Laundry Sink Addition +Makeover

I was at the thrift store about a month ago and found the cutest hanging chandelier for only $15.  I googled it and found that it was selling online for around $400.  I mean come on.  I didn't have a place for it, but after careful consideration decided that I should put it in the laundry room.  Well, then it tail spinned into a complete laundry makeover. Isn't that always the case. You never know when inspiration will hit so these projects are hardly ever planned.  At the bottom I detail sources for items. But overall, I painted everything, including the ceiling, added beadboard wallpaper, wall storage, a new laundry sink and faucet, rug, window trim, custom cafe curtains, and accessories.   

AFTER

BEFORE

BEFORE

AFTER

The sink is a kitchen/laundry sink found at the Restore for a steal! We added a beautiful English inspired faucet and we custom made a counter and backsplash using birch wood with a faux Soapstone finish, tutorial I followed below.    We changed the undermount rod to a brass one and added acrylic clear hangers.

I took down the peel and stick wallpaper and put up beadboard traditional paintable wallpaper.  The cabinets and upper trim were all painted in the same color.  I am in love with the traditional English Brass faucet.  It was originally designed for a bathroom sink so we had to purchase a larger drain size when we hooked it up.

The upper cabinet door handles got a fresh coat of gold spray paint as well. Much cheaper than replacing them.

We added craftsman trim around the window which made a huge difference. I mounted a brass cafe curtain rod outside on the frame and sewed curtains with a french pleat in a Waverly french toile fabric.

I didn't spend a lot on accessories since I planned to pull blue delft or pottery from around the house.  I gave the chandelier a good cleaning and painted it champagne gold. Originally it was silver. We added LED candelabra lights and installed a dimmer switch. It turns out six light bulbs in a laundry room can be quite bright!

The light switch is Vintage Delft and it fits the new dimmer. 

I was pretty happy to find a runner rug that fit the space and brought a richness to it. It's a Vintage looking Scandinavian design in a flat weave. 

A great feature of the laundry room is now the freed up floor space. We found a wall mount Ironing Board rack to get that off the ground and also a wall mounted drying rack. Before both were on the ground and used up quite a bit of space.

Okay now back to our regularly scheduled laundry program!

Here is breakdown of room items, plus cost.

Paint on Cupboards and beadboard - Sherwin Williams Semigloss in color Rock Bottom - $45/gallon

Wall and Ceiling Color - Eggshell Valspar in Reserved White $45/gallon

Wood Trim for Windows -$100 Sherwin Williams in color Celedon (already owned)

Sink - Elkay Quartz Classic 25" x 22" Single Bowl Drop in Greystone Color, I paid $60 new

Bottom Cabinet Used from Habitat for Humanity Restore $75

Cabinet Pulls -From trip to Korea

Painted Upper Handles with Krylon Gold Spray Paint $7 x 3 =$21

Wallpaper Beadboard from Lowes $25

Vintage Ornate Porcelain Putter 6 ARM Candle Stick Light Fixture, Made in Spain $15

Vintage Painting $40

Glass Bowl with dryer balls Home Goods $12

Baskets from Home Goods Large $25, Medium $20 Wall Basket $14 

Rug- Garnet Hill $245

Faucet - English Vintage Style Single Handle Centerset $233

Wall Mount Iron Rack - Wayfair $18

Birch Wood for countertop $40

Faux Soapstone Paint Supplies $40 Followed this tutorial

Towel Bar Lowes $30

Curtain Fabric - Waverly Toile Ebay $60

Brass Cafe Curtain Rod from Rejuvenation $75

Brass Cafe Curtain Clip Rings Ebay $15

Delft Vintage Switch Plate Ebay $25

Plumbing for Sink plus tools $230

Acrylic Hangers $75

Grand Total Makeover - $2,176 (and cue the frown from Joe after I said the whole thing would only cost a couple hundred dollars.  Although if I put a positive spin on it, I saved tons on the sink, light fixture, and art! 

P.S. Make a budget beforehand.

 

Laundry Room

I did an Instagram post a while back with a sneak peak into the laundry room, but never got around to blogging about it.  Here is it, pretty much finished (except for a laundry sink I am desperately waiting on.) 

The ceiling was painted with gray and white stripes. We took down the fluorescent lighting and added a pretty hanging pendant light.  That was no easy task it turns out! We added shelves and a cabinet, plus some wallpaper behind it and trim. The artwork of the bunny makes me very happy. :)  I sewed the curtain for the window and added a solar shade for privacy but that still allows plenty of natural light in. 

A reminder of what this space looked like when we moved in.

The white cabinets are from the Habitat Restore and we painted them in a glossy white finish with a pop of teal color on the inside. We added some new modern hardware too and trimmed it so it looks built in.

We installed a towel bar on the underside of the cabinets for hanging clothing, but will be especially handy when we get our sink to drip dry clothing.  How cute are these lamas wearing sweaters? Cute laundry room art really makes you want to hang out in here.

I had a little bit of teal paint left over from another project so it's nice to be able to use it somewhere else in the house.

Can't wait for the laundry room sink! I will update you when it comes.

xo
Cathleen

DIY Cleaning Recipes

After a series of weeks where my kids have been coughing indoors due to typical winter weather and being stuck inside, it dawned on me that we need better indoor air.  Then it got me thinking about all the chemicals we use in our house just to clean it, but we end up leaving the air and eventually our earth more polluted.  My kids have sensitive lungs so it was high time I got rid of all the nasty store bought cleaners and replaced them with all natural cleaning supplies.  

My cupboard went from this:

BEFORE

To this:

AFTER

The following four recipes are awesome and you'll find them easy to make and easy to use. Here is what you need to make the following recipes for Glass Cleaner, All Purpose Cleaner, Toilet Cleaner, and Laundry Detergent. 1) White Vinegar, 2) Corn Starch, 3) Borax (found in your laundry aisle, 4) Rubbing Alcohol, 5) Liquid Castille Soap (sometimes found in the natural food aisle or beauty aisle) 6) Washing Soda (found at your grocery store laundry aisle,) and 7) Natural bar soap like Dr. Bronner’s, Ivory, or other natural bar soap,) and 8) Essential oil like lemon oil.

You'll also need three large spray bottles and a glass jar to hold your laundry detergent. I found these at Target.

Glass Cleaner

• 1/2 cup rubbing alcohol
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 2 Tbsp Cornstarch
• 4 cups warm water

Combine everything in the spray bottle using a funnel if you have one. Shake well each time you use it to make sure the cornstarch doesn't clog the spray bottle.  I used an old cloth diaper to clean my windows and they have never looked so sparkly!

All Purpose Cleaner

• 2 tsp borax
• 1 tsp washing soda
• 2 tsp liquid lavender castille soap (or orange)
• 4 cups warm water

Combine everything in the spray bottle using a funnel if you have one. Shake well each time.  You can use as a bathroom cleaner, floor pre-treater, or kitchen cleaner. Works great to disinfect.

Heavy Duty Toilet Formula

1 1/2 cups borax
2 cups white vinegar
5 drops lemon essential oil

You can combine everything in a squirt bottle or add directly to the toilet to clean. You can let sit overnight to remove rings from the toilet too.

Laundry Detergent

• 2 cups Borax
• 2 cups Washing Soda
• 2 bars of Dr. Bronner's Castille Bar Soap grated

Mix everything in a glass container and use 1/8 cup to 1/4 cup per load depending on size of wash. It's so easy even your kid can help!

This amount of detergent should last for at least 36 loads if not more.  I'm happy to use less plastic and have cleaner clothes with no dyes, perfumes, or chemicals going into our water supply!

BEFORE

AFTER

I can't wait to try more natural DIY recipes for cleaning. It's been fun cleaning the house without feeling like I'm going to pass out from harsh chemicals. :)  Happy Cleaning!

xo
Cathleen

Buh Bye Bifolds

We've been having a problem here at Peahen Pad ever since we installed our new floors.  Since the floors became a different height it threw off our bifold doors in our washing machine area. They literally have not been able to shut correctly and were really misaligned.   And if you see here in this pic, they really stick out when they are opened and cause a "flow" problem from the laundry area to the outdoors.

Here's the other view and you can also see how they impose on the back door and make it impossible to put the deadbolt on.  I am always doing laundry, so this became a huge problem to me, plus they literally didn't close correctly.  So off them came!

When they came down they left this little line at the top of the molding that needed to be sanded, holes needed repair, and it needed to be painted.  So guess what I did? Yep, all three of those things.

But it only took me about an hour to make it look like this.  You can still see a little line, but it will be hidden when I cover it with a shower curtain. So yeah, I decided that a shower curtain rod would be the best way for me to hang curtains because I can use the tension rod instead of drilling holes.

I had these Linen curtains with grommet holes already on hand, yay!  They were perfect for the job. The rod came from TJ Maxx for just $14. It's a nice oil rubbed bronze color.

Ah, I just love the way it looks now and so much less imposing than those opened bifold doors. They are puddling on the floor just a tad now, but thankfully when I find some cute tie backs, it won't be a problem at all.

And another view from the living room.  It really makes a difference to me having these pretty curtains that I can totally shut when I want them to be or open when I'm doing laundry, which is most of the time, but now I can lock the back door and walk through with no problems. Oh and no more pinched baby fingers in those bifold doors. :)

Have you tried hanging curtains in your laundry room instead of doors?  What did you think?  Did it work for the long haul? Happy Monday and happy laundry day for me!

xo
Cathleen