Rooms 2 and 3: MY rooms (master closet and laundry room)

Ok, so the closet isn't just mine (Jerry has a small section), but the laundry room IS.  Call us cliché, but in our house, Mom does all the laundry.  Honestly, it's easier that way.  When all the loads are combined, it's faster for me to do them.  I do pass on some folding duties to my hubby and my oldest daughter puts her own clothes away. 

The closet "renovation" wasn't much.  All we did was purge the closet of anything that didn't belong.  We were storing silly things in there. 

I forgot to take a pic of the closet before I took everything out, but believe me when I say I could hardly walk in there, let alone find what I was looking for. So refreshing to see it empty!

Clothes all organized!  All that is in here now is meant to be here. What a great feeling!

Shoes all in a row.  Isn't it a beautiful sight?  Mine are all in labeled boxes.  Life is good.

The laundry room was a bigger transformation, and I'm thrilled with the results.  I may actually enjoy this chore now (maybe)!

The "before" picture.  The putty on the wall on the right is covering a hole that had been in the wall for about 2 years.  There's stuff being stored on the shelf that just doesn't belong in the laundry room, and I don't have decent storage for the stuff that does.

 First things first: I shopped. :)  When I found the accessories I wanted, Jerry had some paint custom made to match, and then he got to work. A beautiful, cheery, soft green. 

 Next, I got out the spray paint!  Luckily, I already had two shades of pink on hand.  I'm sure some are not surprised in the least by that.  Jerry picked up the shelves for $6 each at Hobby Lobby, and the H was just a buck at Michael's.  Yay for
 great deals!

My new, efficient LAUNDRY ROOM!

Decorated and everything!

I love these that I downloaded and printed from the Better Homes and Gardens site!  The frames I bought for $2.50 a pop from good ol' Walmart and spray painted to match.

You know how you always find random socks with no mate?  Here's the solution.
  They hang out on this line until their mate shows up!

 I'm super excited about the shelves.  Not only are they adorable, but they are low enough that I can reach!  It's the little things that matter. :)

 I lined the shelves with shelf liner that I bought at Michael's.  It coordinates with the tag labels, clothespins, and shelf liner that I used to cover the switch plates and outlet cover.  All super cheap.  I think it was 60% off at the time.

I love these glass jar containers for holding all the detergents.  It's just so much prettier than the commercial jugs and boxes.  And, I can see exactly how much I have left!

Lots of fun, new items in this photo - my homemade detergent (blog on that coming soon), new dryer balls (LOVE THEM - for towels and jeans especially), and decorative clothespins - all on a refurbished tray from the '80's that was my grandma's.  More spray paint and shelf liner!

A big clothes pin on the end of one of the canvas organizers ("stole" two from the kids' rooms. They don't use them anymore) holds laundry notes on making detergent and caring for cloth diapers. 

The laundry room was a fun make-over and quite motivating.  I'm excited to do my first load of laundry tomorrow in the new room!

12 on the 12th - sort of

Time, once again, for the 12 pictures on the 12th of the month.  This month was special, though because we had a get-together to celebrate my dad and give him strength and encouragement as he battles Leukemia.  He has a few rough weeks/months ahead of him, and we wanted to get his friends and family together while he's feeling pretty good.

9am - on our way to church

10am - no pics during the sermon!  Listening to Pastor Drebes

11am - on our way home for lunch

 

Noon - Yummy smoothies for lunch!  The kids sucked them down quick.

 

1pm - Poor Angel doesn't get much attention now that he has 3 human siblings.
 Thought he deserved a big pic.  He looks so sweet in the basket.



2pm - Home Spa Time!  The last few
months have been so crazy, that
I had let my color go, and my grey
was overpowering.  Time to be
 a brunette again!



3pm - toes needed a little TLC, too.  Now I have Happy Feet!

4pm - All done and ready to go!

5pm - We're at Brent and Jana's and having a good time.  No keeping track of time from here on out.  Just enjoying our time together with family and friends.

Looking good!  Hanging out on the back porch watching all the grandkids play.

Ron (my dad), Barb (my mom), Bill (one of my dad's best childhood friends), Scott (my brother), and Jackie (Bill's fiance).

Yikes!  Found a snake in the yard!



Luke wants to be just like the big guys.



Wheee!!

All 8 cousins in one place, AND looking forward!  It's a miracle!
Nicholas, Cate, John, James, Patrick, Bella, Luke, Laney

The whole Oringderff / Merfen / Holtorf family!



The whole party!  It was a wonderful evening.  Thanks to Brent and Jana for hosting!



Enjoying time outside in the lovely weather.

Reminiscing about old times

Could hardly keep Dad inside.  He really loves being outdoors,
and watching the little ones was a great bonus!

Jerry became a human jungle gym for Bella, Patrick, and James!

We ended the evening around 9:30 looking for fireflies in the backyard.  Great end to a wonderful night!

Room #1 - The Princess Suite

Jerry and I had a lot of fun dreaming up the decoration for the girls' room and making our vision come to life!  Both girls are very much into princesses, especially Rapunzel and Cinderella.  (most likely because the villains in those movies are not as scary as some of the others) Here's the transformation. 

 This is the before photo.  We don't have a true "before" pic because we had already taken down the princess and flower wall stickers and all the frames, etc.  I took down the castle sticker last because it was my favorite. :)  We used it as a backdrop for photos at Bella's 4th birthday party last year.

First step: Base coat.  Since we did a princess theme, we chose Disney colors, of course!  This color is called "Posies for Pooh".  The next step was to pencil in the design we wanted.  We used a computer and projector (thanks, big bro!) as our "stencils".  In the pic above you can faintly see the glowing square.  That's from the projector.

 Jerry and I took turns doing the detail painting.  He did the castle, tower, horses and carriage.  I painted the cameos above the girls' beds. The lighter color that is on the bottom is called "One Enchanted Evening".  Let's hope we have many, many more than that!

All done! 

Cameo of Bella

Cameo of Delaney

 Jerry added some lanterns coming from the castle.  It must be Rapunzel's birthday!

 I added some magical golden hair coming from Rapunzel's tower.  Looks like Maximus is considering going to find Flynn Rider!

The piece de resistance: a chandelier we picked up off of Craig's List.  What a perfect finishing touch for a room fit for two princesses!  

The girls love their new room, and Bella immediately started making up a story about Rapunzel moving all around her room.  Imaginations have been jump started. We're ready for summer!