Laundry Closet Clean-up – FREE and Under an HOUR!

I have a serious case of crazy Spring Fever.  The projects I have going on right now are countless.  I am desperately trying to turn my house (that I have already lived in for almost four years) into a home.  I am trying to get my garden and backyard in order.  I am finishing remodeling my guest bathroom.  In the middle of remodeling the master bathroom.  Building cabinets.  Replacing the roof and HVAC system (of course I’m not doing that myself…I’m not THAT crazy).  The list goes on.  Part of my bathroom remodels have been to rip up the ugly, ten year old, linoleum flooring, and replacing it with ceramic tile.  The same ugly linoleum is in our laundry closet, so guess what?  Yep!  That’s got to go too!

House remodels would go so much quicker if you could just get to work putting the new items in.  Unfortunately, before that can begin, there is a lot of clean up and sometimes demolition.  Do you have an area in your house that just always remains disheveled and dirty?  I am usually a pretty clean person, but for me that room is my little laundry closet.  It is always dirty, and dusty.  There are dust bunnies hanging from the rafters, semi-dried up detergent everywhere.  Isn’t it lovely?

Agh!  Poor Pooh Bear couldn’t take it anymore so he hung himself.  So sad.  Before I was able to start demolition for my remodel, I needed to to get this area cleaned up!

Here is how to clean up your laundry room/laundry closet…in less than one hour and for free! (time will vary depending on how much junk you have to clean out)

1. Remove EVERYTHING from the space and put it in the hallway or another room.  This is a great way to clean and declutter ANY room.  Once you see how beautiful it looks empty, you won’t want to put all that junk back.
2. Take a damp sponge and clean off ALL surfaces.  This includes those crazy dusty walls and ceiling and, in my case, all parts of the wire shelving.  Have a clean, dry towel handy to wipe up the water.
3. Take the time to pull out the washer and dryer and clean under and around them.
4. Throw away all the trash or items that you have not used in the last six months and that cannot be donated.
5. Fill a box of donations with the rest of the items that you have not used in the last six months.  Don’t think you can bear to part with them quite yet?  Put the box away in another room.  If you haven’t gone into the box in the next month, take it to your local thrift store!
6. Make sure all the items leftover actually belong in this space.  If they don’t, put them away, of course!  As you can see in my picture above, MANY of these items did not belong in this area.  My baby got Pooh Bear back, the sleeping bags went in the linen closet (that was also recently cleaned so there were THREE empty shelves), the paint to the garage…you get the point.
7. Organize the remaining items into containers and label them.  The containers you see below are from my kids’ old toy shelves.  I have a stack of them sitting in a closet exactly for purposes like this.  When I remodel I will be purchasing new ones to match the space and labeling them.

BEFORE

AFTER

My washer and dryer sparkle now and the room is practically empty!  This is not a show just for the picture either…everything is truly cleaned up and put away elsewhere or in the trash. The blue box is only the detergent, bleach, and fabric softener.  The middle pink box is holding the iron and starch.  The pink box on the right is holding spare light bulbs, and the red bin has tea lights and tart burners.  The trash can is for the lint, and I will also be adding a container of wet wipes to wipe the machines off EVERY TIME I use them from now on.  I suppose I should also try to make my own laundry detergent like Debbie just posted the other day!

What room would you LOVE to tackle for spring cleaning???

Marissa

Tags: clean, declutter, laundry, Organize

Bean Bag Chair — A Storage Solution (stuffed animals, extra pillows & blankets)

There will definitely be a theme of “the dissertation is done, so Debbie is starting to play ‘catch-up’ with projects” with my upcoming posts.  It has been so nice to sew/cook/craft again.  Not that I worked on the dissertation/school work ALL of the time, but I found myself feeling so guilty about doing anything else, that instead, I would just sit and do nothing or web-surf looking for new projects that I didn’t have time to do!

A while ago, Jen came across in a catalog this creative way to store stuffed animals.  Did she order a couple? Oh no, she said, “I bet Mom could make those a lot cheaper!” (I think they were about $75 in this speciality catalog).  I did manage to make one for Little S (who had the stuffed-animals-reaching-the-point-of-room-takeover situation going on!) and she received it for her birthday over a year ago. Both of the girls loved the project and requested I make them for the rest of the “grands” — I bought the fabric, even cut it out, but didn’t get them made until just in time for this Christmas.  And, they were a hit!

This “storage solution” would also work great for a dorm room or small apartment (to store extra linens, winter jackets, etc.).

Supplies:

Start out with any bean bag chair pattern.. I used “D” of Simplicity Pattern #5105 (which I can guarantee was purchased during one of JoAnn’s any-pattern-for-$1.99 sales — I do NOT pay full price for patterns!).

Heavy fabric, such as duck or denim (you do not want it to be stretchy!), according to pattern requirements

22″ long zipper (closed at one end)

1/2 yard mesh fabric (like what is used for laundry bags)

thread

Directions:

Cut out the fabric pieces according to the pattern directions.  Begin sewing pieces together, again, according to the pattern directions; however, instead of just a simple seam between two of the pieces, insert the zipper.

For the piece which will be opposite where the zipper has been inserted, cut out some of the heavy fabric and insert a “window” of the mesh fabric.  In the “sample” Jen found in the catalog, this window was made of vinyl … so that was how I made the first bean bag — not a good idea!  Little S almost immediately zipped herself (we should have known!) into the bag and couldn’t get out.  Luckily, a little friend was over playing and we were alerted to her predicament!  So, before making anymore, I did a bit of fabric “research” and came up with the mesh idea.  If you’re making one of these for an older child or teen, or even a young adult, the “window” isn’t really necessary — mainly just allows for the furry friends to be remembered!

Continue to follow pattern directions to complete the “bean bag chair”, simply using your “modified” panels.

Since these “chairs” are likely to get heavy use (Little S drags hers all over the house so she can sit wherever the action is happening!), I double stitched all seams and top-stitched through the seam allowances which I pressed to one side.

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Tags: Debbie, Organization, Repurpose, Sewing, Storage Solution