Laundry Love

My sister-in-law has recently moved into her dream house. She deserves it too, after 16 years of tiny London apartments. Visiting there last week, she proudly showed me the large section of her kitchen which is going to become the "Utility" as they call it here in England, or the laundry. I expect she will put quite a lot of thought into how it is going to be organised, and so looking at that blank space I thought, what would I do if I could design my laundry area from scratch?

What a fun project! I know that a lot of people have to make do with the space under their kitchen sink, and haul the ironing board out of the wardrobe in a panic in the mornings to get the shirts done. Well, what if we could all have our fantasy laundry room? It can't hurt to dream a little...and then once we're inspired we can see what little touches we can bring from our fantasy world into real life, just to make things a little more enjoyable.

So the first thing I did was start drooling over the great stuff you find all over the web on design sites, and in magazines - you know those laundries that have been put together by a stylist and will never be touched by tumbledrier lint or bits of grass from inside your son's socks.

This is my dream fodder...

Hirondelle Rustique

Style At Home

Centsational Girl

Now, having waded through hundreds of inspiring photographs (after a while, you think you don't really want to do up your laundry room anymore...) I have to ask myself, how on earth does a normal person do ANYTHING inspiring with a real-life laundry? I mean for goodness sake, please tell me who has enough space in their house to have a laundry room like this?:

Hampton Design

So, back to the real world. Now, I did find a couple of normal, real-live women who have attempted pretty fantastic laundry-room makeovers. Here are a couple of examples:

Centsational Girl took this

and made this

Not bad right?

However, I think I would tire of this after a while. It's smart, and pretty but after a while I would forget what it looked like before.

No, what I am going to need to make laundry interesting are some unusual touches. I am going need the things I use to be beautiful. So, what about some handmade laundry soap?

un arc-en-ciel dans lavabo

Yes it's lovely, but it may get a little tedious having to grate all that soap. However, having a couple of bars next to the sink with an old grater ready to wash your pretty lace undies...now that's practical and stylish. And how about getting an old wash basin too...vintage utility items have an immense beauty, unique to each item because of the years of hard work put in on them by women just like us.

Not sure my white shirts would like the rust though...

Practically, though, it is quite easy to find the more old-fashioned laundry accessories, brand new. Wooden pegs, for example, are gorgeous and sturdy. And of course, you can go mad with storage items.

Country Living

So, to finish off, I did a bit of leg work for you to source some beautiful and practical laundry-room basics which you can buy online. So get yourself a cup of coffee (or tea), maybe a yummy piece of cake, and using these basics, build yourself a dream laundry (or at least just dream it).

Gorgeous Ironing Board Covers (you could get two and change them seasonally) are $25 from Etsy.

This cotton drawstring bag with pegs is on sale at Raw Edges Studio for $12.80

Isn't this sunshine yellow tin wash tub gorgeous? Guaranteed to brighten even the rainiest washdays. It's $40 from Sigmosaics.

And this is my favourite, because I have always used an old Ikea bag to keep my lost socks until their partners show up again.

It's $18 at Handmade By Bette.

Well, I could go on forever. Let me know if you use any of these ideas, I'd love to see what you're up to!

No matter what happens - use great stationery

One of my greatest weakness is my desire to communicate to the world on beautiful paper. With an expensive ink fountain pen. And preferably an original letterhead design.

I can't walk past a stationery shop. I thought I had died and gone to heaven when I discovered Papyrus in the Pacific Place Mall in Seattle. You must remember, America dwellers, that the rest of the world is still discovering stationery.

So, you can imagine that one of my greatest decision, my biggest burdens, in our preparations to emigrate to America has been - what shall I use to notify our change of address?

Should it be a postcard? In fact providence would have it that The Executive Homemaker has free change of address printables this very morning. While these are cute, and probable great for a local move, I didn't think they had the punch, the originality, the clout needed for a final "I'm leaving the country forever".

I had to do some research. I had bought myself a pack of 50 white pressed notecards ready for this project. I needed a printable that inspired me.

What a blessing Google Reader is. I just typed in "printable" and it searched the archives of all my favourite blogs for inspiration. And that is where I found the treasure!

Indiefixx has some gorgeous printable art and it's all free! I chose these two gorgeous little artworks, with birds as the theme. Paste them into word, and plan two cards per A6 postcard note, with a note on the back saying "We're flying away...".

My plan is to have them in my bag to give to family and friends that I see regularly, and pop one into any written correspondence I send. Then I will go through my contact list and post out to anyone left.

Cute, no?

I am looking forward to something else I can design use the Indiefixx art. I am sure there will be some thank you cards coming out of my printer soon...

Don't put it off until it gets you down.

You may have picked up that my family and I are emigrating to the United States at the beginning of August. We have already done two international moves, so this isn't too big a deal for me. However, this is the first time we have moved with our kids at school age, two pets, and all our stuff, to a place where we have no connections (except the new ones we have already started to make!).

Can you imagine the to-do list?

Well, my problem is that I haven't even known where to start making a list. Usually I'm pretty good with stuff like that, but this has been way out of the box for me. I have been handling the move on a "first thought, first action" basis. In other words, by the seat of my pants.

This has not been great for stress levels, and a new blogging friend of mine inspired me with her post to actually do something about the nebulous feeling of ought-to and better-do that was weighing me down.

I put it off no longer. I made a list.

This is my Life Book which is a wonderful planner designed just for busy women. I went straight to the monthly planning section at the back, and wrote down all the things I need to get done by the end of June. There was a lot. Then I did July.

After this, I went to my calendar and made a list of things I have to do every day (including housework, emails etc) and the time I needed for that.

Once I had worked out my daily load, I fit in one of the big tasks from my June to-do list onto each day where there was space for it. I left some days free, like Sundays, Father's Day and the three days before the movers come to pack the house.

It's all in there, now all I have to do is take each day as it comes. Wow, what a relief! And the best part is, I know I can get it all done on time.

So here's a quick recap of the easy way I got everything off my chest and onto my calendar.

1. I did a "brain dump" of all the things I could think of that I needed to do, and wrote them down on the month I needed to get them done. I also wrote down how long I would need to finish each item.

2. I did a list of the daily jobs I needed to do and how long each would take. (Grouping these to Home, Computer, Town, etc helped so that I could do them all in a block of time in the one place).

3. I got my weekly planner (which already has commitments written in it) and worked out how much time on each day I had (after my daily jobs were done) to get a job done from by "big" list. Then I slotted in just one item into the day that had time, making sure there was some free time too! Scheduling it meant I could relax and forget about it until the day came round, knowing I would still meet my deadlines!

Have you got any strategies for getting through big events, or seasons of change in your life? Comment and let me know!

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My best things - No. 1

When you move countries, as one does, one starts to realise that there are certain things that are more important than others. This is because every item costs something to be packed up by a lovely man or woman in a box, put on a ship, and sailed by a captain and crew to the port near our new home.

If you think about it like that, you realise that some things you couldn't care less about. Other things you feel sick in the bottom of your stomach at the thought that someone took the trouble to sail it all the way over the seas to another continent. Like my mum who moved house during a very busy time in her business. She had no time to clear out her drawers or cupboards. Everything was packed, including a drawer of pens most of which didn't work...

There are also things that I would never part with, no matter how much they cost to move, like my vintage Alfa De Luxe Sewing Machine. She's a beauty.

Some things I have collected over my life so far that have moved with me wherever I go. This is because they are small and light, and they somehow convey to me the sense of home, no matter where I am. I decided to feature some of these special objects because they are wonderful things to collect over your life knowing that you will be able to take them with you, perhaps even into the nursing home when you are really ancient...

My first object brings me so much joy every time I walk past it. I get little glimpses of my darling children's faces at different stages of their lives.

The great thing about this mobile is that it is cheap and easily available at Amazon. You could do so much more than using photos too. If you have done anything creative with one of these please leave a comment with a link!

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A Kim and Aggie Makeover

Every morning I check through my blogs and see photographs of beautiful made-over rooms by talented DIYers and amateur designers. I have, in the past, had a bad habit of moving the furniture around or painting walls different colours, while my husband has been out. Either that, I would plan the new layout, and wait for him to get home so he could move the furniture! It was all to satisfy my desire to give my belongings new life, perhaps to show off a neglected artwork, or create a new little world of style. I always find room makeovers energise me and get my creative juices flowing.

Unfortunately, rooms can only be madeover so often. So I find myself looking at other people's beautiful homes and feeling frustrated.

This morning, however, I had an idea. Kim and Aggie of How Clean is your House? work miracles on the most disgusting and depressing homes without buying a single piece of furniture, painting any walls, or adding accessories. All they use is a LOT of elbow grease, and a knack for sorting and organising to bring order and sparkle to people's homes. I have been amazed at how beautiful someone's home can look if it is loved, and arranged with a careful eye. When I walked into my bedroom last night, after an incredibly busy weekend most of which was spent away from home, I realised that I had the perfect setting for a Kim and Aggie makeover.

This is what it looked like first thing this morning.

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Inspiration from A Totally Normal Woman

I love it when I see a blog designed by a totally normal person just like me, trying to do things I aspire to do, like style and redesign homes with everyday items. Have a look at Pepper Design Blog for projects and style that is within everyone's reach.

I especially like her collection of organising ideas for the Ikea Expedit range of shelving. I can't wait to go buy some!! (When we move to the States that is).