Our Dirty Laundry

So I've been experimenting with homemade laundry detergent. I'm not exactly sure why...cost, effectiveness, just because. It could be any of those reasons really. The cost is about 6 cents per load. Not bad. I haven't really done a price comparison though. Any of you have any idea? It's supposed to be better for eczema than store bought detergents. I'm not sure if it is, but I guess it couldn't hurt to try. One thing I do know is that it makes my clothes so incredibly SOFT. That's enough for me!

I use the recipe found here,  but there are many variations on this theme.
Here are the ingredients...
2 bars Fels-Naptha
1 cup Borax
1 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (this is different than baking soda...just to be clear!)

My mom and I think we have our system down to a science. We grate the Fels-Naptha with a cheese grater and then she pulverizes it in her VitaMetaVegaMin Mixer. OK, it might just be called a VitaMix or is a VegaMite, anyway... we sort of felt like Lucy grating up laundry soap. Then you just add in a cup of each of the other ingredients and you're good to go. 1 Tbsp for a regular load, 2 Tbsp for heavily soiled loads. I have a high efficiency machine and it works really well.

Any other homemade detergent fans out there? What's your recipe?

Dirty Pics and a PRINTABLE

I've been working on some projects for the laundry room. I think we've just decided that it won't have doors on it one day after all. Doing it this way we maximize space. Maybe we'll figure something out, but for now I actually like having it open.

I decided that I wanted to have DIRTY pictures of the boys. Like I wanted them to play in dirt...sheesh. So one day last week after it rained, I took them out to the backyard in our dirt pit. Yep...it's still a big dirt/sand pit. I also decided that I wanted to use my old apple ladder that has been sitting around waiting for me for at least 3 years. Finally! So...here are some of the materials...

I painted the MDF first and then Mod Podged (LOVE this verb) the photos on.

TIP: Apply Mod Podge to the MDF first. Then place photo. Allow to dry before putting a coat of Mod Podge on top - NO WRINKLES OR BUBBLES! Maybe you knew that. I am still learning.

Here's my final...sort of. I didn't buy enough eyes to hang the boards, so now I have to make ANOTHER trip to the Depot. I just hate it when that happens.

I'm still debating on hanging them with jute. What do you think? It might be a little too rustic for me. We'll see when I actually hang it.

I almost forgot!! I made this little definition for the laundry room too. I thought it fit perfectly. I think Jason was offended. Hmmmmm...

Download an 8.5 x 11 pdf printable for you right here! The actual image is only 7x8... If you don't like using 4shared, email me and I can email it to you.

I'm sorry, the freebie is no longer available.

For Melissa - a little perspective!

OK, I'm thinking that I should have made the lines pink or something...I need some color. Oh well. Not enough time to redo.

Melissa asked for a little perspective on the laundry area, so here is a very BASIC floor plan of the family room/laundry area when we moved in. In the laundry room, they had cabinets on one side and the washer/dryer on the other side. The back door was right in the middle of the back wall of the laundry room.

We decided that we wanted to open things up a bit. More on the opening up later...but for now, you can see that we took out the wall and doorway that were the old laundry room and just made a little laundry closet.

Update on the progress: The first coat of mud is going on this evening. We bought paint for some cabinets, hardware for said cabinets, and some hardware for a very FUN project that I won't spoil as of yet!

Drywall Dust...

...here we come!!!

Jason decided that he wanted to do things right. He's going to remove the 220 outlet since we don't need it anymore. Then he's going to put the water and drain in one of those nice little boxes that stick inside the wall. He'll put it lower so it won't be seen. Then he will add an outlet (below the future countertop) for the washer and dryer, and he may be moving the other outlet over so it isn't right in the middle of the closet. I'm so excited to see where this project is going...

Finished with the Unfinished

So while I chatted with Tara a few weeks back, she asked how the house was coming along. She said that she hadn't seen any photos of all of our remodeling.

Truth is - I haven't posted any. You may have seen bits and pieces in the background of other photos, but no official before and after pictures. Why?

It's NEVER after. We're NEVER done with the project. NEVER done with a room. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER!!!

However, I've decided that I am going to document our progress. That way you can see how lovely it looks so far. Indeed it has come a long way since we moved in just over 3 years ago. I'm also compiling a list of little projects that I need to complete. I complain so much about Jason not putting in my floor moulding, but there are plenty of projects that I can do to further the completion of the house (including putting in the floor moulding...shhhh...don't tell him I said that!)

I am starting with the laundry room closet. Here are the before pics...like WAYYYY before! This is what it looked like the day we moved in. We demoed this whole cabinet side (how do you like the splatter paint? Nice!!) We wanted things to be as open as they could be, so we opted for just a laundry closet. You can see the side we kept. Except we didn't KEEP any of it. Take out the yucky hangers. Take out the bent pole. Take out the yucky shelves. Take out the awful tile. Get rid of the splatter paint. Build a closet.

Which brings us to yesterday...when it looked like this...I wanted to leave it as dirty as I could so the reveal could be more dramatic.

First step was installing the vinyl tile. This is the commercial grade stuff that you see in Target and the like. It should wear okay, and I don't mind the way it looks. Especially in black. I suppose I could have done something more clever, but this was cheap and easy. Just the way I like it!

Stay tuned for more progress...I won't promise a finished project, but I will promise PROGRESS! We're contemplating making this a longer project by moving the water and drains and such down behind the appliances. That would be nice, but I'm not sure if I'm ready for all that drywall dust.