try for some time hanging a line outside in between the little palm trees on the side yard, but the sun also doesn't get there for the shadow of the houses, plus I couldn't let them overnight there just for the thought of a squirrel, possum or what knows who could get curious with the line or clothes... So inside is the main hanging :)...

Ok, so here it is... my Laundry transformation... I know is not the things I've seen out there online on beautiful pictures!... but I"m proud of it!... it's functional, organized, clean and neat :)... I hope this can help someone out there to regain their laundry like we did!

Paint ... Paint ... and more paint!

This is another of my hobbies... Paint, paint and paint!!!...

I've drawn and paint since I think 4th grade... it started with "Candy, Candy" and "Ziggy" (was the 70's or early 80's!), I used to draw and embossed in parchment paper and coloring it from the back... my friends loved it and all of them had little pictures... I used to sit on my grandfather's hardware store looking outside the hours passed by and just a piece of paper and a pencil could do it for me... the trees, the sidewalk, building, people... So I used to do a lot of realistic drawing ... But lately abstract is what I feel and come out of the brushes... and here are some of the works...

I like to work on wood... So this last one I paint it on some wood pieces from a piece of furniture we disassemble... How can you throw away that perfect wood?!!!... 

The painting has progress into this too...

The girls loved fairies and castles, so I came up with this... and for a couple of years they were happy with it... at the moment is again a white canvas and will post about that later (in progress of the kids bedroom)...

For my boy's wall (when he was a baby) I did this animal mural, the idea was to teach him about the animals names, sounds, etc. ... I can't describe how he enjoyed getting in his room and every time walking to his wall and doing animal sounds! (oh, the years passed so fast!!!).

This is the bathroom wall, they love everything from the ocean... so I design this... and no matter how hard I try to take good and nice pictures I can't!!!... So you'll have to go with me when I say that there are more details in the picture that can't be appreciated in these pictures (frown face)... Even more, sorry I couldn't move the picture here (he,he).

And this...

Again, sorry for the side-turned picture...

And this I did it so I could measure them in time... At the moment the bigger one is reaching the eyes level and soon the dino will be too short!... I'll have to start thinking in another picture that keeps up for a longer time and fit the boy and girls interests!.

Valentines for school without candy :)

So with Valentine on the corner I decides to do something by myself, where the kids could help a bit and feel involved and that didn't involved candy... and the answer was "Pinterest"!... I found these origami bookmarks and did "hearts" for the girls in my kids classroom and "monsters" for the boys... This is for my Kindergartner and my second grader... 

For my pre-K girl, had to think of something else, so from all my Pinterest research I came up combining several ideas together and did this cute bracelet with gift-bow and a little bee cut out from foam, the wings were a heart also with foam and my girl draw the black bee lines and faces on the bees and I wrote on the bracelet "It's GREAT to --BEE-- your Friend" ... 

The kids were super happy even tough candy wasn't involved! :) ...