Laundry, laundry everywhere...

I little over a year ago, S and I bought our first house.  It needed, and still needs, some work to get it just how we want it. But time and money seem to keep it in an under-construction state.  Several rooms are half-finished, with piles of stuff in the middle of the floor.  Admittedly, it does not help that I cannot do just one project at a time.  I have to have several projects going on, or else I get bored.

Anyway, with all of the piles everywhere, I got a bit lazy and started throwing my dirty laundry in to piles, too.  I HATE washing laundry, so the piles grew.  As the piles grew, S grew more and more annoyed with me.  (And I don't blame him.  I was being quite a slob.)

I decided to do something about my dirty little habit, and I turned to Ana White's blog for inspiration.  Not only did I find the inspiration I needed, but I found a solution -- a very easy, why-didn't-I-think-of-that solution.  On Ana's site, I found, and printed, plans for a laundry basket dresser.

The laundry basket dresser is basically a plywood (Purebond plywood) box.  The box has six supports -- three on each side -- to house three standard laundry baskets.  The baskets can just slide into the dresser when you need them.  Genius!

I took Ana's sketch, added legs to it (but without a brace--they're just screwed in), and got to work.

Unfortunately, the day S took me to Home Depot to get plywood cut, I was in a lot of pain.  And pain medication + writing down measurements = wood cut to the wrong width.  The back of the dresser is about an inch too short, but it's not noticeable at all with the back being against the bedroom wall.

When I was more clear-headed, I built the box, working hard to get things square.  (Getting projects square can be a bit challenging when S is at work and I'm building by myself.)  In a very short time, the dresser was built.  I then painted it with two coats of Annie Sloan's chalk paint in graphite.  After a soft wax finish, it was ready to go into our bedroom.

I bought three laundry baskets and labeled them for sorting.  I put a thin basket on top of the dresser for my silks and cashmere.  A small glass candy dish is a catch-all for items left in our pockets.

And since I hate laundry so much, I thought I'd try to make it seem a little more pleasant by placing one of my favorite possessions on top of the laundry dresser.   When my sister was pregnant with my niece, she didn't announce her pregnancy.  She wanted us to all find out at the same time.  So for Christmas, she gave each of us a framed sonogram photo.  My little niece has brought so much joy to my life and that photo reminds me of how blessed I am.