Project Laundry Room

9 years ago, as Dale and I were preparing for our new life together as a married couple, we began praying for a rental we could afford, BUT, I had a big wish list too. So, I started praying VERY specifically.

If you know me, and know much of a planner I am, this will not surprise you.

“Lord, we need an affordable place to live, and I would love to live in a home with big windows, a nice sized yard, a kitchen with a view, big laundry room, 2 car attached garage and room for our family to grow. And Dale wants to live in the country, and I am not sure if this city girl could handle that, could you help us find a nice compromise? Oh, and unless you know something we don’t, we can’t spend more than $400 a month in rent. Thanks Lord, may your will be done… “

Pretty big wish list right?!

Nope, not for the Lord.

He provided us with a 1940’s ranch-style house on 17 acres with 3 bedrooms and 1 1/2 bathrooms. It even had the outbuildings Dale wanted, although he didn’t actually add them to the prayer wish list. That’s the “The Lord knows the desires of your heart” part. 🙂 Its only 3 houses off of a paved road, 5 minutes from church, 5 from both our mom’s and 10 from Walmart….

Country AND city.

Thanks Lord!

So we rented, and eventually bought this home, and have slowly been fixing it up. You know the drill… carpet, paint, new fixtures. Then, when we were pregnant with Tylan, the 3 1/2 of us + 2 inside dogs, moved to my mom’s house, while we added on a master bedroom, bathroom and closet.

Yes, we still speak to my mother, and Yes, she still loves us. lol 🙂 We then turned our old bedroom into a playroom and office with a walk in toy closet, which freed up a bedroom for baby Ty. Its been wonderful! Especially since I had no idea we’d end up fitting 4 kids in this house!

The latest project on “The List”, has been the laundry room. It’s country blue,with kitty & birdy wallpaper, and is one of those rooms, that every time you enter (which is A LOT these days), you think to yourself….this is SO not me! Another issue of this room, was that we were running out of pantry space:

Old pantry, new pantry door and pantry from the garage view.

So late last night, actually EARLY this morning, I finished moving into the new pantry. What a blessing to have all our food in ONE location! Previous to this, the food was in the kitchen, laundry room, and garage. Being organized makes me happy! 🙂 Thanks to my daddy-o for a great birthday present! Thanks a million to handy man Justin, for his super carpenter skills! And thanks to my honey for giving up a couple Saturdays of fishing to finish the pantry!

While we are working out there anyways, we are going to paint the room a beautiful mustard color, and all the woodwork white. I have some ideas for a big magnet board to display school papers, and a shelf to house baskets and hooks for all the accessories kids come with. That is Phase II, to be completed at a later date. Until then? I’ll be ripping kitties & birdies off the wall in preparation!

While we had our handy man around, (thanks for the loaner Melissa!) we had him lay some tile in front of our fireplace. We burn wood all winter, and save a hundreds on our heating bill, but look at the carpet.

Yup, burn marks. Every morning, I woke up to new burns, and after thanking the Lord for safety, would ask Dale “PU-LEEEEEASE, can we add tile here?” We just need to add a stained wood strip around the perimeter and its done too, just in time for winter!