Laundry Room Demo - Day 1

Today was the first day of my "stay-cation" and I was actually excited to get up bright and early to see my laundry area become the hardest working room in the house. It started with clearing out the room and beginning to demo the area. The guys did a great job keeping it clean and Tanner did surprisingly well considering that there were strangers in his house pounding, banging, and creating a lot of noise.

Next they needed to move the plumbing by the furnace to the back of the closet so we can gain our much needed 6 inches of space so that we can go from apartment sized appliances to full-size.

And after the plumber worked his magic, the pipes are now in the right place and we have gas piping since we are converting from an electric to gas dryer. The gas dryer was a bit more expensive but we are going to see the savings come back to us through our monthly bills.

All of that extra space...maybe I can even hang our ironing board in there since we have so much space now?! A full day of work and with day 2 around the corner, we will soon have the drywall up, painted walls, flooring, can lights, and a cabinet for storage. Stay tuned as we continue on our journey to full-size appliance land!

Healthy Treat to Break the Heat

It has been uncomfortably hot and humid over the past few days and finding a bit of relief is definitely needed. I've been soaking up the A/C but I decided that a cool treat was in order. Instead of heading to the freezer for some ice cream, I made a berry smoothie that is delicious and healthy. Has anyone else tried the pre-packaged Yoplait frozen yogurt packets? I found them at Costco and now I can't do without them. They are pre-packaged and included frozen berries and yogurt and all you need to do is add milk and blend. It's great when you are in a hurry and need a sweet little treat.  

Doesn't it look delicious? I'm thinking I could use another one right now. Has anyone tried a great smoothie recipe that they would like to share? Finding the perfect blend and the right consistency is more difficult than you think. Cheers!

Vacation Destination

I just realized I was a bit of a slacker on getting back to everyone regarding our upcoming keep my sanity vacation. Remember this post here where I asked for you to help us select our vacation destination? Well I even challenged you to name 2 of the 3 countries that we are considering and I had a few guesses and each picked 1 of the 3 countries but no one picked 2 out of 3. I won't keep you in suspense any longer. We were deciding between Costa Rica, St. Lucia, and Grenada. A special thanks to my blogging buddies for playing along with my little contest- 1 guessed Costa Rica and the other guessed St. Lucia. Well we are heading to.............................

St. Lucia to see the Piton's and enjoy the wonderfully beautiful beaches.

We are staying at an adults only (aka no kids splashing me and my drink while lounging in the pool) all inclusive resort that has all of the amenities but is smaller than some of the larger Sandals resorts. We I did a ton of research before deciding where to go and I got a tremendous deal through Luxury Link's website. If you haven't visited this website I highly recommend it! You get to bid on your vacation package and I saved 60% off of the regular price and searched the Internet like crazy and no one could touch the price I got by bidding for our package and winning through this site. It's also unique in that it offers really unique places to stay that are a bit off of the beaten path and often smaller in nature with the best of class service. I also read a ton of reviews on Trip Advisor before pulling the trigger on our resort. Super excited and I'll tell you all about it once we get back. Until then I am getting swimsuit ready by eating all of the veggies from my garden! I have cucumbers and tomatoes growing out of my ears! I've resorted to giving most of them away because I can't eat them that fast!

Laundry Room - First Problem Solved

We are getting super-excited about our new laundry room that will soon allow us to have a full-size washer and dryer. Very excited about the amount of time and money this will save us but also it will certainly help with resale value as well. But I think we are both equally excited about the design process. But first I wanted to share with you that the first problem has been solved.

Instead of adding the extra space on the right side of the laundry closet we are luckily able to add it to the left side instead. The big metal pipe on the right was not something we were able to work around but luckily we are able to make it work on the other side with the moving of some piping instead. Thank goodness, I was getting really scared that I would possibly have to give up my scrapbook closet and that would have had me in tears.

Now the fun part, picking out a new washer/dryer and what the room will look like when it's all done. Anyone purchase new appliances lately? I'd love some recommendations but here's what we are thinking is the direction we may go in. Some super sleek stainless steel/gray/graphite colored machines! I think they would look beautiful next to some wainscoating on the walls and a marble countertop for folding those freshly washed clothes. I never thought I would be so excited about new appliances but I feel like a new world is opening up for us. Oh I know the drama but seriously we are super excited! Stay tuned, the project begins next week and I'll be sharing the project details with all of you.

Laundry Room Demo - Our First Problem

I'm very excited about the possibility of having full-size washer/dryer in our basement and we have begun the process of working with a contractor to figure out how to make that possible. Sounds simple right? Well not when you are dealing with the space limitations that we are. There are a lot of options but they are slowly getting more and more expensive! One option was to convert my scrapbooking/craft closet into a laundry closet and I can't even imagine giving that up so we really have to figure out a way to make this work. Yesterday I shared with you what my dream laundry room would look like in this post and today I thought I would share the reality of the situation with you. Follow me through this adventure.

We had bi-fold doors here but after having to remove them for the bazillionith 10th time to have repairs done on our washing machine, my hubby tore them down and I decided to hang curtains from Ikea instead. Thanks Mom for hemming them for us!

Here's the tiniest front-loaders you can buy and they are junk! It takes an hour and a half to dry one load of clothes and that may only consist of 4 bath towels if you are lucky and I'm talking bath towels not bath sheets. Seriously it's ridiculous and the reason we need full-size appliances is to keep my sanity. The options for small washers and dryers is non-existent and stackables are out of the question - I hate them even more. We have to have full-size when we have a family and fixing this problem will help with the resale value of our home. Who wants to buy a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house with tiny appliances - no one I know!

We thought we had figured out the solution that was going to be easiest and the cheapest until we discovered this freakin pipe behind the wall we were planning on building out - this is a big problem! We were so disappointed to discover this problem and now we know why no one has fixed this problem in the past. We are very motivated and working with Peg, we will find a solution! Stay tuned as we go through our first demo adventure together.

Planning Our Laundry Room Demo

We live in a split-level home that was built in 1984 when closet space wasn't plentiful to say the least and the builders didn't think that having ample space for a washer/dryer was a priority. Well I'm here to tell you that having a beautiful space for a full-size washer/dryer is a major priority for a family. Our laundry area closet barely fits a 24" washer/dryer which was made for apartments or other small spaces where you aren't doing a load of laundry a day. While we have nice front-loaders, they choices are limited and after having our washer repaired about 10 times (not kidding) we decided that we needed to figure out a way to get full-size washers and dryer in our house. When we have children, the small units just won't cut it.

Here comes my book club buddy Peg who is a contractor/decorator by day and fabulous friend, book club junky at night. I've seen her work and it's fabulous so I was jumping for joy when she didn't shy away from our small project. My husband kept saying that there was nothing we could do and that I just had to live with it but I knew Peg would come up with a solution or two. She came over today and had a ton of ideas on how to not only get more room for a full-size washer/dryer but also more closet space. It's nice to know that as our family grows there are options for gaining more closet space. That will have to wait for another day but it looks like the week of August 16th we will have a larger laundry area that will fit full-size appliances. It involves pushing out a wall in our family room but losing a couple inches there to gain more on the other side is something I'm not worried about. The added bonus - I get to shop for some fabulous new appliances and get rid of the puny-size one's we have now! The options are endless and I didn't know you could drool over appliances but that I am definitely doing.

Here's a few photos for inspiration:

A girl can dream of a bright and cheery room like this.

The appliances are a gorgeous color and the countertop has plenty of space for folding and a place for hanging clothes as well.

Pull out ironing board is lovely but not in our plans.

While the teal isn't my taste, we did see these on clearance today at Best Buy. It looks great in this room.

The metallic, steel look of this room really gets my motor running. So fresh and clean!

White, white, white - need I say more?

This is a total dream....3 appliances! No more waiting to put all of the clothes in the dryer when you have two of them! When I hit the lotto this will become a reality.

Now that I have had a moment to daydream, this one is more realistic - it fits in a closet and has full size units with storage for cleaning supplies in addition to only being for laundry. We decided we didn't want to purchase the pedestals that are commonplace with front-loaders because we needed to have a folding area on top of the units. I do want the units a bit higher so it's not so hard on the back and building a platform with drawers in the closet may be a better idea. We are looking forward to the project and I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Congratulations Soon-To-Be-Teacher

My hubby is always asking me to make cards for him to take to work and usally I get a couple of hours notice. He was gone and so I had some time that evening to pull together a card for a co-worker who is changing professions and is a soon-to-be teacher. This was a super-quick card with an apple theme. I've always wondered, do teachers really love apples? I hope this one does! Here's what I whipped together in a few minutes.

Supplies Used:

• Paper: Green Galore, Real Red, So Saffron, Whisper White, Soft Suede
• Ink: Green Galore, Real Red, So Saffron, Chocolate Chip
• Stamps: Tart & Tangy, Numbers Stamp Wheel
• Punches: Round Scallop, Circle Punches, Spiral Edge Punch

The Flooded Devastation

On July 23rd my hometown and many surrounding communities received over 12 inches of rain in a 36 hour period which caused flooding and significant property damage. My heart goes out to all of the families impacted by the damage that mother nature has created. I live about 100 miles away from where the flooding occurred and we only received about 2 1/2 inches of rain and we also had a tornado warning that occurred as well. Most of the families in this area don't have flood insurance so the damage is significant. The good thing is that the flood didn't take any lives. Here's a few pictures I wanted to share.

The water receded and the boat ended up in the tree.

A child still managing to have fun despite a flood park.

Train

parking lots

The local racetrack that I spent a lot of time at as a child.

The local Sonic.

A truck that was stuck in a sinkhole - this would give me a heart attack.

Closed bridge at the local park.

We were planning on heading back home in a few weeks for a family reunion but it may have to be cancelled a result of the flooding. My heart goes out to all of the families impacted by this storm and the devastation that can happen in the blink of an eye.

From Our Pond to Yours....

HOPPY MONDAY!!!

Our pond in the backyard attracts frogs and the occassional turtle. My niece loves to watch them and I thought I would capture a few pictures for her since I know she loves looking at my blog. This is for you K!

Getting Corky in my Kitchen

We were in need of a bit of organization in our kitchen. The "catch-all" drawer and basket was getting a bit overwhelming and being a visual person that wasn't working for me. I decided to purchase some inexpensive cork tiles at Hobby Lobby for $6 and used the adhesive squares it came with to adhere them to the inside of a cabinet door that is frequently used -aka the snack cabinet. I was then able to pin up many things that I wanted to access to including our weekly dinner menu, coupons, and photos. It took only a couple of minutes and we then had a DIY cork board hidden within a cabinet.

I love that it was cheap, easy to do, and practical. Anyone else have any easy DIY organization tips for those items you don't want sitting in a pile. If so do share.