Laundry/Mud Room Design Inspiration

View of the door leading into garage

 We've been in our house for just over a year so I'm starting to get the itch to redecorate! One of the places I'd love to start is the laundry/mudroom area.

We absolutely love our floorplan-but this is probably the only sore spot. I'd love, love, love to have a more functional and eye-pleasing space.

My issues with our current setup are:

1) It's just so plain jane (vinyl) vanilla- I would love to jazz it up with some color to give it a whole new personality.

2) Oh-did I mention that our laundry/mudroom also doubles as a utility room. It's awful and hard to work around. I'm not sure why the builder didn't finish or somehow cover everything, but we are left with a big furnace, water heater, some plumbing and other misc stuff in this room.



Utility mess-argh!!!



3) Eventually I would love to replace the wire shelf with a nice cabinet, but I'll have to live with it for a while.



Modulars being used as shoe storage





Laundry area



My Laundry/Mudroom Wish List

1) A bit of color for the walls! I'm loving the warmth of these Benjamin Moore paint colors. Faves are: Nantucket Gray & Providence Olive.

Benjamin Moore Paint colors

Benjamin Moore Paint Colors



California Closets



2) Furniture & Built Ins: It would be lovely to have some structure and order in this room by adding shoe cubbies, personalized hooks (to hang coats & bags) and a bench! Be still my heart-I love, love, love how organized and beautiful these mudroom/entry areas look! I hope to replicate something similar! Soon!

 





http://www.jenjohn09.blogspot.com/



My hope is to tackle this room during before Spring officially arrives....the clock is ticking!!

What rooms in your home are eyesores that you'd like to makeover? Please share.

Our Old School Dinner Menu: Sloppy Joes & Tots

Lately my 5-year old has been obsessed with all things old school AKA "things mommy liked when she was a little girl. The Smurfs, Goonies & the Jetsons to name a few.

My hubs has helped foster his love by showing him old NBA footage. He loves watching Michael Jordan's dunks & highlights and thinks it's hilarious that players wore such TINY shorts back in the day.

So, tonight I'm making a meal that's sure to please the young & the old school (hubs & me)!! Click the links for Cooks.Com recipes.




Sloppy Joe Images from http://www.dvo.com/



Menu:

Sloppy Joes

Tater Tots

Kool-Aid

Ice Cream Floats Image from Martha Stewart

Dessert:

Old-Fashioned Ice Cream Floats

What meals do you like to make for your family? Enjoy!

Snowed In: A Little Living Room Rearranging

Oh, what a day it's been! School's closed and my hubby didn't have to go to work (yee-haw)! What's a girl to do...a little living room rearranging!

When we built our house, we thought that a corner fireplace was a great idea. Guess we had to learn the hard way, because trying to decorate & arrange furniture is darn near impossible. For now, I'm happy with the way that things are set up. It's much more comfortable and inviting than it was before.

We all have those rooms in our homes that we just don't quite know what to do with. And I did mention that due to celebrating our one year anniversary of being in our new house, I'm really starting to get the itch to start making changes-so this was just the start.

My Living Room Wish List

1. A beautiful new coat of paint. I'm getting tired of our softer tan (AKA builder beige) walls. While the color is better than plain old white, I'm ready to add a bit of warmth to our walls. Love the gorgeous warm gray pictured in this Restoration Hardware gallery. I'm also in love with this creamy Benjamin Moore Cape May Cobblestone.

I also plan to paint our uber colorful end tables a simpler dark brown or black so they blend in.

Benjamin Moore Cape May Cobblestone

2. Cozy coffee table




Cheswick Table from http://www.potterybarn.com/

 


Chantel Dark Brown Square Leather Coffee Table Ottoman from http://www.dcgstores.com/



Maxwell Storage Ottoman with drawer from World Market

3. New artwork: This is not much of a priority for the Living Room-since I've got every wall pretty well covered. But, I've been pretty intrigued by Subway Art and think it would add a nice, funky touch to our space. I also have a thing for neat looking clocks & the one pictured below is no exception. I'm in love-but my head hurts just thinking about dropping $200 for one. Ouch! Maybe it'll go on sale!!

Erin Powley Subway Art from World Market

Grandiose Wall Clock from Pier One Imports

4. New Furniture: I was impatient and wanted furniture the day we shopped for it. If I could do things all over again, I would've been more patient and would've waited it out. I'm normally not a leather person, but I love this Sebring Collection from The Room Place & also really like their oh so neutral Uptown Collection!

Uptown V Collection from The Room Place

The Sebring Collection from The Room Place

Well, that's about it for now! I'm sure that we'll be moving things around and making more changes soon-and when we do, I'll be sure to post new pics!

I'd love to hear your living room wish lists! If money were no object, what would you like to change about your space?

What's Your Decorating Personality??

Have you ever wondered what your decorating personality is? Don't you think that knowing might help you stay focused and decorate your space in the best possible way? I'm a bit of a quiz junkie-blame it on all of the teen magazines I read while growing up!

I stumbled upon this decorating quiz from Real Simple Magazine! According to the quiz, my decorating personality is a mix between cozy casual & vintage eclectic.

Cozy Casual room from Real Simple

My old living room-definitely Cozy Casual with a touch of Vintage Eclectic

Descriptions from Real Simple:

Cozy Casual: You’re about comfort and warmth, favoring warm, traditional rooms made for relaxing with family and friends. Your ideal decor draws on English and early-American furniture designs, as well as laid-back country, cottage, and farmhouse styles. Weathered, low-maintenance furnishings are easy, inviting, and built for daily life. Think golden retrievers, fuzzy slippers, and just about any movie by Nancy Meyers.

Vintage Eclectic: You go for history, quirks, and curves. A rich, layered look combining flea-market finds, furniture designs from various time periods, and a diverse collection of accessories and artwork appeals to you. Dusty colors, timeworn or handmade textiles, and collected objects create a lived-in feel. Think Paris flea markets, Granny’s teacups, the film Grey Gardens.

Based on the descriptions, I think I lean more towards cozy casual-Iand love things that are just comfy & cozy. I also love things that are layered & eclectic (rugs, different colors & textures)

Click the link to take the test! I'd love to hear what your decorating personality is!

Enjoy!

A Dozen Things I Love, Love, Love

It's day 17 of my blogging challenge and to do something totally different, I wanted to make a quick list of a dozen (12 is my fave number) things that I love!! Obviously I love my family, friends, faith, etc....but this is just my silly list of things I'm enjoying these days!!

1) Goodwill: there is just something about the thrill of the hunt that keeps me coming back for more. Many of my absolutely fave things (especially home decor items) were purchased at my

local G-dubyas.

2) Tea: I absolutely cannot start my day without a big ol cup of green tea. My faves are Tazos (Zen & Thrive). Love, love, love my jumbo stacking mugs from World Market.

3) My sister's Ipad: my hope is that one day I'll have one of my own. For now, I'll just have to settle with babysitting hers from time to time. I'm obsessed with playing Scrabble & Uno. Such fun!!

4) Blog stalking watching: I get so much pleasure out of reading other blogs. Though I haven't really immersed myself in this whole bloggy community, I enjoy the decor tips, crafts and just plain old chit chat offered up by bloggers.

5) HGTV & Reality TV: Can't get enough Real Housewives of whereever & I even get into the silly VH-1 reality shows like Basketball Wives. I chalk it up to not having any drama in my life, so I enjoy watching others.

6) Better Homes & Gardens: Getting my subscription is like having Christmas once a month! yippee! Such amazingly perfect homes. I love it!


7) Target: I've been trying to stay out out there since becoming a SAHM, but I tell ya, Target is one of my fave one-stop shops!


8) Dollar Tree: It's always amazing what you can find in here! Decor items, toys, baby stuff, food, the list goes on and on.


9) Craigslist: Another website that I stalk enjoy perusing! I'm always on the lookout for great deals and this is the place to find it. Most recent purchase: a cute bench for $15. I painted & recovered it!

10) DVR: How in the world did we ever function without it? I love not being a slave to my tv, since all of my shows are programmed to record! Yippee!!

11) My Artisan Kitchen Aid Mixer: This is another one of those-how in the world did I cook or eat or live withouts. I've had mine since November and I couldn't be happier with it! Great purchase! I'm a bit of a cheapy so it was hard for me to justify buying something this expensive, but of course I managed to snag it at the perfect time. Kohl's had this normally $260 mixer on sale for $170, plus I had a 30% off coupon  (another $50 off) & the kicker was that it was during Bonus Bucks, so I scored another $20 in bonus bucks. So, in essence I paid less than half price!! Score! Cooking is soo much more luxurious and enjoyable with my beloved Mixer!

12) Good Wine: In my older age, I've acquired a taste for wine. Love, love, love Moscatos & Rieslings. Fave wines are from our local Oliver Winery (Soft Red). Recently stumbled upon Flip Flop Wine-also super yummy! There's nothing like relaxing with a couple sips of wine at the end of a long day!

Hope you enjoyed my short list of things I love! What are some things that you heart and can't imagine living without?

Day 17: Valentine's Day Countdown

There's something about the holidays that gets me all giddy inside! I enjoy celebrating and the holidays are no exception. Around Christmas, it's fun to countdown all the days of December leading up to the big day. Why not apply the same concept to other holidays, namely Valentines Day.

 
I wanted to make something quick & fun to help us celebrate the first 14 days of February and came up with this simple idea-A Valentine's Day Countdown Jar.

Construction was simple-I just cut a few pieces of assorted scrapbook paper into small squares and wrote a simple Valentines Day activity for each of the first 14 days of February.

Each square was numbered ( I used heart stickers to number mine), taped shut (no peeking) and tossed into a simple vase that I had under the sink. You can get all fancy decorating the vase, but I just glued a simple Countdown label onto cardstock and used double sided tape to make it stick.

Toss the cards into the vase and pull one out on each day-starting Feb 1st.

Our 14 day countdown includes:

Feb 1- Create our own Valentines Day cards.

Feb 2-Go to Dunkin Donuts for a Valentines Day treat.

Feb 3-Watch a Valentines Day movie. Charlie Brown anyone?

Feb 4- Enjoy a little wine and alone time once the kids are down.

Feb 5-Invite friends over to decorate cookies!

Feb 6- Spread some Valentine's Day cheer by volunteering to feed the homeless.

Feb 7-Kick start the week with a couple of love notes.

Feb 8-Get our hearts pumping by heading to the gym for a workout & lunch!

Feb 9-Have a heart-donate toys & clothes to the local women's shelter.

Feb 10-Meet Dad for brunch at Cracker Barrel.
Feb 11-Enjoy some Valentine's day hot cocoa-add whipped cream and red sprinkles! Yum!
Feb 12- Family outing to the zoo or Children's Museum!
Feb 13-Enjoy some heart-shaped pancakes or french toast for breakfast!
Feb 14-Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Hope that you and your family enjoy counting down the days to Valentine's Day!!

Please share what your family does to make the holidays special?

Day 16: Our Saturday Morning Get Clean Routine

Growing up, Saturday mornings were the bomb! First, we slept in (no school-yippee!), then we'd wake up to a breakfast of champions (pancakes, eggs, the works!!) and the morning was topped off by laying around watching cartoons in our pjs (miss those days-sigh!). My son doesn't believe me when I tell him that Cartoon Network, Noggin, & Nick Jr weren't around when Mommy was a little girl!!

Fast forward to 2011-now our Saturday mornings still start out with a yummy pancake breakfast and the boys watching a toon or two, but once they've eaten, things generally shift to clean mode! The goal is to get as much spruced up in under two hours (today I managed to clean in an hour)!! So, wanted to share our quick Get Clean Routine!!

1) Grab my Cleaning basket: Having all of my sprays, cleaners and sponges in one basket really does make everything more convenient. (Bought my cheapo basket at Dollar Tree-for you guessed it $1!!) The other thing I grab is an empty store bag to dump trash in as I go along.

2) Kitchen: A lot of times I start in the kitchen, since I'm washing and putting away dishes from breakfast. Plus, cleaning the kitchen's pretty quick. (Wipe the counters, island, trash can, microwave, stove, fridge & kitchen table-love to use Clorox Green Works All-Purpose Cleaner. It's wonderful-smells like coconuts and can be used on everything...even floors! Sweep & mop the floor, then done!!) 15-20 minutes

3) Bathrooms: Ah, the dreaded bathrooms (we have 2.5 which equals 3 bathroooms to clean). I like to start with the dirtiest part-the toilets. But the good news is that I get to use my Clorox Toilet Wand. 

Another awesome product if you've never used it. It takes the ick out of cleaning toilets-it's a simple wand with an ejectable & disposal cleaning pad. I'm probably crazy, but I like to get all of the toilets out of the way, so I start downstairs then run up to clean the other two!

From there it's smooth sailing. Pull out the Green Works to clean the sinks, door handles, counters, mirrors, showers, bath tubs and floors. 30-45 minutes

4) Dust & Vacuum:  We store our vacuum downstairs, so it's always nice to start upstairs then work our way down.  20-30 minutes

Disclaimer: I'd like to add that Saturdays are not the only days that we clean-hence it only taking a good hour to spruce things up. We find that quickly cleaning & straightening up after ourselves on a daily basis makes it less overwhelming to clean over the weeked!

(BTW-it definitely helps to have an amazing hubby that rolls back his sleeves and gladly tag teams with cleaning & other chores). 

What's your Get Clean Routine?? Got any super sized cleaning tips? Please share!!