Spring Cleaning, Part 2

I got the laundry room whipped into shape!

First, I had to get real about this ridiculousness:

I had to admit that, even though I use the light box and crummy lamp in the laundry room (where there's lots of natural light), I don't have to store them there. So I stuffed them in the guest bedroom closet, nearby. In the corner they vacated, I put a pretty tray for stuff waiting to go out to my car:

The tray won't stay empty for long! There's always something--coupons, recyclable shopping bags, dry cleaning--that needs to go out the door with me.

Putting a catchall in this corner makes sense, because I keep my purse in a designated spot right above the tray:

Next, I got a nicer little basket to house the two little plants. Compared to the old basket, this one is slightly deeper (the better to hide the ugly plastic pots they're in) and has no lid (which was cutting off essential sunlight they needed):

Next, I replaced the mayhem and foolishness of this lower cabinet, where wooden hangers ran amok and there lurked an overly-large, space-eating round trashcan (just visible in the foreground of this photo):


These two smaller, space-savvy rectangular trash cans will do the trick. They were on sale in the bath department of Bed, Bath, & Beyond. AND they were $10 off, per basket!

The lighting isn't too good down here, but I hope you can see they do a much better job of receiving trash and unwieldy hangers:

Lastly, I hung the drying bunches of lavender from the windowsill, where they don't get in the way when you try to open a cabinet or use the sink.

So, here's the current views of my laundry room, looking toward the washer/dryer:

And looking toward the sink and cabinets, opposite them:

There will still be the occasional pile of clean, folded laundry on the counter. But that's okay. To me, clean, folded laundry is a joy:

And until my puppy totally gets what it means to be housebroken, the sink will still often look like this:

But it's okay. Because he's a puppy. And I just bought a fresh supply of these:


So now I am a happy woman.

That is, until I open the closet to the guest room:

EEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!!