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This is my journey to add beauty and organization to my home, as well as being the best Wife, Mom, Woman & Christian that I can be. Join me, you'll feel better about your own life. LOL!

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Laundry Bags

Hi all,
In my previous house, I had a basement laundry room where I had plenty of room to sort laundry where no one could see it. Sure that room flooded from time to time and wasn't heated ( winter wasn't nice), but there was all that room.
In our wonderful Forever house, our washer and dryer is on the main floor in the entry way. So this is the lovely view when we walk in. Photobucket
Yes, we will be painted the walls in the summer and the floor if I get my way.

Anyway, not the best view. In our main bathroom, we have a fairly large closet but not big enough to have more than one basket. So this is what that looked like most of the time. Because I am the only one capable of locating a basket, obviously.
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The home owners had a laundry sorter in there, but A) I didn't really want to spend any money & B) I have never owned a laundry sorter that could stand up to my kids.

I popped the bottom shelf out of the closet and this left a ledge around 3 sides of the closet. I had some curtains from houses ago that had gotten stained and the mice had gotten into them when they were in storage. So, they were just so much fabric, nothing that I would be hanging in common areas.
I cut them apart and sewed them up on 4 sides to make 3 bags. Because I wanted the clothes to be sorted in the closet so that I could see when a load needed to be done, and we sort our clothes by person, I wanted the bags labeled by person. Because I don't have a Cricut or Silhouette (but I entered the giveaway over @ "How Does She") I printed the names off my printer onto Freezer paper that I had cut into 8.5*11 size pieces. I printed onto the Non-shiny side. I put the paper down on my self healing mat and used my Exact o knife and cut out the letters.Photobucket
Then I laid the paper down on the bags where I wanted the names to be, shiny side down. I used a warm iron to iron the paper onto the bags. I wasn't sure what temp to use so I figured that cooler was better. The iron melts the shiny side of the paper into the fabric to make a perfect stencil that doesn't move. I then used a stencil sponge and Burnt Umber acrylic paint and painted in the letters.
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I let them dry a few minutes then peeled the freezer paper off. It doesn't leave any residue @ all. It just adheres enough to allow you to paint with out bleeding.
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Then I threaded the bags onto 2 3/4' dowels that I had spray painted black. I put the dowels on the little ledge in the closet that was left by removing the shelf.
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I did put 4 finishing nails right beside the nails so that they didn't roll around, but the dowels and bags are easily removable if they need to be washed.
The kids were so excited to have laundry bags with their names. Now there is NO QUESTION about where dirty clothes belong. Notice that I put "Mom & Daddy" in the middle so there was no squabbles about who got to be next to who.

4 comments:

  1. The bags look great Jess! A very inspiring makeover. Stenciling the names on gives such a nice touch, and what a nice tip about the freezer paper. I'm sure that someday soon the whole laundry space will be an area that makes you proud. You have such great ideas. I loved your idea for framing the "art work" in my laundry room and am on the lookout for just the right ones...which would be dirt cheap ones of course!

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  2. Oooo! What a great idea, and fun project!
    I love this. Looks GREAT!
    Thanks for stopping by my blog, and for the sweet comment! I couldn't agree more with the wreath form! I have actually already started one! I hope it turns out just as cute as the ball forms did!
    Shelley Smith
    houseofsmiths.blogspot.com

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  3. Hey Jess! Thanks so much for stopping by the blog...I LOVE this! Would it be okay with you if I featured it on my blog? It's just so simple and cute and functional...needless to say, I'm a fan of this project! --shaunna :)

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  4. This is a WONDERFUL idea! Great job! And you printed ON THE FREEZER paper, what an easy way to do it. I'm such a big fan of freezer paper and this cuts down on the work side tremendously!!

    So you love the buttered popcorn ones? I've heard they are a love it or hate it thing, so to each his own! :) I think I may try to unload the black licorice ones on my son next... :)

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