Early December greetings from Tumbleweed Tidings! Before I get into today’s post, a big thank you is in order!  This last week, I reached over 500 followers on Facebook and subscriptions on the blog are up as well.  That is due to all of you sharing it with your friends and I am sincerely grateful for all of your sharing and comments!

Since it’s December, it would be logical for me to post a Christmas post, wouldn’t it? Well, due to some ongoing renovations, my Christmas decorating is not near done. So, instead, I’m going to dish about some of the recent changes we have made around here.  In mid-November, we had new hardwood floors installed on all of the formerly tiled surfaces in our home. Since the installers were going to be here anyway, and since our laundry room vinyl was looking a little sad, cut, and stained after 19 years, we had the vinyl in there replaced as well.

I selected a gray and cream pattern that somewhat resembles the hand painted cement tiles that are having a moment. This color selection was somewhat of a departure for me, as I have stayed completely away from the gray bandwagon. But it looked nice against the abutting hardwoods, and it is neutral enough that it should stand the test of time.

What the new flooring didn’t look good against was the pale green wall color in the laundry room. Have you ever started a renovation project that just kind of snowballed? Oh, good, me too!  So, the next call was to the painters who painted the walls to match the rest of the house, using Patience by Sherwin Williams, and resprayed the trim, crown molding, and doors. What a fresh difference!

I have been slow to put back the accessories, so it looks a little bare. For now, I kind of like it bare. It’s quiet, peaceful, and soothing; everything I want in a laundry room:]  Eventually, I would like to get a narrow bench, possibly with space for baskets underneath, as a place to remove shoes.

To protect the flooring, I purchased a gray runner and smaller doorway rug from Target. The room used to contain a baker’s rack that I have had since our Hawaii days. Once we purchased the new washer and dryer set, it was just too tight in there. I swear, the new washer and dryer did not look that big in the store!  So, we sold the baker’s rack on Craigslist to a lady who loved it so much, she told her husband that’s what she wanted for Christmas. We even delivered it to them in my hometown of Walla Walla, as we were going to be there visiting my mother that day anyway.  It all worked out perfectly.

The counter at the end of the room would make a perfect folding counter, if I didn’t always have it covered with plants. The houseplants just love this west facing sunny window, so that is where they landed. But it had started to look like a jungle with no hope of any leftover space for folding laundry. For this reason, I have spread those plants to other rooms and moved only a couple back in. Much better! (Total aside: The two plants I brought in are our Christmas Cactus plants, who apparently are blooming a little early this year…)  As you can see from these photos, our city with over 300 days of sun a year is having a foggy morning.  Hidden behind the dryer, I keep my Garden Tools box, (which is actually filled with garden tools and gloves!), a watering can and a metal flower container.  These three functional items are things I use often, so I keep them out and available.

You may also notice from the clock shot that it is only 7:20 in the morning, so we may get sun later today.  Why, you ask, am I taking pictures at 7:20 in the morning?  Because last week, my husband when back to work at the Hanford site on a consulting job and we are up at 5:15, making breakfast, packing his lunch, and filling his thermos.  Then off he goes at 6, and I get cracking on my to-do list.  I must say, it has been an adjustment for both of us, as since his “retirement” three and a half years ago, he has been doing consulting work from home.  This new position shouldn’t be more than one year, so we are making it work.  Bonus…I am sure getting a ton done around the house!

For very little cost, it is possible to make a big difference in a room, just by changing the wall color, paring down the accessories, and minimizing clutter. All in all, we are very pleased with our lighter, brighter laundry room. This is the door we typically use to enter the house, so it gets a lot of traffic and visibility. It now evokes just the clean, welcoming look we wanted!

Good tidings,
Diane