Laundry Room Redo & Homemade Laundry Soap Recipe

This was a summer project that I've been very long in sharing! I wish I had a before picture of our laundry room. The truth is, it was so ugly, I never thought to photograph it. One day, I realized how much I hated the orange-ish paint that made me want to get out of there as fast as I could. Funny how some colors affect different folks in certain ways. Since that room requires a great deal of my time, I decided to find some leftover paint (which was a calming light brown/tan color) and give that room a new look. 

Next, Joel was recruited for painting...and did a fine job! In the midst of painting, we noticed that the flooring  could use replacing. It was cheap and icky. But, I did not want to spend much $ and I wanted it done NOW! ( I am usually not very patient once I get started on something. I can say things like, "Do you really need to eat? Fasting is good for you. We're almost done.")

And then, my wonderful husband took me to Lowe's, where we purchased some vinyl flooring and trim boards. He also decided to buy a utility sink! Yay! 

While we were at Lowes, this was going on at home...


Dylan and Jake were hard at work tearing out the old floor.
The room had already been painted here, but you can see the icky orange at the base of the wall.
(It was originally painted that color because I had leftover paint from when the girls talked me into painting the foyer that color! But, I don't spend my time in the foyer, so it doesn't bother me there.)

Laundry waits for no-one!
Not even a picture of a pristine laundry room.
 You can see the trim and baseboards are on
 (our home is rustic so 1x4's worked nicely for that).
The shelf holds each boy's stack of clothes and that handy hamper allows us to sort
as the dirty things are brought in daily. 

The new sink was installed by my handy husband. 

I couldn't help but to add some extra touches to make to make the room homey
and pleasant to spend time in. 

This was ugly and outdated, but easily brightened up with some 

cream colored crackle paint and rubbed with sandpaper.

This little touch was a gift from my mom.

These were courtesy of the thrift shop.

 The basket holds stain remover, dryer sheets and a little jar to collect my laundry "tips."
That lovely blue canning jar catches the clothes pins. 

This quilt was made by my great-great grandma and has been in a trunk for years. It seemed fitting to display it next to my grandma's washboard. The "quilt rack" is freebie from my mother-in-law. She gave me a few of these she got from Lancaster, PA. She used them to hang curtains and display her things above her windows. It's good to find a good use for them here.

Behind the door hides our ironing necessities.

The ironing board was a $2 thrift store buy and  the cover was bright blue, stained, and not very pleasant to look at. I was going to throw the cover away and looked at come cute $12 covers, then realized some fabric I had on hand, also from the thrift store, would look great on it. 

After a good movie, and some hand sewing, I had a great new look for my $2 ironing board.

I hand sewed because I wanted to relax and watch the movie, not sit at a noisy machine.

 Machine sewing would have worked fine.

 I basically laid the fabric I had over the board, cut around the board, leaving two inches or so to turn under, then turned it under and pinned it over the ugly blue top, gathering the corners as I went. The old blue cover is still there; that's its edging the brown fabric is sewn to. 

So, that's our laundry room re-do. Fun and simple. :)

In keeping with the laundry theme.... here's a great way to save your family some money!

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap 

(for front or top loading machine) 

       Ingredients:

                   

                    4   Cups - hot tap water

                    1   Fels-Naptha soap bar 

                    1   Cup – Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda 

                    ½ Cup Borax

                    Additional water as called for

*Since making your own laundry detergent is popular right now, Walmart, Ace Hardware and other big name stores are carrying the ingredients at good prices. However, if you cannot find them at a store near you, they are available online.

Directions:

~Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with4 cups of water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

~Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

~Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (It will gel)

~Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons for a nice fragrance, though I like the way it smells originally. (Essential oils are available online or at health food stores)  Add once soap has cooled. Some ideas are lavender, rosemary or tea tree oil.

*Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.

Usage: Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)

                  Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)