Sunday, April 5, 2009

Hard work pays off

I hated my laundry room. It is the first thing you see when you go down the stairs. Dave and I have thought this space to be the biggest waste of space ever. Its a big area and all we do is walk through it and see how ugly it is. Well, not anymore!

I had a vision in mind and after a lot of hard work it totally paid off. It feels so wonderful and I can't wait to get to use it as I have in visioned. I started Tuesday night and finished Friday night. There are a lot of steps involved in this make over. First sanding the cupboards, then taping, then priming with a beautiful grey (that was a hard stage to be in), then the black, then the black again, then distressing to give it the look and feel I wanted to achieve, then the stain and finally the lacquer. THEN the never ending walls and more walls and loads and loads of corners and silicone caulk and cutting the new sewing/crafting desk and then paint some more and LOTS of touching up.

There was NO way that I could have done this on my own. I had lots and lots of help. Starting with Quinny, who loaned me the electric sander (a huge time saver and arm saver as well), Rosi, who convinced me to start while she was here, Manuelita who helped keep some order in the kitchen, then Amy who is very detailed and very good at painting the walls and herself, Sidney who brought lots of laughter and a lot of wall painting skills with her as well, my wonderful mother who watched the kids while we painted and finally my friend from way back Dane (Larsen) the carpenter, who totally hooked me up with my new sewing/crafting desk area all for a couple dozen cookies and some items compliments of Dave. I feel like I owe all my helpers a HUGE thank you and a back rub for all their work as well. I couldn't have done it with out them.

Here is the after. I just love it! All I need now is a new comfy chair and a cute crafty vinyl saying to go above my sewing desk. Any suggestions as to what the saying should say? I need something cute and fun up there. It turned out exactly like I wanted and pictured it. I would love to get my counter tops refinished and change the carpet, but for now I don't feel like I could ask for anything more. I just LOOOOOVE IT!

14 comments:

Melissa said...

OH.MY.GOODNESS. LAURA that looks AMAZING MAN. I LOVE IT, LOVE IT.
I told Dru to come over and look at it and he's like "Hmm that looks good"
LOL So you've past the worst critic you'll get.
How about the saying "Raising children is like being pecked to death by a chicken"
That's cute and will make you and everyone who walks down the stairs have a smile on their face.
Or your favourite scripture.
Or "Boring women have immaculate homes" since you hate laundry so much and there might be piles of clothes down there sometimes. That'd make people smile.
"I never said it'd be easy, I only said it'd be worth it"
That gets me through the day sometimes a little better.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm I don't think I'm cute enough to have cute saying vinyl ideas.
This girl in my ward does vinyl.....I could ask her for some sayings.

Carrie said...

It looks so great!!! How about memories are made one stitch at a time... ? You'll come up with something.

Sidney said...

Lau! It looks awesome! Good thing you had me around or it wouldn't have turned out this great!!! Ha! I probably was the worst painter there! But I loved helping out! It looks amazing! Is it still that clean??!! :) Maybe we could all get together for dinner this weekend. Joel will be here.

Sarah said...

Laura that looks great! I love the new color on the wall and cupboards. Way to go!

Monica said...

Wow, what a project! I am so impressed Laura, it looks great!

Talbot Family said...

It looks amazing! Nice job. I love having something in mind and then enjoying the end result. Get that big comfy chair now.

RaShawn said...

Wholey Moley that looks great. When are you coming to my house?

tammy lu said...

That looks great! You guys did an awesome job! Sorry, I have no cute sayings!

Amy said...

What a difference!!! I am ready for my back rub now. Would you mind coming up tonight??!! I had such a great time doing this project with you Lau! I know it was a big pain, but it was great to have all the time together! Let's start thinking about our next project!!!

Wendy said...

wow! Laura..It looks awesome, really awesome. I wish I had a room like that for laundy and sewing. If I think of anything for a saying I will let you know.

Tiffany said...

That looks awesome, way to go. I'm sure you will enjoy your new space a ton. I'm always more productive in my sewing room when it is clean and organized.

Wendy said...

I just came back because I found some sayings here you go:
*I am a material girl. Wanna see my fabric collection?
*I don't need to get organized, I just need a bigger sewing (craft) room.
*My husband let's me have all the craft supplies I can hide.
*Every mother is a working mother.
*All things bright and beautiful. All creatures great and small. The Lord God made them all.
*Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
*I cleaned house yesterday. Sorry you missed it.
Hope you are LOL. Love you!
There are a ton more here http://www.wordsanywhere.com/index.html then look at the menu on the left and go into quote ideas. Have fun!

Crissy said...

WOW!! That looks FANTASTIC!!!

Maria said...

That made a HUGE difference. I guess you can relate to my project stress. It's a LOT of work. Maybe I should've recruited a little more help like you did. :)