Painting a Washer and Dryer (Update)

One of my most popular posts from my former blogging days was Painting a Washer and Dryer.  I'm a little honored that it has so many hits, so I wanted to give an update about how they are holding up.

I painted them over 4 years ago in our apartment, in the middle of the night, over several days.  Again, not the smartest move, but there's really nothing I can do about it now.  Since then, we have moved to a house and our laundry game has quintupled.  Our poor machines are ALWAYS in use and I really feel like any day now they are just going to stop working out of defiance.

But, the paint job has really held up well!  There are several spots that are flaking off, but not in any place I was expecting it.  All the high traffic areas (places our hands are most often, where we would set something on top of the machines) are just fine, but the chips are on the corners or sides.  Weird!  But, considering it was flat house paint covered in spray sealer?  I'm amazed.

I'm actually starting to tire of the color and pattern and have strongly considered painting over it.  A few things are holding me back though.  1) I don't want to invest all that time and energy if the machines are nearing the end of their lives. 2) I have a to do list a million miles long and this is waaaaaay down on the bottom of "wants" which is waaaaaaay down below "needs". 3) I already have a long list of crafting things I want to do, and this is at the bottom of that. 4) all my stencils are really small and I don't feel like buying/creating a newer, larger one at the moment.  All very much First World Problems.

So, all in all, if someone is shallow like me and just wants pretty machines, I recommend going to Walmart, scouting the reject paint shelf, and buying a good sealer.  I spent around $30 upgrading it and it has held up well to excessive use by a family of 6 over 4+ years.  Well worth the investment in my book!

Holiday Musings

I am someone who really loves to plan ahead.  My Myers-Briggs test results put me at an ESFJ and people with that personality love to work early and party hard.  (or whatever, that's how I interpreted the results ;)

(Don't know your personality type? Go here and check it out --> 16 personalities.  It's free!)

That being said, there always seems to be one or two things that catch me off guard and really bother me.  I know it shouldn't, that the holiday season is about the birth of our Savior and not the "things" of the season, but I really love spreading the joy and love to family and friends.  I love having people over for dinner, mailing out tons and tons of Christmas cards, wrapping presents, and baking cookies.  This year I have had to be incredibly patient with myself, I am working full time and have two babies under 2, and operating on about 2-3 hours of sleep a night.  With that, some things have had to slide.  I haven't baked a single cookie all season, I just ordered my christmas cards yesterday, and my advent devotional has fallen all the way apart.  I'm tired, really, really tired and that is frustrating to me.  I hate that I have to drink coffee just to stay awake throughout the day.  Yes, I realize that coffee could be contributing to the sleeplessness, but I only drink it in the AM and my sleep issues are more staying asleep than getting to sleep.  Plus I'm on some meds that have insomnia as a side effect, which is stupid, buuuuuuut anyway.

I'm really looking forward to Christmas morning with the babies.  I know my older son (almost 2) is going to flip with the whole presents thing.  He already loves being in church and singing songs, he seems to recognize Baby Cheese is kind of a big deal right now, and he is really enjoying the Ann Voskamp Unwrapping the Greatest Gift devotional.  (I'll be blogging about how I adapted that down for my little ones soon)  My younger son (almost 1) has no clue what is happening, but has picked up on the excitement.  He mostly chews on everything, the Baby Cheese, the Christmas cards, any toy or decoration we have set out, but he seems to enjoy being a part of it all.

I have noticed a change in my heart this year, which I'm excited about.  My birthday was yesterday and I got some amazing presents.  One I needed (a new computer), but I was gifted a really, really, really, really nice one.  I'm so excited about it, mostly because my old one was held together with binder clips and prayer.  I can now DO something on the computer and I have so many things I want to get done (one of which is getting back into blogging).  The other gift was a membership to our state's history museum circuit.  I noticed though, that despite these amazing, generous gifts, all I really *wanted* was to spend time with my husband and kids.  It wasn't until they were tucked in bed and hubby was downstairs futzing on his computer that I sat down to really enjoy my presents.  All I wanted throughout the day was to be with them.  That drive ended up being a disaster, as shown my my little guy's total meltdown at dinner, but that was quickly fixed by Daddy and we moved on.  I should have read his cues better, #momfail.  I love this change of heart.  I have been praying for a really long time to have it, to stop dreaming about "if only I had _____, then my life would be easier/better" and instead be content with my *things* and focus on my relationship.  I was pleased to see that for one day, I had that heart change.  I pray that this mindset continues.

Hi, welcome back!

So I haven't blogged in years.  YEARS.  It's something I actually miss, something I want to get back into, so here I am.  A lot has happened in the last 5 years, most noteworthy is we had 2 babies.  Finally.  I have a lot of things I'd like to blog about, all my fun sewing projects, how I'm keeping our crazy family of 6 organized, getting back into cooking, infertility and it's total impact on the family, adventures we have, being a working mom.  I have no idea how often I'll be able to post, but here's hoping for some kind of regularity!  I noticed I'm still getting pageviews, so that's pretty exciting!

Here's our little family.  Well, part of it, it's our two little ones getting ready for Christmas this year.  We also have two teenagers in the house, but I won't be talking about them much outside of how I help keep our lives organized.

So here's to re-dedication of this blog.  New times, new direction, new stories to tell.

Painting A Washer and Dryer

I have a problem with pretty things. I like things around me to be beautiful and decorated, especially if I use them regularly. That being said, I can't always afford the nice things I want.

Case in point, my washer and dryer.




There is absolutely nothing wrong with them. They are clean, functioning well, never had an issue, but I H.A.T.E. looking at them on a daily basis. They're just....boring. (First world problem, right??)

I had read on Tip Junkie a tutorial on how to paint your washer/dryer (Found here: http://www.fivedaysfiveways.com/2012/02/try-it-tuesday-how-to-paint-washing.html) and thought to myself, "hey, I can do that!" Plus it would save 4K by purchasing a completely unnecessary washer/dryer just because it's prettier.

So I read the tutorial several dozen times (http://www.fivedaysfiveways.com/2012/02/try-it-tuesday-how-to-paint-washing.html) and headed to Walmart. At first I wandered around the paint section trying to get ideas, but then I made a beeline for the reject paint shelf. I decided I would create a design and color scheme based on what was available.

Boy was I glad I did that! A can of paint can cost from $20-$30, based on the size of the can, plus primer, plus rollers and such, it added up quickly!! Even though this project doesn't require a lot of paint (she says in the tutorial you only need to buy a quart and she's right!!), I still wanted to pinch pennies.




I picked up a gallon of sea foam green paint and a quart of rose paint. Notice both say "flat" and she recommended "eggshell".....that's all that was available.




I also picked up a bathroom roller kit. This was $7 and saved me about $35! If I had bought each of these items individually, it would have added up to around $40. It contained a roller brush, 4 roller heads (2 fabric, 2 foam), a tray, and a grate thingy that I never figured out how to use. I already had that paintbrush you see and the giant orange tarp. I used the empty ice cream container when painting small sections and to scoop the paint from the can to the tray. Since it is plastic, it was very easy to clean up and reuse.




The first thing I did was pull the dryer out of the closet onto the tarp and prepare for priming. (I used the oil-based KILZ primer she recommended). I had just scrubbed my washer and dryer out a few days before, so I knew the outsides were squeaky clean. (note: I left the washer in the closet hooked up so I didn't cause a flood in the apartment. I did unplug both the washer and dryer during the entire process. The dryer is really light, so it was very easy to move out and onto the tarp) I rolled on two layers of oil-based primer onto the machines that first night. Since it was stinky, I had a system of fans set up to keep the house ventilated and drying them as quickly as I could.




After the first layer of paint.




After the second layer of paint.

The paint stuck very easily. I decided early on to paint the entire machines the base color, but focus on the exposed parts (fronts and tops) for the design. I have no idea what my next laundry room will look like, so I didn't want the machines to look weird with bare sides if I'm in a room next time instead of a closet.







I then started in on the design. This is where I should have spent more money. I dug through my supply of stencils and used what I already had, which as you can see, is very small. It was a HUGE pain to lift, retape, and paint every time. I should have made an emergency trip to Joann's with my coupons and bought a bigger stencil that I wouldn't have to move as much. Ah, well.




Here is the dryer finished and drying. You can see splotches from stencil mistakes, I have learned to come to peace with them.




Here is the washer done. By the time I got to the front of the washer I was OVER this project. I didn't want to keep going, so the bottom is kind of messy. Again, oh well.

The last step I chose to do is a seal. The paint was flat and I wipe down my washer and dryer almost every week to clean up after spills, so I wanted something that would wipe up easily. All I had on hand was a spray paint seal, so I ran with it. Any time I added a coat, I timed it with the family leaving the house (it helped that it was Easter weekend and we were all very busy up at church) so no one was around to breath in the fumes. I set up a fan to constantly blow on the machines and had fans by the windows to help draw in fresh air. Last, after the paint and seal was completely dry, I opened the dryer and had a fan blowing on it for days. I didn't want any wet fumes to have seeped in and cause any trouble for me (fires), so I made sure to thoroughly air it out.




Back in the closet :)




And the closet put back together. :-D

I have run about 2 dozen loads in these so far and I am in LOVE! I smile when I open the closet doors, I no longer despise doing laundry. I don't even see those smudges of paint from lazy stenciling in person anymore!

This project was cheap too! The paint, primer, and roller kit cost $30 total. I already owned the brush, painters tape, tarp, and seal.

And the best part is, now that I know what I am up against, I can change it anytime I want. If I want a new color scheme or design, it's as simple as the cost of reject paint. :)