I don’t know about you, but my laundry room often gets overlooked.  Not only does it hold the washer/dryer, but there is a utility sink, toilet, cat litter box, laundry shoot and a French rolling basket. It’s hard to make it pretty with a cat litter box…..is there anything more unattractive?

I purchased this piece of furniture with wire baskets years ago from Pottery Barn. Of course I didn’t have any great before pictures, but you can see it is white.

The baskets hold everything from toilet paper to laundry pods to spot remover.  The wicker basket on top is the landing place for the laundry shoot located directly above. I’m not sure I still like the “clothes line” painting on the wall, but I don’t dislike it enough to paint over it just yet.

Guessing the original paint was lacquer, I sanded the glossy finish so the new coat of paint would stick.  I used 400 grit paper that I wrapped around a sanding sponge.

In this photo, you can see the damage done by detergent spills.  I guess if it can get grass stains out, it can eat away at paint.

I tried hand sanding this~~just roughing up the surface a little.  However, when I applied my first coat of paint, it smeared and didn’t seem to stick.  So much so that I wiped it off.  Time for serious power tools. I then re-sanded it.

You may notice I have only one sock on…..that’s because I accidentally stepped on the lid which was facing up and of course, loaded with paint.  It wasn’t until I started walking on the terrace and leaving blue footprints behind that I realized it.  Truly, I am the messiest painter I know.

Here’s what it looked like after the first coat.  Obviously there was still an issue on having the paint stick to the surface.  I don’t know what they used to protect the surface, but it was very difficult to penetrate.  Of course I didn’t want to halt the project and buy a proper primer (which I should have done).

At this point, I am groaning because I thought this was going to be an easy, few hour project. But with the second coat, I was starting to see some progress.

Finally, this pain in the neck project was completed! Took me two days, but I like how the blue paint color goes with the slate floor.

Here’s a view up to the laundry shoot.

Now I need to update the rugs in this room and find a clever way to make the litter box look more appealing.

What I learned:

1.  90% of painting is the prep work and I always want to short cut that.. Bad move.
2. Remember where you put the exposed paint so you don’t step in it (lid, stir stick).
3. Don’t wear your favorite socks while painting
4. If you think a project will take a short period of time, double or triple that.
5. I used plastic wrap to cover my paint brush so I didn’t have to keep washing it out between paint drying times.
6. Pre-finished furniture has some coating which is nearly impenetrable-perhaps a different grit sandpaper and/or a suitable primer would have made this easier.

So, do you think? Should I keep the wall painting of the clothes on the line or paint over it?

Paint color-Valspar Duramax WV39009 Dutch Blue Exterior Semigloss (This leftover paint was our front door color a few years back).

The original kitchen was woefully inadequate. Gotta love the electric cooktop right next to the sink!  It was so small we converted this space into the breakfast room.

We desperately needed a new kitchen. Trying to add such a vital room to a 100+ year old home took some careful design and planning.  Thankfully we had a wonderful architect who understood how important it was to ensure the transition from the old to the new was seamless. I wanted the new kitchen to look like it was original to the house.

When designing the kitchen, I divided it up into working sections~~cooking, baking, prepping, cleaning, storage and dining.

The Cooking Section:

The cooking area is set off to the side in its own alcove.  The main focus is the 6 burner Dacor range. The two deep drawers below hold all the pots and pans I use on a regular basis.

One of my favorite parts of the cooking alcove is the pot filler.  It is so easy to fill stock pots vs. carrying them across the room from the nearest sink.

The two pull out drawers on either side of the Dacor 6 burner gas range as used for oils and seasonings.

Everything I need while cooking is close at hand. Utensils are kept in vintage crocks within easy reach. Being left handed, all this sits to the left of the range.

The spice drawer is filled with Tupperware spice containers that are labeled.  I do love matching labels but haven’t gotten around to making these look all the same.

I just read that narrow width, light flooring is back in style.  We matched the original floors using Canadian Beech.  See? If you wait long enough, everything comes back in style!

On a vintage pedestal stand, I keep the daily essentials~~salt, pepper, oils, sauces, vinegar out on the counter.  A roll of paper towel is very close to help with wipe ups and spills.

To the right of the range is our coffee/tea station.  To see more about this, click here.

The Cleaning Section:

The cleaning area supports 2 sinks with their own individual faucets.  I’ve never had a kitchen with 2 faucets (usually there is one faucet that both sinks share), but we use both sinks ALL the time.  The two sinks/faucets allows 2 people to do separate tasks without being in each other’s way.

The faucet pulls out and can be used as a sprayer.  Buttons on the faucet change the water from a stream to a spray.

Investing in good sinks is a must. These deep Franke sinks were well worth the money.  They still polish up nicely and provide enough space to wash the most difficult items.  When the children were little, they would sit in the water and play while I prepared meals.

Dishwashers are on either side of the sink.  There are 3 pullout trash containers-one for regular trash; one for composting and one for recycling.

The L shaped bank of casement windows overlook the backyard and terrace, providing an abundance of natural light and ventilation.  These were installed so I could keep an eye on the children playing in the backyard and pool. The latest harvest from the garden is often found on the windowsills.

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of my kitchen.  My next post will focus on the baking, storage and dining sections.

Architect: Cathy Hayes Architecture, Phoenix

Dacor range

KitchenAid dishwasher

Fisher Paykel dishwasher drawers

Marvin Windows

The Chicago Faucet Co.-potfiller

Waterworks tile

Franke sinks

Cabinetry-custom, Lacquer finish in Cottage White

Hardware-Restoration Hardware

Flooring-Wildwood Custom Flooring, Phoenix

Kitchen Faucets- Clyde Hardware, Phoenix.

Before I left for college, my Mom made me a sweet, simple quilt. Quite frankly, I was surprised that she had the time to make this. Being the middle of 5 children and often overlooked, her gift made me feel extra special.  Today it is a bit dog-eared and frayed around the edges but it remains an endearing keepsake.

Because I cherish this handmade gift from my Mom, I wanted to make quilts for my two girls.  How hard can it be, right? I took Home Ec in 7th grade….

Finding pre-cut 10″ x 10″ squares in Christmas fabric helped push the decision over the edge. I found these in a quilting store in Pinetop, AZ but you can also find them online in various colors.

The designer is Kate Spain and she has a website filled with colorful items such as rugs, bedding, pillows, quilt fabric bundles and patterns.  On her website, she has new designs for 2018, if you are feeling ambitious!

Having all the coordinating fabric pre-selected is a big time saver.  The packet comes with 42 – 10″ x 10″ squares (you can buy 5″ ones too).  Depending on how creative you want to be, you can design the quilt any way you’d like. Julianna’s fabric is predominantly red, green and black (her favorite color).  Elisabeth’s is red, turquoise and green.

Since I’m a novice, I decided to just keep the 10″ squares and make a block print quilt. Nothing fancy schmancy.

I laid the squares out in the pattern I liked best,

and then sewed them together, a row at a time.

My first mistake: I wasn’t careful in sewing the seams at the same 1/2″.  As a result, the squares didn’t line up exactly as they should, which caused problems later on.  I was trying to do this secretively and precision wasn’t top of mind.

I pressed all the seams flat…feeling rather professional.  Here’s a look at the underside of the top layer.  I don’t know what the attraction was, but every time I took the quilt out to work on it, the cats and our dog, Sox felt a need to help.

After all the pieces were sewn together, I selected velvet for the borders-red for Elisabeth and black for Julianna.

My next mistake:  I didn’t realize how hard it is to sew velvet.  I don’t know if it was due to the fabric or combining the surfaces of velvet and cotton.  The border kept slipping and as a result I am sure the seams were not consistently 1/2″.

I found really soft black and red fabric for the back of the quilt.

For the filler, I used a thin polyester batting.  All fabric, thread and batting supplies were purchased at Hobby Lobby.

For the quilting part, I machine stitched all the squares in Julianna’s quilt.  This became problematic when the squares weren’t completely square and it didn’t lay flat properly.  I had to undo some of the stitching and correct my problem later. A complete pain.

To quilt all 3 layers of Elisabeth’s, I hand stitched only where the squares intersected.

Here is the finished product that the girls opened on Christmas morning.

After the fact, I realized I had not put their names on the quilts.  I should have embroidered one of the squares before I assembled it.  Then I got the great idea to do an iron-on label, using Avery Labels light fabric transfers. I created the wording on my computer, printed the mirror image and followed the directions.

I practiced ironing the transfer on a scrap piece of cotton fabric and it looked fine.  So I proceeded to add the transfer to the quilt.

I thought I was being careful to keep the iron moving, but then the fabric started to smell.

And it ended up looking like this!!!! I had burnt the fabric and ruined the square.

I was sick over this.  What I failed to consider is that when using the hot iron, the polyester batting must have overheated and melted. Not only did it smell bad, but the texture of the square was now stiff and scratchy.

I quickly went online and found another packet of these same holiday squares from Etsy.  I am awaiting shipment.  When it arrives, I plan to take a new square, embroider it, and then carefully remove the burnt square and replace it.

Here are the lessons I learned from this project:

1.  Be as accurate as possible when sewing the seams.  A square stops being a square when one side is not sewn straight. It will show up later when you quilt all three layers together.
2. If using velvet or another “slippery” fabric, know it will move while sewing.  Use plenty of pins or slowly stitch it. Again, straight seams are important.
3. Do not use an iron transfer with the quilt completely assembled. Do any personalizing prior to assembly.

In spite of some of the challenges, the girls really love the quilts.  Elisabeth was such a good sport when I showed her the damage and tried boosting my spirits.  The good news is I am confident I can repair this……I hope…:)

As you know, I have been on a cleaning, sorting and organizing whirlwind.  Starting at one end of the house, my goal is to go through every drawer, closet, dresser and attack it with the mindset as if I am moving in 2 weeks. Expired makeup, business suits with shoulder pads, miscellaneous paperwork – GONE!

The master closet and bathroom are behind me and I just finished the master bedroom. I haven’t cleaned out my nightstand in many years.

It’s such a luxury to have fresh cut flowers in any room, but having them by the bed, seems extra special….bringing a bit of the nature indoors.

But I am also fine with a good quality artificial flower, like these peonies from The Enchanted Home. To see a previous post about these artificial flowers, click here.

The decadent picture frame was a wedding gift from a friend~~it’s a collage of old pearls, jewelry, and a cupid and is truly one of a kind. Not sure my husband is very fond of it, but I think it’s fun.  Wouldn’t this be a great DIY project with an abundance of costume jewelry?

Within reach, I keep a candle, books I may be reading, a water bottle, and a small Limoges box that holds a set of rosary beads.  There’s a great story behind the Limoges box.  My husband and I won a trip (charity raffle) in 2001 to fly to London, England, take the Venice-Simplon-Orient Express train to Southhampton, England and then board Cunard’s Queen Elisabeth ship for a 10-day transAtlantic cruise.  Up to this point, I had never won anything…lucky, lucky me!!!  This beautiful keepsake box is from our exquisite train ride on the Orient Express.

The jeweled frog is just something fun.  It’s a small box and I don’t really use it for anything, but I’m rather fond of it.

In the top drawer closest to my side of the bed, you will find Kiehl’s hand cream, Essie apricot cuticle oil, Smith’s Rosebud salve, a nail file, my glasses, a few flashlights (as we are always losing power), and multiple power cords for my iPhone and Kindle, and my headphones. The ceramic prayer book holds a few more of my rosary collection. The pottery plate I received as a gift on a business trip with my husband to Chile, South America.

Smith’s Rosebud salve is so good for chapped lips, extra dry skin or to help minor burns.  It smells good and the tin looks so retro to me. My cuticles tend to get dry in the climate here and the apricot oil does the trick.

Lastly, I just discovered this amazing app called “Calm“.  If you have difficulty either falling asleep or staying asleep, you may want to try this. Each night before I go to sleep, I listen to a Sleep Story.  There is a large selection of stories that are read aloud for adults.  I cannot tell you how much fun it is to settle in and listen to a story.  I have not, to date, stayed awake long enough to hear the entire thing.  Their narrators have such smooth, reassuring voices that lull you to sleep.  They also have selections for meditations to reduce anxiety, sleep better and feel happier for all ages (even a College Collection).  I can’t say enough about this app.  It truly is something that I look forward to each day. It’s my new latest toy!!!

So, what is on your nightstand or bedside table?