Laundry Room Makeover

At the end of May I made a list of all the things I wanted to accomplish this summer. I wrote about my fear of it passing and not having anything to show for it. I wanted this summer to be productive. Of the 14 items on my list, I'm confident that I've fulfilled 10 of them. The most recent of which I crossed off my list today: pretty up the laundry area.

We don't have a dedicated laundry room in our house, but more along the lines of a laundry niche housed in our storage room (the room between our finished basement and the garage). It was ugly and it bothered me. The cinder block walls were painted a pasty green and it was dirty from years of use:

It sorely needed a face lift. Yesterday I hit the pavement and went to Home Depot to pick out some paint. I was tempted by colors in the purple family, but I couldn't bring myself to chose one. I settled on a bold and bright turquoise-blue called "Jamaican Sea."  When I got home I immediately got to work. My plan was to get the first coat up and then make a valance for the window. I had some leftover fabric from earlier projects, so I turned to my remnants and settled on a fun paisley print:

It didn't bother me that there was no hint of Jamaican Sea in the print, as this laundry niche was supposed to be bright and cheery. The more colors the merry!  While the first coat was drying I managed to bang out the valance in about forty-five minutes.

This morning, after walking Olive, I finished up the niche throwing on a second coat, hanging the valance and adding some small potted plants to the window. I am satisfied with the transformation:

I found an old Borax advertisement on a tin via eBay and it should arrive by the end of the week. I have a couple other kitschy items to hang, but that'll be about it. It's just one corner of our storage room and it doesn't necessarily make me want to do multiple loads of laundry, but at least when I do it will be a fun and cheery space.

As for the four remaining items on my summer to-do list:

• Use my yoga pass purchased on Groupon. I have to activate it by October. I've revised my start month to September. I work really close to the yoga studio, so I plan on taking classes after work.
• Write every day. I just haven't. No excuses, just haven't. Although - I am writing MUCH MORE than I was during the school year. 
• Listen to This American Life. Have the podcasts on my iPod, just don't think to listen to them. I'd rather pick up a book and read. 
• Rethink & revise wardrobe. Will be doing that before the start of the school year in a few weeks.

And life continues.