Laundry Drying Racks

It appears that my laundry room is my favorite hangout between Christmas and New Year’s. It’s not because we are home and I get to do all that laundry!But I have extra time that I can start and finish a project in one sitting.

Recap:

2016 – Backsplash the wall behind the sink in the laundry room

2017 – Backsplash behind the washer and dryer

2018 – Add a drying rack (this post)

All of my laundry projects have been at the top of my favorites list, but this year’s drying rack is really my favorite!

All the projects are making my laundry room more enjoyable, but this one really added function. We purchased and hung a drying rack based on recommendations from YoungHouseLove. It works great and we love it, but I was scared of hanging too much on it and being too heavy to handle. Plus, the bars are so close together, that I felt the clothes didn’t have enough room to breathe and the bars were actually starting to rust a little.

We still use the rack a lot, but not for heavy items.

In Mr. JCrew’s wardrobe, he has a lot of items he does not dry. He is fearful of shrinking clothes. But pants and sweaters are heavy. We were using the appliances to drape the pants over to dry. But then the whole room was covered in clothes. It looked messy. That’s when I went searching for options. And when I do that, I don’t find what I want and end up making it.

Sure enough, that’s what I did. I looked at the space in my laundry room and found very little. I then looked at the cubby that houses the laundry baskets. I could make pull-out racks.

I then measured the space to see the biggest I could make it and bought supplies. But then the supplies hung out in my garage for four months until I found time. I actually was slightly stalling this project because I wasn’t confident. On paper it worked, but I knew there would be a hiccup.

I finally tackled this project after Christmas. I wanted the front flush, so it didn’t stand out. Because there was a lip on the front of the cabinet, I had to build out the inside to attach the sliding drawer hardware to. I used wood glue and screws to attach scrap pieces of wood to the side of the cabinet, but I also used the drawer hardware to attach it to the back of the cabinet for extra strength.

I then built the box frame and then cut the dowel rods to fit.

The dowel rods are 1-inch diameter. I wanted large so that it didn’t create a crease in the clothes, but also allowed the longer pieces to not be touching themselves when folded and could dry faster.

The project ended up being easy! I put multiple coats of polyurethane on it to protect the wood from water. I then waited a few more days before use. And my first time using it was awesome!

The drawers open and close so smoothly with just one hand.

And with both racks in use, you can still open the door plenty to get in and out of the room.

Soooooooo, excited about this project and its function. I think I love the laundry task just a little bit more now!

Yard Spiders

We like to decorate for the holiday's, but Mr. JCrew and I differ on how far to go. He likes to go all out! I like to keep things simple. Part of this is because I know the work that goes into those elaborate scenes.

Mr. JCrew has always wanted to decorate for Halloween. I never celebrated Halloween growing up so it was never a big to-do I was experienced with. But Mr. JCrew got excited when I said I was ready to decorate for Halloween this year. I immediately said we had to have a theme. Our theme... SPIDERS!

We plan to put up cobwebs around our porch and relatively "small" spiders hanging from the porch vine, but the big effort was going to be from our huge spiders in the yard. I found a tutorial and made three! We are on a corner lot, so the main spider is on the corner to grab your attention. Then a second spider is right in front of the house, and a third spider is at the driveway on the side of the house for those that turn the corner, down our street.

No escaping!!

I appreciated the tutorial I found because he laid out exactly what to buy. I am going to change a couple things for my list.

Supplies for 1 Spider:

• 6 – 10’ lengths of ¾ inch PVC pipe
• 8 - ¾ inch PVC caps
• 16 – ¾ inch PVC 45 degree elbows
• 8 – ¾ inch PVC 90 degree elbows
• 2 – ¾ inch PVC 4 way T connectors
• 2 – ¾ inch PVC T connectors
• PVC cement
• Black spray paint
• Bouncy Ball (head)
• Pillow (body)
• Black yard trash bag (body)
• Black duct tape (body)
• Black Zip Ties (body)

He used different parts for the body, but I didn't like how it turned out in his pictures. So, I changed it on the cuff. While in Walmart, I saw pillows and grabbed three. They would be the body. Then I grabbed bouncy balls. They would be the head. I would stick those in a yard trash bag and I'd have my spider body.


I stuck the ball in the center end of the trash bag and tied it off with a zip tie.

I then left the pillow in its protective wrap it was bought in and placed it in the trash bag and tied it off with another zip tie.

This left a tail that I taped flat onto the body.

Mr. JCrew said we could use this technique to make "bodies." :/

The tutorial I found also told you how to cut the PVC pipe into the lengths you need. Having this already planned out made things go much faster. Longest part of a project is the planning!

I cut the PVC pipe and assembled the legs and 'backbone."

 

I glued the legs together and the backbone together. NOT TO EACH OTHER! I want to be able to reuse these, so I can hang the legs and it take up less space. The legs will stay assembled and the backbone assembled while in storage.

TIP! **** I glued the 45 degree elbows to the backbone and if I could change that, I would glue the 45 degree elbows to the legs instead. Gluing the 45 degree elbows to the backbone restricts the movement of the legs. When putting the legs on, you may have to adjust positioning to find balance for the spider and the 45 degree elbow is what helps you.

I used Mister Pfitzer's tricycle to hold the backbone as I attached the legs. You definitely need something to lift the backbone up as you insert the legs.

Now, my list says 2 4-way connectors and 2 T-connectors, but that is not what is shown in the pictures or what was on the tutorial I followed. I bought the materials as the list stated, but those 4-way connectors are expensive and I really only needed 2. The T-connectors can be the ones on the end.

At first, the weight of the pillow would make the legs crumble. I had to make sure the pipes were fully inserted. The boys helped with assembly, and they said it was frustrating. You'd get one leg in and another would fall out.

Once together, I spray painted. Spray paint was much faster than exterior paint I'd have to roll on. I made sure to get the kind with Primer built in. And I didn't sand the PVC pipe before painting. The paint I got said it would adhere to plastic.

With the spider bodies, I also taped the head "up" on the body. I used the black duct tape to make a "collar" that assisted in holding the head up closer to the body. Otherwise, the head would kind of fall down.

The boys then said the spiders were missing eyes, so I took their advice on four red eyes for the spiders. Scary!

This only took one morning to do and the spiders were on display by lunch time. I was so tickled with the results! Come Halloween night, the spiders will move to be closer to the walkways so that the trick-or-treaters have to be brave!

Kitchen Curtains

It seems lately, we've been putting a lot of finishing touches onto decorations the house. (Rugs, more trim, etc). Curtains can really add that punctuation to a room.

The boys' rooms have the same exact curtains in there. They were versatile enough to go with all the bedrooms. The rest of the house has ZERO curtains. We have plantation shutters on the first level of the house with exception to the windows on the back of the house. I wanted those views to stay open, but we eventually hung shades to use in case we wanted privacy or to block the setting sun for those 20 minutes that it is right in your face!

But the kitchen nook was still feeling unfinished.

I don't remember exactly how I found Martha and Ash, but I started following them on Instagram. I watched them for a while and made it a goal to eventually purchase custom curtain panels from them. I measured twice and provided the measurements and a picture. Ashley then asked more questions and then recommended options.

I ordered samples and picked out what I wanted and then requested a quote. I then sat on that quote for a year! Once I was ready, I actually made the purchase and waited 6 weeks for them to arrive.

During that six weeks I got nervous! I started second-guessing how I was going to hang the curtains. Remember, my walls downstairs are made of Insulated Concrete Forms. There is 3 inches of foam, 6 inches of concrete and then another 3 inches of foam. I was nervous I would flub up the installation into the foam and the heavy curtain rods and heavy curtains would come crashing down as soon as I got them up!

When the curtains and the hardware arrived, it made me even more scared. I think I made a mistake ordering the curtains without thinking this through. But I continued to search through the many photos I took during construction to see if I could see where the "studs" were. In ICF walls, there is plastic webbing every six inches that goes through the foam and concrete.

This webbing can be used as studs and can support 300 lbs. On the foam, there was an infinti marking where the webbing was. The framing installers were suppose to line those up with each row of blocks.

I studied pictures of the drywall in that corner and saw now seams that they plastered the screw holes above the window! That's when I studied the ICF framing before the drywall phase.

When I zoomed in, I could see the infinti marking. I then measured ever six inches.  I easily found the studs on the outside edges of the window. They required a lot of umph to drive the screws in (to get started) so I asked for Mr. JCrew's help.

I couldn't find the stud in the middle of the window. I bought an extra bracket in case I had off-center studs, but there weren't. I then put superglue on the 3-inch screws and screwed them into the foam.

The corner bracket was cool. I had not seen one like it before. The down side to the corner, was that there were no studs there either! The corner was where the biggest curtain panel was going to be! I used superglue on those screws and drove them into the foam, too.

Once I had the brackets up, I let them sit there for a week. Then I hung the poles on the brackets and let them hang out for a week.

I finally hung the end panels up with no problem. I knew they would hold.

It was the middle panel I was hesitant about. The curtains and hardware hung out in my closet as I gained courage. My mom kept asking about when I was going to hang them. Then I waited even longer to hang the middle panel. Maybe I didn't need it? But that would be a waste of money.

I also waited to make sure that the superglue was set and would hold. I finally got the courage to hang the middle panel and put the curtain up. I left the ladder there to support the weight of the curtain.

I finally bit the bullet and removed the ladder. It stayed!!!


I bought my first ever steamer to use on these curtains. It took the wrinkles right out. I plan to use it on the boys' curtains. I thought the weight of the curtains would pull the wrinkles out, but they are still there after 3 years.

I purposefully chose the curtains to be the same color as my wall. I'm really digging "texture" with color on color rather than incorporating too many different colors into a space.

I am loving it! The view you see from entering the front door is my favorite. It makes you feel like the ceiling is much taller!

I chose pinch pleat top to give it a more formal look.

The measurements turned out perfect! They hit the floor just right. I ordered these before I found the rug, so the rug took up an inch of the curtains fall. I have since moved the rug over a little so the curtains can touch the ground.

I am loving adding the finishing touches to the house. The curtains are a favorite!!