White Cabinets and a Laundry Room Reveal

I am so excited to finally show you a room that has been in progress for a long, long time… my hard-working, sweet little laundry room.

Here’s a little glimpse of what it looked like before:

See those almost orange cabinets?  They were the catalyst for this little makeover.  They actually used to be off white, but because the painter sprayed them with an oil-based gloss (a band-aid to make up for painting these in the wrong paint finish), they ambered over the past four years to this.  Every time I walked in there I wanted to vomit, mostly because I was so dang mad about it.  He even sprayed them while they were hanging, so there were obvious drip marks.  *Fuming*

So, I did what any DIY gal would do: I stopped getting mad and started painting.

See the inside of this cabinet?  That’s the color it’s supposed to be.

Yeah.

Anyhoo… after deglossing, sanding, priming, and painting these cabinets, I’m thankfully no longer seeing orange.

The cabinets are painted in Sherwin Williams Pro Classic paint in Alabaster – it’s the perfect creamy white, and the paint finish is really smooth since it self-levels as it dries.  I used a trim brush to get into corners and details and rolled the rest with a foam roller.

My laundry room is really more like a laundry hallway, as it is the entry point to my home from my garage (no glamorous mudroom here folks) – and although I really wanted to get front loaders when we replaced our washer and dryer, I knew that keeping the washer door open to discourage mildew growth would likely lead to a broken washer in this thoroughfare.  We went instead with a traditional top load washer, but upgraded to high-efficiency to save water and we’ve been quite happy with our choice.

I use the tops of the cabinets for additional storage by adding baskets – these hold bulk paper towels, seasonal items, and seldom used appliances.  I made the cute patchwork grocery bag dispenser a while back and it’s still hanging in there!

Since this is the door my family walks through as we leave our home to start our days, I wanted it to be fun and inspiring so there’s a message to be awesome and a fun little fabric garland on the door.  The laundry chalkboard printables were free from the Simple Things and Sweet Bellaroos.

One last peek…

So there you have it guys – the little laundry room that could, made much more cheerful with a nice coat of bright, white paint.

Next up, some kitchen cabinets that fell victim to the same awful painting mistake will be getting a fresh coat of white paint as well – this time, I’ll be trying my hand with a paint sprayer.  Whoop!  If you have any tips for using a paint sprayer, please share – I’m a little intimidated by the whole thing.  Talk me off the ledge?

Linking here:

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Inspire Me Please

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It's Overflowing

DIY Oilcloth Fridge Liners

Hey hey friends!  Happy Friday to you!  I’m back from my unplanned but much needed summer sabbatical with a fun project that totally changed the look of my refrigerator: DIY Oilcloth Fridge Liners. 

Our refrigerator had some sort of mishap last week that involved the smell of something burning (according to Mr. home.made.), so we unplugged and unloaded it to investigate the issue… luckily it was apparently nothing major so we were able to put the fridge back in service, but not before cleaning it.  Ew.  I don’t think I realized how gross things had become in there until it was completely empty and out there for all to see: spilled yogurt, dried up lettuce leaves, and Lord knows what else.

After removing and scrubbing shelves for what seemed like forever, I was ready to not do that again anytime soon.  I found these great Fridge Coasters online, but I wasn’t ready to invest in them until I knew the concept would work for my family.  Instead, I got out what remained of my oilcloth stash.  A few measurements and cuts later, I had my own version of fridge liners that were just as cute and functional but didn’t cost me anything.  The plan is to remove these liners when soiled and simply wash/dry/replace.

I lined my produce and meat/cheese drawers with the liners, as well as the shelves on the refrigerator doors.  I chose to not line the additional glass shelves as the oilcloth is light-blocking, which makes it difficult to see what’s on the darker shelves below.

I made the door shelf liners by tracing the shelf onto the oilcloth, cutting in an inch from the outer front edge so the liner would fit the inside of the shelf.  Super easy. 

I couldn’t leave you without a shot of the organized, clean (and empty) fridge *hallelujah!* – the liners really go a long way to making it appear much cleaner and neater so I’m hoping it will stay that way. 

Note: must get wine to fill that empty bottle holder.

Hope you’ve had a great week – enjoy the weekend!

Linking here:

Tatertots and Jello

{The Vinegar Experiment} Cleaning Stinky Drains

My experimentation with using vinegar around the household continues this month.  Last month, I showed you my results of using vinegar to remove hard water buildup.  This month, I’m tackling a stinky sink drain.

My daughters went on a trip with my sister and her husband and during their absence, their bathroom started to smell of mildew.  It took me a while to figure out the source, but it ended up being their sink drain.  Turns out that my little girls shed quite a bit of hair and then apparently wash it down the drain… leading to a nice hair plug (see what I did there) that was mildewed.  Ick.  I removed the hair and cleaned the drain plug but it still reeked of mildew, so I put vinegar to the test again.

The first step was pouring baking soda down the drain and letting it sit for a bit.

Then, pour in your vinegar.  This part is fun (remember those middle school science experiments with volcano “lava”?) – it bubbles like crazy!

This part would probably be fun for your kiddos to “help” with, although it doesn’t smell the best…

The final step is following the vinegar and baking soda with boiling water.  I used a large mixing bowl (about six cups of water) that I heated to boiling in the microwave.

While you can’t smell the results for yourself, this method did work on my stinky drain!  I had to repeat the process once to remove the smell completely, but haven’t had to bother with it since.  I’ve also started using this same method to clean my sink disposal in my kitchen – I follow it with running a lemon slice through the disposal and it smells amazing.

So two vinegar experiments down and so far it’s proving to be quite the useful, eco-friendly, and inexpensive household helper.  I can’t wait to share the next vinegar experiment.  I’m already doing it and loving the results… stay tuned!

Linking here:

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(Recipe} Oven-Fried Chicken

When you grow up in the south, fried chicken is a frequent menu item albeit probably not the healthiest menu item… I’ve been making this healthier oven-fried chicken for years.  It’s easy to make with ingredients I usually have on hand and it’s always a hit with my family.  While you can use any chicken cut for this, we tend to go for the drumsticks since they’re easy for my girls to grab and eat.  Delish!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

3- to 3 1/2-lb cut-up whole chicken (or cut of your choice)

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 425°F. Melt butter in 13x9-inch pan in oven.
2. In shallow dish, mix flour, paprika, salt and pepper. Coat chicken with flour mixture. Place chicken, skin sides down, in pan.
3. Bake uncovered 30 minutes. Turn chicken; bake about 30 minutes longer or until juice is clear when thickest part is cut to bone (170°F for breasts; 180°F for thighs and legs).

Enjoy!

Well hello there... and Summer Decor!

Hey, hey, hey friends!  Hello from the silence that has been brought to you by summertime and a new job.  Things have been pretty slow around here but that doesn't mean my to-do list has gone away.  And next on that list is some summer decor... here's some inspiration from the web.

Summer Table Setting from City Farmhouse

Summer Open Shelves from Beneath My Heart

Summer Porch Decorating Ideas from the Inspired Room

Summer Decor at Emily A Clark

Summer Dining Room from Town n Country Living

Aren't these some great ideas?  Makes me want to start freshening things up right now... just something about summer that screams light and bright.

Have a great weekend friends!

Dining Room Update: New Dining Set

Hi loves – happy beginning of Summer to you!  I don’t know about you, but these long summer nights are wearing me out (and cutting in to my project time)… Even so, summer means no homework and sports practice so we are able to enjoy more family dinners at our new dining table.

This set replaced the antique dining set (seen here) I inherited from my mother – years of neglect followed by daily use had taken its toll on it so I decided to retire it before it was completely ruined.  The chairs were in an awful state so I decided to let go of them, but the table is stored away for now.

About this set: I searched dining sets for a long time, not quite sure which direction I wanted to go design-wise, but also knowing that I needed a quality piece for a good price.  I found this set on Overstock and liked it right away but wanted to be sure it would hold up for our family.  I read a lot of reviews on this set and it solidified my decision.  Then, I waited for the set to go on sale – once it did, I applied my “first purchase” 20% off coupon and got it for an incredible deal, saving almost $500 off the original price.  There was free shipping to boot!

True to the reviews, there was a lot of assembly involved with this set but the instructions were good and there weren’t a ton of different pieces so once Mr. home.made. and I got started, assembly went pretty quickly.  We did have two pieces of chairs that were broken but Overstock sent us replacement parts within a couple of weeks so that was no big deal.

The off white color goes nicely with my Annie Sloan old white painted dining hutch, and the wood adds a nice touch of warmth.  My only complaint about this piece is the distressing – it’s obviously the same on every single chair, no random placement at all which bugs me, but it doesn’t bother me enough to make me want to get rid of this set.  I’m sure we’ll add our own natural distressing in due time…

Overall, I’m pretty pleased with this dining set – I’m even thinking of getting two extra chairs to have on hand for larger gatherings.  It’s a snug fit with three chairs on each side, but its doable.  We’ll see.

Later this week, I’ll be sharing one of my favorite dishes served on this table… stay tuned.

By the way, Overstock did not sponsor this post nor compensate me in any way for this post. I bought this set on my own and this is my honest review. They’re just the lucky ducks I chose.

{The Vinegar Experiment} Removing Hard Water Buildup

We live in central Texas and the majority of municipal water is supplied by the Edwards Aquifer, a large underground artesian aquifer.  Because the aquifer was formed by limestone formations many, many years ago, the water is hard – meaning lots of limescale and calcium buildup if you don’t have a water softener (which, of course, we don’t).  Thus, I’m stuck with faucets that look like this:

Not only is is unpleasant to see, but the scale encourages a slimy layer of biofilm to form (ew) and clogs the faucet aerator.  It’s a constant battle and it sucks.

I used to try and clean away scale with lime-away,  but I was constantly having to reapply and the smell was overwhelming… so I decided to try an all-natural remedy to see if it would work.  Enter a little bit of vinegar, a sandwich bag, and a clip.

Simply fill your baggie about 1/3 full with vinegar and apply as follows to your faucet, making certain the faucet is submerged in the vinegar.

If you can let this sit overnight, it’ll work really well.  I soaked this faucet for about three hours and it worked well but there was still a bit of scale left.  Before you remove the bag, rub along the scale areas and aerator to help remove the loosened material.  It’ll fall right into your bag – be prepared for ick.  After removing the bag, run the water to flush out any residual slime.

And here’s the after – it’s crazy how well it works and this wasn’t even a full soak!  I can’t wait to bust out the gallon bag to try on my showerhead!

Now, as for the title of this post: The Vinegar Experiment.  I’ll be experimenting with the many ways vinegar can be part of a homekeeping routine and will be sharing those posts here so stay tuned!

Do you have hard water like me??  What do you use that works?  I’d love to hear your suggestions!