{ The Basement...Laundry Today + Craft Progress }

I've been doing laundry down in the basement now for awhile and it is SO NICE to be able to wash our clothes in this house instead of trecking it somewhere else. It was a pain to take the laundry elsewhere (day to day stuff not so bad but bedding and rugs = not fun) but compared to other difficulties of life, it wasn't all that bad, we survived it - shocking I know! My sincerest admiration goes out to all of you who take your laundry somewhere other than your home to wash. That is a tough and annoying job and I applaud and respect you. 

 To be honest though, I feel a little guilty whining because let's be real, we are SO spoiled by all the "conveniences" that we have. So many mama's in this country and elsewhere would love to be able to do laundry in their own home let alone the people that would love to do their laundry in a washing machine or to just have running water. So while I am jumping up and down to be able to wash my families dirty clothes in our own washing machine, in our own house, even if it is in my semi-creepy basement, my heart is SO FULL with thankfull-ness that we CAN have what we have.

We ARE blessed, aren't we?!

 Sometimes we forget to take a moment and think about how truly nice and easy our lives are. Today, I took that moment to acknowledge those blessings. Oh the things laundry rooms can inspire in me! I know... I'm getting a little sappy.

This brings me to my next thought of the day. I have been struggling with showing you the laundry room because in my opinion it's not even worthy of really calling it an "after" photo or a "done" project. Sometimes I feel the pressure to put out some amazing thing to show off even though I probably have like 2 people that actually read this thing (hi mom and sister!) BUT then I think, NO! This is a laundry room- in an old basement- that was previously inhabited by spider families and other unimaginable things so THIS IS the really amazing "after" photo for you- for now. 

Remember these photos?

Just looking at those makes me want to shudder! Yep, it was B.A.D. down there, gross, and bad. What's even worse is, we painted those walls and cleaned up down there back in August and I am finally just getting around to showing you one measly photo of how it looks today lol. But now it's definitely a whole lot more functional and I use the laundry space every single day. We still have SO MUCH that I want to do down in this laundry room of ours but for now it's working and I'll take what we have over what it used to be anytime! 

Do you recognize that dresser too? I showed you my painted peg board not too long ago with that dresser under it. 

I thought I was going to use it in my craft room but I did a little dresser switcheroo and now this one sits next to the dryer and the one that previously sat in its spot is now in the craft room.  

I'll give you a quick look at what's happening in the craft room too....

Mark's cousin gave us that table + bench and chairs too! I painted the legs of the chairs and bench a mint color and the legs of the table white. I plan to sand and stain the top of the table and bench very soon too. I still need to finish the chair tops with some more mint paint. I think it's going to look really great and I'm really excited about it!! 

Here's what the table started out looking like...

Here's after one coat of chalk paint in mint and in white on the table legs. 

Update: I've had a few people ask me what chalk paint I use and what brush so I'm adding this pic to show you what I use when I paint things with chalk paint. I use CeCe Caldwells Paint and always buy the color "Simply White" then I mix it with acrylic paint in the color that I like. I got my brush at the same place that sells the CeCe Caldwell paint. It's supposed to be best for painting with chalk paint. I really like it and would recommend spending the extra $ for the good brush! The acrylic paint I used for the mint colored legs is the Martha Stewart brand from JoAnn Fabrics called "Beach Glass". 

Can you tell I love the color mint??! It's no secret that it's my absolutely favorite shade currently. 

Here's the dresser that moved from the laundry room into the craft room. This dresser got a coat of gray paint and will get the same stained top as the table. I got this from my great Aunt and absolutely LOVE it. It's the perfect size dresser for holding lots of craft items. The chair to the left of the dresser has a meeting with my paint brush tomorrow! I'm planning on doing a really bright bold color with that chair. The mirror behind it will be getting some fun color added to it too and then it will find a home somewhere down here as well. 

I still have lots of organizing and need to figure out exactly where I want everything to go but we are really moving along down there and it feels nice to finally have a place to go with some of my items that have been hanging out on my kitchen table forever! 

I need lots of space to work because in case you weren't already aware (shameless plug), my best friend and I started our own business this last year, so I literally NEEDED this room to be able to work! I cant wait to start getting things done down there, and the kids are pretty excited too to be able to have some crafting space too! 

ENJOY your weekend!!