This Christmas, I'm going with a very subtle color theme in my home with earthy greens for a tranquil vibe, except for one room--my laundry room. When we bought our washer and dryer eight years ago, the red ones popped out at me (well...really they were floor models on sale at a price we couldn't pass up), but anyway, they still popped out at me! So, when I looked at how I would decorate for Christmas, I had to go with red and as I decorated the room I decided to use some of my paintings and handmade items that I had created over the last few years that had a snowman theme. To say the least, it was certainly a decorating adventure, filled with lots of fun and some challenges along the way. Please join me as I explain how I got from seascape to snowman.
Here are the before pics.
As you can see, we have a beach theme going on in this laundry/half bath with a painting I did of my daughter when she was 4 years old--now she is 20. Wow! Where did that time go!!!? Above it I painted her favorite Bible verse from Psalm 139:9-10. "If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast."
I painted the seascape painting above the cabinet when I was 16 years old from an old greeting card and the two paintings beside the cabinet are personalized with my daughter's name on the bucket.
When I decided to change out the main painting of my daughter with a giant snowman painting I had hiding upstairs, I wasn't sure at first what I was going to do with the scripture. However after I slept on it for a day or two, I "saw the writing on the wall" so to speak.
We also had this ocean themed shelf on a small wall above our coat rack that houses clothes pins and I had purchased a red one at a second hand store, so that was an easy fix--or at least I thought so.
Lastly, this curtain on our back door, I am embarrassed to say, was here when we bought the house. It's pretty drab after 18 years and I can't even remember when I last washed it--oh dear!!! Please, don't judge me! Yes, I tossed it in the washer--FINALLY, but I'm still making a replacement for my makeover and I'll probably make another one for year round in the spring.
Now for the reveal.
I dug my sewing machine out of the attic and started with 2 yards of this awesome plaid fabric that I bought at Old Country Store in Intercourse, PA. They have a fabulous selection of fabrics, and I am a little biased too, as the owners are my neighbors (I like to support the community around me). They sell online as well, so be sure to check out their fabrics here.
https://www.oldcountrystorefabrics.com/
After I made the curtain, I gathered it in the middle with a matching handmade fabric bow and finished it with one of my hand painted snowman ornaments. I temporarily covered the windows with parchment and hot glued some snowflake ornaments on each pane to give us some natural light and privacy in the room. In the spring, I will pick a lighter fabric, but for now I wanted it to feel warm and cozy.
My next project was the little wall shelf. I found this red one at a second hand store over the summer and it spoke to me. I had no idea at the time where I would use this, but it was only a few dollars, so I picked it up for later use. This was an easy swap, so I thought, until the top cracked as I screwed it into the wall. I even made a larger pilot hole, but sometimes things don't go as planned. I ended up drilling two more pilot holes to make it more secure to the wall and decided to cover up the huge crack with an antique can and my handmade ornament. Ta-da! All is well!
Next, I wanted to make a red and white laundry sign to go beside the white cabinet where the two small paintings were. I had an old piece of wood in the attic that I got at a yard sale. I used the magic of the computer to make stenciled letters, folded them in half to match up to a line I drew down the center of the board, so they would be straight when I transferred them with graphite paper and a stylus. After some tricky measuring, I was able to paint the letters on and ended up with a half decent sign for my laundry room that will be great all year long. Yay!
Here are some other paintings and handmade touches I added to the laundry room.
I made the snowman from an old wool sweater and the tree was made from a wooden dowel and a lot of tinsel cord. That's my grandmother's old wooden spoon that Frosty is holding.
As you can see, I got a lot of use out of those two yards of plaid fabric--curtains, ribbons and a tank topper!!! (I am humming Rain drops on Roses now, because I feel like Maria in The Sound of Music when she made all those clothes out of curtains--oh yeah!!!)
And here is the focal point painting that I had hiding upstairs. At first I tried to cover up the words--by matching the wall color on painted paper and taping it to the wall and that worked great (NOT!) and then I decided to use the Christmas garland that I had stored up in the attic for the last 10,000 years--oh that's right--I sold it at my last yard sale. Don't you just hate it when you do that?! Just when I finally needed it, it wasn't there. So after some thought, I decided to take two wreaths, I wasn't using, like the one I have to the left of the painting and take the greens off the wire and make them into a long garland. I know you must be laughing at me, but hey, it worked! This is a lesson, that you should never give up when problems come your way--there is a solution if you search for it and most likely it is in your attic--ha ha!
Well, I hope you enjoyed my laundry room Christmas makeover adventure. I will be posting more decorating adventures soon. Thanks for reading!
