Sidetracked. . . As Usual

Necessity is the mother of invention. . . or rather, of construction in our case.  At least that's what I call it when a washing machine goes out and it spurs a laundry room makeover.  A deadline helps to.  Of course, that deadline has passed, as has the over zealous gusto with which we started the project.

"We have three days to make over the room before the new washer and dryer get here." got us really going on the project. . . then reality set in and we made sure the floor was done so the washer and dryer would have something to sit on.  Here is where the dilemma of the walls (and the sink/cabinets/shelf) brought this project to a screeching halt.  In typical fashion, we abandoned the project midstream.  Or at least set it aside, missing baseboards and all, while we figured out what to do with it and got on with life.

And by got on with life, I mean we jumped ship onto another project, of course.  I am having flashbacks of working on the garden, deciding the west side yard needed done, which is tied to the east lane gate area project (trust me on that one) so we worked on that area for, oh about an hour, before changing gears and focusing on the tree house for the entire weekend.

Clearly we have issues.

And one of them happened to be an overflowing non-functional under-the-stairs-closet-catchall-black-whole-where-winter-coats-go-in-but-don't-come-out. . . among other things (a couple sewing machines, a couple tubs of fabric, several jackets and backpacks--oh, and the vacuum. . . and carpet cleaner).  I bet you didn't realize a four by four space could hold so much.  My argument was that it really could be holding so much more--if we did something about making the space a little more vertical.  I was thrilled to find my daughter's coat we all took for lost last December.  Though it is less urgent now that it is June. . . or at least it would be if the weather would remember that it IS June.

And since we dove into this project with very little forethought, I have no actual before picture.  So just picture this room without the partially installed shelving and with the aforementioned crap stacked half way up and making a fairly successful attempt to spew out into the hallway. . . or don't, because that probably says something about me as a person.

We installed four 12" shelves, painted the room the same color as the hallway, and the shelves white.

We attempted to move the hooks off the door and onto the wall inside the closet, but of course we only succeeded in making several holes I will now have to repair.

In the meantime, we ran to The Container Store and stocked up on divided organizable storage totes that would fit our shelves and I began sorting.  I started with the sewing stuff, but will likely add some other craft supplies which are currently in my office.

I may need more space. . .

But in the end it looks so much neater. . . and I actually know what is in there.

Plus, as a bonus, I no longer have to shove the door hard and fast to keep the vacuum from bursting back out from lack of floor space.

Now the question is, will our next project be the rest of the laundry room?