Monday, July 31, 2006

The Room I Loathe.

Its formal name is the "Laundry Room".
But it's also the tool room.


And the pet food and cat litter room. As well as the paper products room (ie, extra t.p., extra paper towel, extra diapers).


I can't get this room organized. I can't get or keep it clean. It's small, and it's cramped.

The pet food is kept in there so that Cherry doesn't eat it. The cat litter is in there so that Cherry doesn't eat that either!

The dog dishes are kept on the floor, right in the perfect spot to catch the odd sock and dish cloth that falls out of the dryer when you open the door.

The cat food is on TOP of the dryer, so that the dogs can't eat it, which means there is no surface to fold clothes upon.

I tried to fix up the room a bit by adding shelves. The shelves remain mostly empty because my "system" of putting certain baskets for certain rooms' clean laundry on certain shelves never really worked. I'm thinking I should try that system again, but maybe those shelves could be put to better use. But if I don't use them for the laundry baskets, then WHERE do I put the empty (or full) laundry baskets?

And as for the tools. You know, we have TWO sheds outside the house, yet the majority of the tools are kept in the house. Why? Well, because it seems like we always need the tools in the house. The solution? Pack a small toolbox with the inside essentials such as the screwdriver, hammer, stud finder, some nails and some screws. The rest of the tools can go into one of the sheds. The problem? One shed is full of unstacked firewood (don't ask me why-I have no idea) and has a door that doesn't close properly, let alone lock, and the other, bigger shed, is so full of junk (mostly baby crap) that you can barely move through it.

So, what do I WANT with this room? I want a nice, clean surface to fold laundry upon. I want enough room to store the vacuum cleaner in there without it being right in the middle of the floor. (The vacuum wasn't actually in the room when I took the pictures, but hey, it goes in there too, and takes up a good chunk of space too.) I want to be able to move the dog food from right in the middle of the floor, I want to stop tripping on paint cans. Oh, and I want room to be able to pull out my ironing board in order to iron clothes. (HA HA HA HA HA-that's a joke. Really, the ironing board is just a pretty ornament. Doesn't it look pretty in there?)

The action plan goes as follows:

Get rid of my father-but only after he helps me put a shelf up in there after ACTUALLY finding studs.

Then, take the baby stuff out of the shed and put it into the baby room that my father is currently staying in. Oh, wait, I have to paint said room first.

After putting the baby stuff in the room, I can put the tools into the shed.

Then, I can move the paper products onto the shelf where most of the tools are.

And then, I can put the dog food on the floor under that shelf.

The cat food will have to stay on the dryer.

I can also store the vacuum under the toolpaper product shelf.

The laundry hampers should fit nicely under the new "folding laundry" shelf that my father helps me to install.

Sounds great.

Estimated time of completion: 4 months from now.

Wish me luck!


Do you have any rooms that you loathe?

9 comments:

Erin said...

I hate my utility room, too. It has the washer/dryer and water heater, most of our pantry goods, and also doubles as the doggie room now that Ian put a pony door in. At least they're safe in there, and don't trash the rest of the house when we leave, but it always seems like my clean clothes smell like dog. Yuck. Good luck with the reorganization. At least you have a plan!

CeCe said...

Erin~Ha ha, we're two of a kind, aren't we?

Teen~Ok, wanna come over right now?!?

Evan said...

mmmmmmmm, a luandry room (Utility room?). I WISH I could loath it, I have to SHARE one with four other smelly people I don't even know- wanna swap I get a romantic cool life in canada and u can have Sydney in an apartment block with quarter view of the Harbour bridge?

Melora said...

Good luck with the organizing. Our laundry area is in the garage, which is much more cluttered than your laundry room could even dream of being! I don't know what we'll have in the new house -- right now I'm living in fear that we won't Ever find a new house and I'll be doing our laundry in sinks at McDonalds.
I've told the kids we might get a cat when we get settled in a new house (Ed is Not totally thrilled, but hasn't said "no"), and one of the things I can't figure out is where one puts the cat litter box. The cat food probably would have to go up high somewhere or Bo would eat it (I don't suppose cats can learn to just eat their food when it is put in front of them and Not leave it sitting around?), but the cat litter part just seems kind of gross. Other than that, I like the idea of a cat.

Cherrypie said...

Your laundry room looks a lot more organised than mine, and I have lots of cupboards, including one that the vacuum cleaner fits in. It would be great if it wasn't for all the flipping laundry!

Andrew McAllister said...

My least favorite room kind of floats around the house. It depends on where my teenage son and his friends have just spent some time (and usually created quite a mess).

To Love, Honor and Dismay
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Kim said...

I don't loathe my house, but not much has been done since I moved in 2 years ago. I have painted my bedroom and removed most of the wallpaper in my kitchen, so that I can paint it. I have a list that is long of things to reorganize and do to fix my house up. I keep telling myself to just spend a little time every day fixing something and I would get it done, but it doesn't seem to work like I planned it. Good luck with your list.

CeCe said...

Debambam~Yeah, there HAS to be a solution, though!

Evan~Will you take the kids and the animals too, so that I can go to Sydney? It seems like everyone in Canada wants to move to Aus, and vice versa!

Melora~If you feed your cat once a day with a specific amount of food, then they will eat it all at once. I have two cats, so it's a little harder to do that. The most common places for cat litter boxes are in the bathoom, the laundry room, the mud room (by the back door), or in the garage. Installing a cat door will probably be needed. And I have never done laundry in a McDonald's sink, but I HAVE washed my hair in one!

Cherry Pie~I don't believe you. You must post a picture!

Andrew~I am SO not looking forward to the teen years!

Kim~I HATE REMOVING WALLPAPER!

Andrew McAllister said...

Know what? Everyone has been telling me since the kids were little to dread the teen years, but now we have two teens in the house and they are great people! Just love 'em! I think the key is, you put the effort in molding them, supporting them, giving them confidence and values BEFORE they reach those years, then you've got a shot at surviving the teen years unscathed. Mind you, the oldest is just turning 16 so we have a ways to go...

To Love, Honor and Dismay
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