Laundry Room Upgrade

For at least a year I've been making a defense  case with Mr. Sloth that if I had a counter on top of my washer and dryer I would be able to keep up with laundry.  He never warmed to the idea much but a few weeks ago Obscure made the suggestion that I check out counters at Ikea and then we could cut one to size.  Ah, trusty old Ikea! Wouldn't you know that they had the EXACT size I needed and it was pre-cut?


So last Wednesday I headed to Ikea while my mother in law was 'spending quality time' with the kiddos.


Ta-Da!!




I wanted the room to be as cheery as possible to entice me to spend more time there so I bought a pretty teal vase and pink orchids  for $3 total while I was at Ikea.  I still had the little bird house that Demand made for me a few years ago which goes great with our bird themed room.  My tiny St. Joseph statue wasn't working on my kitchen windowsill so I moved it in here for extra motivation.

The basket on the left is for clean rags. I'm on a minimalist journey right now (another post) and I'm trying to move away from paper towels. Having the rags easily accessible has made the transition pretty smooth so far.

The wall that now holds the picture frames used to just hold the key  hooks. They weren't a great uses of space and needed a makeover so I quickly painted them white and Mr. Sloth relocated them to a small wall that was also a more natural place to hang or grab keys as you walking in/out the door.

I haven't used these picture frames for years but saw this empty space and thought they would look nice. Then I got the idea to put pictures of our kids when they are messy to remind me that messes are a fun part of life (sometimes).  The frame on the left is  of Happy when we were in Rome a few years ago. I love how he's searching for more pasta in the picture by lifting his plate up. The pictures on the right are Demand in Assisi having "hot chocolate" which is actually just melted chocolate to Italians. Then King, this picture was conveniently taken last week after a hershey kiss from the chiropractor. The last picture isn't messy but I couldn't find one of Rooster. He's actually a pretty clean eater. We love this picture taking from last years German Fest it was pouring rain that day but it was still a lot of fun. Happy and Demand are chowing down on a  pretzel and Rooster is pounding a Root Beer.

Mr. Sloth installed the shelf for me to keep my detergent and (almost never used but looks so cute and the color goes with the room) fabric softener.

So far so good. The room has been a mini-retreat for me and has stayed neat and clean even through three parties this week.