Laundry Room.... finally

I wish I was a decorator with lots and lots of time and money.  Then I would have the house that is on my Pinterest boards.  And then you would come over and we would drink wine and talk about my amazing house.  You would pin my house to your pinterest board with captions like LOVE IT!, Have to have,  Check out this lady and her amazing house, Want!....

For now, I have this blank and cluttered slate with stains on my carpet, crayon on my walls, flat paint, and serenity.  OH and my laundry room.  I've got my little laundry room.

Most of the accessories in the room are recycled (red and yellow spray paint baby).  Over the course of several months I purchased a few pieces using my regular household budget.  The painting is from Home Goods ($29.99) and I wasn't planning on spending that much on any single piece in the room but I couldn't pass it up.  SO adorable.

I  painted the door navy blue to cover up the scuff marks and finger prints.  The red rug was from Kohl's ($10 with a coupon).  It is not washable and it gets super dirty from the lint and laundry room stuff.  Read the care tags folks!

The red hooks were once white hooks from Lowe's that I bought for another project and forgot about.  (Look at sweet baby Liam)

And then there is the light.  My second favorite piece after the art but the piece that I am most proud of because it caused so much consternation in my life.

 

Here is the Before, a fancy contractor grade boob light.  I have lots of these in my house.  I really want to make a drum shade in my eating area so I thought I would start with a DIY trial in the laundry room.  Some of the tutorials include embroidery hoops (which I probably have if I wasn't too lazy to look) but I found this lamp shade at Lowe's for $5 and some red fabric for $3.  

 That's where the idea came to a screeching halt.  I was challenged by that ugly space between the existing light fixture and the shade.  I was challenged by the dimness of the light.  I was challenged by the task of securing the new fabric. I was challenged,  PINTEREST FAIL (again).

I spent months trying to figure it out.  I would get the ladder out, try to reconfigure, Kevin would come home, bump into the ladder (as unimpressed with my handiwork as I was), and I would put everything away.

Right before Christmas, Kevin gifted me with an afternoon to run around by myself.  I spent most of my afternoon on Junior League business but in between I stopped by Lamps Plus on a whim.  First time!  And I found the light.  It was more than I wanted to spend ($60) and I didn't believe the saleswoman when she told me that the light was a special order that usually goes for almost $400.  I was so incredulous she finally pulled it up on the inventory and showed it to me. 

 

I bought it thinking that I would bring it back the following week.   Once I saw the same fixture on Joss and Main for $325, I was sold.  It took several tries but I finally got the new light wired and installed.  I have never been so surprised to see a light turn on when I flipped the switch.  I love it.

The total cost for the project (including the Pinterest FAIL products) was just under $200.  

One room down, 12 to go.  At this rate, I will be done decorating this house by the time Patrick is in college.