Cleaning out, organizing, throwing out...oh how my heart loves to accomplish those 3 things. Life gets so busy and even though I thrive under an organized environment, my home suffers often and there is no semblance of organization. It drives me crazy but once it gets to that state, I tend to leave it alone and try to ignore it. The problem is, it does not go away and even though I pretend its not there, the mess really drags me down without me realizing it. Okay, now this is a stretch...but being in the "business" of doing a weekly children's sermon, I am always hunting an object lesson. We will get back to that.
Let me back up to the beginning of 2011...
We had no plans, except to eat black-eyed peas, for New Year's Day. After I cooked breakfast, Chad and I were picking up and he started cleaning out his closet. I followed suit and tackled Cooper's closet. I had just cleaned said closet the day before Thanksgiving so I was a tad perturbed that the closet doors could not be closed and because it was so irritating to me, I had ignored it the entire Christmas vacation. So I got to work and ended up going through drawers and everything and it made me so happy. That evening, I tackled Claudia's room. I didn't go near her closet because I wasn't up for another closet, but I did get a dollhouse bookshelf moved to the playroom, giving her ample needed room! On Sunday afternoon, I was still in clean out mode so I hit the laundry room. What I need to say about this room is I thought it was ok with me for it to always look ugly and only be functional. It has been this way for the entire (almost) 9 years we have lived here. I didn't really realize just how junky and dirty this room had become. Quite ironic that the dirtiest room in the house is where we clean our clothes! After lots of cleaning and organizing, I started to really enjoy the room. It was all starting to look so much better!
I ended up rummaging through my "decorating things" that are currently out of use and found a few things to try to make it look "pretty". Granted, it needs a paint job in the worst way, and the floor is hideous to say the least, but I LOVE how much better it looks! I have even found that laundry can be more enjoyable in a clean, pretty, organized room. Because I was on the phone with Amy hearing "Gracie tales" while I was working, I took two pics with my phone to send her when I finished. She has first hand knowledge of the nightmare I started with! I am showing these in black and white b/c it helps you not see just how badly we need to paint this room. I absolutely LOVE how it looks with something pretty in there.
I couldn't take the function out of the room, but I certainly made it look a lot more organized. I even found this key holder from my previous kitchen decor and hung it by Spencer's crate to hold his leash and extra harness. That first night, Chad said Spencer seemed a little skittish at going in his crate in a new location...considering his crate has been in the middle of the floor for almost 2 years! Yes, it is shameful but true! This picture is really blurry but the organization makes my heart sing!
One of my favorite blogs hosts "Show us Your Life Fridays" and I went back to her link ups for laundry rooms and have looked at several of them to try to get inspiration for making this room look even better. Aside from the before mentioned paint and flooring, I want to do curtains and change the knobs on the cabinets. I would also love more shelving. What I have realized is how incredibly blessed I am to have a laundry room and not just a closet! I am quite ashamed of myself for letting this room look so horrible for so long.
And now for the object lesson I mentioned at the beginning. Can I just insert that I never dreamed I would ever post about a laundry room, much less such a wordy post...but on I go...
Isn't this room just like SIN! It makes me think of those sins we as people like to consider "small" or "less important". I would NEVER let my bedroom or den or kitchen get in this state. Those are BIG rooms in my life and people see those. GASP! I would die if someone came into my living space and saw anything that looked like my laundry had looked. That is just like SIN! We think we are in good shape because we stay away from "the big sins"...but what about the "little ones"? Those are the ones dragging us down because we ignore them, we pretend they don't matter, we think no one sees them. Only a select few of our closest friends or our spouse know about those...just like the select people who had permission to see my laundry room. They won't judge me...that is what we tell ourselves. But I cannot help wondering what it is doing to my heart. How much are those sins crowding my heart and taking up precious space where they have no place? How much are the "small" "hidden" sins stealing my joy?
Just something to think about... I am sure my heart needs a good cleaning out as much as my laundry room did...and I am sure it would bring me MORE JOY than a clean laundry room ever could! After all, that is the PLACE I have asked JESUS CHRIST to reside! Shouldn't it be the best room in the "house"?
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