Laundry Room Evolution

So on Ellen the other day, she gave a family my couch! Well, not the one I own, but one just like it!!

I feel so cool now!!

If you're wondering about it, it's the Linden Street Friday sofa from JCPenney. Yep, who would think to look for their couch at JCPenney? Well, me. It's listed on JCPenney's website for almost $2000 right now, which is crazy..... I definitely didn't spend that much when I bought mine.

Here's what the house looked like yesterday when I was washing the slipcovers:

Crazy.

And on to what this post is really about. The laundry room/pantry.

It had bland beginnings.

Then I painted it Apple Green.

 

Now, for the actual update.

 I used Jen from I Heart Organizing's idea of covering wire shelves with foam board. I have always been so annoyed by these wire shelves. Things were always tipping over or falling through and it was so frustrating. Like Jen, I covered the foam board with contact paper.

It's so much easier to store things on the shelves now!! No more tipping over.

And here's a shot of the other side of the laundry room.

I added a 'counter' to the top of my laundry machines by just painting a piece of plywood. Afterward I sprayed it with a clear gloss spray so that it would be smoother. I put down some of that grippy shelf liner so that the counter would stay in place. It's been awesome, but I still want to do something that will cover up the stuff in the back.

View from the garage. This is the door I come in when I get home.

Close up of the contact paper. Sometimes it can be unwieldy!

You can see my lint holder and cleaning rag bucket. :)

And myself cutting out all those pieces of foam board.....

It took hours for me to cut the foam board to size, tape 2 pieces together and then measure, cut and apply the contact paper, but I am so happy with the result.

And the mess after.

And they all lived happily ever after. The end.

Everyone Can Paint

In college I minored in Theatre. For one course, we had to draw and paint costumes/sets. When I started out, I was really nervous about the course because I had never drawn well and knew we would be drawing for pretty much the whole semester. Well, the first day of class we walked in and the teacher said, "Do not tell me you cannot draw. Everyone can draw." I was thinking, "OK... I won't tell you, but I don't think I can."

That very day we had to get our sketch books and draw people in the class and draw our own hands. I really did not want to draw someone else's face for fear of making them look horrible with my lack of skills. The teacher said to just draw what we saw and so I followed his very simple instructions and what do you know? The drawing I did actually looked pretty much like the person. It took forever to draw him, but I was glad I did it.

Later on in the semester, we painted as well and I really enjoyed that, but after the class ended I retired my sketch book and paints. A few weeks ago, some friends at work invited me to go to a painting class here in town. They have a different painting each day and they teach you step by step how to paint it. I thought it sounded like fun and it would be cool to paint something again so of course I went with them. :)

We had a fun time and it was easy to follow the teacher's instructions.

Here's my painting!

The original painting had red and orange too, but I left that out so that it would match the color scheme of my house. I love how it turned out and think it's cool cause I painted it myself.

Now I just have to figure out where to put it. Maybe here?

This area is void of excitement, but we'll see where it ends up. Do any of you have this kind of thing in your area?

A Navy and Gray Shower Part II

I already shared how I made a yarn wreath for my best friend Kelly's bridal shower and I also shared the food my mom and I prepared for the occasion.

Now it's time to feature the decor for the celebration!

My mom and I set up one table for food and one for gifts. Remember that contact paper I found at Marshall's? My mom and I cut some to be table runners! I thought I was totally brilliant cause I can still use the paper later and of course it was really easy to clean them after food got all over them at the shower.
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We bought flowers at Kroger and arranged them ourselves in some Ikea vases. We also punched circles out of scrapbook paper to make "confetti" which we scattered on the tables.

Some of the vases were arranged on the half wall between my kitchen and dining room along with pictures of the couple.

I made some graphics, the one below with a gray chevron background.

 

 I also made one for the food table with their wedding date on it. I also made bunting to hang up in their wedding colors. I love bunting; it's so easy to make and looks cute.

We bought these navy napkins below at Target. I love their new party supplies line! They have some really cute products.

Here's the gift table as it looked at the beginning of the shower.

 

Below was my "games station".  We played bridal shower scattegories and bingo which I found over at The Thread Affect.

 

Here's the living room all setup for shower shenanigans.

I couldn't resist sharing the details with you guys. :) It was fun!

A Navy and Gray Bridal Shower

My BFF Kelly is getting married in October and she selected me to be her maid of honor! :) Therefore it was my duty to throw a bridal shower which I was super excited to do. I held it at my house and I can't wait to share all the details with you! I already shared the yarn wreath I made for the occasion.

Here's the beautiful, bride-to-be!

Kelly and I have known each other since junior year of high school. We were in band together and we have been inseparable ever since!

Kelly and I have had so much fun over the years. She will go along with any scheme I cook up and she loves a good dance party just as much as I do.

For drinks, my mom made homemade iced tea and we also had pink lemonade and water. I bought the beverage dispensers at Target and I was really happy with them! They work well and they are inexpensive at $20.

Then we had the food setup.

For veggies, we cut up broccoli and bell peppers. We also had baby carrots and cherry tomatoes with peppercorn ranch dip.

We also served pineapple, cantaloupe, honey dew, grapes, watermelon, blueberries and strawberries. Five servings of fruits and veggies a day keeps the doctor away!

I bought chunk cheese on sale and my sister cut it into cubes and we set out crackers with it. I made pasta salad as well.

There were chips and dip.

The cakes turned out perfectly. We ordered 2 of them at Publix (I love Publix cakes!) and I was impressed with their work. I asked for them to base the cakes on the wedding invitation. We also got some cupcakes too - half chocolate and half vanilla.

And I leave you with this: 

My super cool, little sister McKenna created this little cheese man. I was charmed. :)