Wash Dry Rinse Repeat

So much has been getting smacked with a coat of paint around here that the husband says he is afraid to sit still, I might paint him. After I painted our teen's room I noticed that the cream paint in the hall looked dingy after 6 years and 3 kids so I decided to give it a lick of paint. It was a success but then I was standing by the front door and looked up and noticed that the yellow paint in our laundry room practically glowed against the soft grey and really drew the eye up the stairs. Not exactly what you want to draw attention from your guests! You could see the detergent bottles and stacked toilet paper and cleaning supplies clearly from our entry. Ummmmmm NO!

see? glowing!

But with so much else going on I was going to leave it alone for now. But then I was in there doing laundry and noticed puffs of lint from behind the dryer when I started it. Uh-oh!! The most common cause of house fires is dryers and dryer lint! That stuff goes up in a big blaze F-A-S-T!  We actually collect it in toilet paper tubes to use to start the fire pit in the summer time! So I knew I had to investigate. I climbed up o the washing machine (elf size girl problems!) and looked behind the dryer and sure enough the venting had come unattached. Which meant all the dust and lint was going right into the air my children breathe!!!  My oldest had terrible asthma when he was little so I know just how dangerous this is and I had to fix it. Our laundry room is so teeny tiny that you can't pull the dryer all the way out so I pushed it forward about a foot and wiggled behind it. I tried to just reconnect it but it wasn't working and evidently it had been off thru several loads because there was enough lint back there to make a baby wolf! Or possibly a littler of babies. It had to be cleaned and fixed. And so it began! I had to make a run to the hardware store for a new dryer vent whatjamijiggy and since I had to pull stuff out to clean and fix anyway I might as well paint too.
  I needed to blend it in better since in this house we are practically always doing laundry! Best way to camouflage something is to paint it the same color as everything else so it doesn't stop the eye. So I painted it the hall color. Then I went to Pinterest to look for ideas on how to make it look prettier in my utilitarian, tiny little space. Honestly, what did we do before Pinterest???

Before

After!

 Such a big change! I added a little skirt on a tension rod and I made that adorable clothespin starburst mirror!! Hot glue, old charger, tons of clothespins, gold spray paint and a craft mirror, easy peasy, just how I like it. And it looks adorable!

A few more pictures of storage and pretties. I am going to hag a couple towel racks on the inside wall with some S hooks to hang dry t shirts and dedicates. It's such a small space I had to be creative with the space plan.
It's pretty amazing what a couple canvas bins and wire baskets can do for tidy, organized storage! I put the fabric on the ugly wire racking above just to hide it a bit. On the lower wire shelf I just put down a raffia place mat. I am thinking in time we will upgrade to actual cabinets and then I will trade out the wire shelf too but for now, we had it so we will use it. I added a mini sewing kit in a mason jar and popped some of my boys old baby socks I came across in the other, just because they make me smile. The whole thing took about 4 hours worth of work spread over 2 days. Not horrible! ow it functions, blends and makes me smile.