laundry room completed

Finally I can show some pics of the completed laundry room...

 

Come in! 

 

This is after you enter the room to the right. I try to use the dryer as little as possible and use this space to dry the childrens pullovers and t-shirts (on hampers). And in the cabinet I have wire-baskets assinged for each family-member, where i put the folded clothes.

On this wall I installed a drying rack from IKEA (it can be folded down). Beneth the window I have dryer and washing machine.

On this wall I added some shelves, the metal bins hold singel socks and some diapers and wipes for the baby, because the washing machine counter dobbles as changing table for downstairs.  The wooden box holds some tools. Medicine cabinet hangs quite high, out of reach for the children.

Some details:

I am quite happy with my improved laundry room...

a walk to the beach

We are so lucky to live at the coast, actually on an island. This morning I had a walk to the beach.

It's still a freezing cold wind, but there's definetedly spring in the air!

And baby-boy fell asleep...

DIY wall decoration

I bought this cozy fabric a year ago or so with the intension to make a wall decoration...

well, finally on friday I suddently remembered this wooden frame in my garage

(it's part of an IKEA shelf - we have two of those and a cabinet inbetween - which we use now as changing table).

I cut the "ladder" in the right length and inserted the pieces I cut off at the sides, so it became a frame:

If you have such a handy tool (whatever that is called in english) the rest is easy...

Tada!!! A fun piece for baby boys room. And so educational! We expect him to know the continents at his first birthday! :)

10 minutes outdoor decoration

It is SPRING! And I really had to have something with my front entrance, but have not the money for expensive arrangements. So I shopped the house and garden...

and I bought 3 small pots of daffodils at the local supermarket.

Looking forward to easter, my favorite holliday of the year!

a room that gets little attention...

is the master bedroom. At least mine. Usually I have my hands full to keep the puplic rooms clean and more or less tidy. This is why I liked the nesters (see bloglist) series "10 minutes to a room you'll love"... well, since I'm not the most efficent person it was more like 40min, but I did a bit of cleaning and changed sheets, etc. Here we go:

before:

 

What I did:

- removed babybed (he moved to his own room somtime ago)

- change bedding

- decluttered

- exchanged 60s bedsidetable with a very shabby taboret

after:

Finally I got these two small pictures up!

Love this old school desk

The rocking horse was my husbands grandmothers. I'd love to have it in the living room but I'm afraid it won't survive my children...

Enough pictures? One more...

Question: Should I paint the headboard and if in what color? I am not too happy with the wall color either, but that has to wait... another 100 more urgent projects first ;)

My mother

grew up in eastern Germany. After WW2 my Grandfather did not want to live in yet another totalitarian regime and got a job in western Germany. When my mother was 13 my grandmother, mom and her little sister travelled to Berlin (even their imidiate family did not know they were leaving) and got help by some friends to take two different trams to cross the border to West-Berlin (that was before the wall was build). They could take nothing but a handbag with them. Grandma knew that she was supervised by STASI because her husband allready had left the country. But they made it. They didn't got stopped at a check point driving into Berlin due to a sudden heavy rain. My Grandmother did not return to eastern Germany in her lifetime.

I travelled to eastern germany together with my parents when I was 6 years old, it was the most terrifing experience in my childhood. It does something with people to live in a society where everybody spies on everybody and even with friends you can never be sure that politicly wrong oppinions might be reported to the authorities. If you live in a free country value it and thank God for it.

                                          

But aren't this pictures precious?

people are more important than things...

Volker Waltersbacher, a german bibleteacher used this phrase in a sermon on priorities many years ago. From time to time I have to re-focus on that. I'm not a people person. Social settings make me feel awkward. I often have to be persuaded to go out. I love quietness and solitude. But peaople ARE more important than things... and my children are more important than a perfect styled home... and my poor sick baby needs me more than this blogg/computer...
See you later!
                               __________________________________________________

Babyboy calmed down. This beeing said, here are a few of my favorite things in addition to my sweet baby ;)

The pic is from december, hence the nativity figures. The basket is made by an old family friend and was given to my parents as a wedding gift. The suitcases... the one on top is my husbands (heirloom) and the lower is mine (inherited from old Herr Herrmann Schweigle). I like the symbolism, that they joined their journey and travel together now. And the sofa... well, that is another story.

laundry room step 2

I removed all the old wallpaper and painted the crown molding - and I got some new wallpaper and the room is in progress... I'll get that finished either tonight or tomorrow.
Because step 2 was boring just one picture... a glimpse of my new laundryroom!

I'm really happy with my new laundry-system, btw!

grandpa's photography

Both my grandpas liked to photograph. Two years ago I re-photographed some of their pictures fom my parents albums. So they are not the best quality... here two shots I really like taken by my dads "Vati". He was born in 1908.

He was 94 years old when he died. I loved his sense of humor.

laundry room step 1

In this closet I kept the boys clothes before, but moved them up to their rooms...

Now I got these handy wire baskets and asigned one for each family member. I put the clean and folded laundry in there and the older children are supposed to carry them upstairs and set the clothes inplace themselves... lets see how that works...

I covered the shelves with some white oilcloth, painted the inside of the closet and the cardboxes in a lavender nuicance (I just mixed some light pink and a little blue-grey paint rests I still had. The wallpaper I bought months ago to do an accent-wall in the hallway, but my dear husband thought it to be too bedroomish, so it gets used here :) isn't lavender a perfect color in laundry rooms?

                                      

The curtains are old ones I had, I just added a ruffle to get the right length. 

Step 1 completed :)

Before:

                                              

laundry room re-do

I have a real 80s laundryroom, pink and the most ugly wallpaper you can imagine... actually I started to tear it down month ago, but this room just has not been very high on my priority list...

You accsess the laundryroom through the main bathroom, it's not very big, but practical.

The next days/weeks I'll have some before/after posts as my laundryroom recovery progresses.

Well, here are some before pictures...

there is potensial...

spring in my livingroom

the blessings of hospitality

We try to be hospitable. Somehow if you have five children one doesn't get invited that much any longer... I understand this. I mean not everyone has seven spare chairs round their table. Entertaining guests became so much easier after we moved to this house.
My rules for hospitality:
Nr 1: KISS - keep it simple stupid (one teacher at bibleschool recommented that).
Serve what you would serve your family anyway, cooking the double amount is not so much more work.
Nr 2: turn off the harsh lights and lit some candles and nobody sees the dust on the bookshelves...
Nr 3: let your guests help you, one can have great fellowship while working together in the kitchen

Nr 4: have something beautiful on the table. Even in winter there is always somthing to find outside...

Nr 5: don't aim for perfection, be yourself

longing for spring

It snowed this night. Again. But every day the sun seems a little bit warmer and soon it will conquer and the snow will be gone. And spring will come.

My front poch last sprin

I'm looking forward to flowers blooming, birds building their nests, new life... it has been a long, cold winter...