Laundry Room Makeover

We moved to this old house ten years ago.  I love the charm of an old home, like this laundry shoot.  What I didn't love was having to go to this creepy damp basement to do my laundry and then pack it up two flights of stairs to the bedrooms. 

One of the first things we did was change the large pantry into a laundry room so that I would only have to pack the laundry up one flight of stairs.  I hated having to give up this great pantry because I'd dreamed of a pantry like this with great organized shelves of food and dishes. 

Now it is a rather small laundry room for which I am truly thankful. When we first moved in I painted this room and the kitchen brown hoping to make the pink kitchen counter tops look beige.  When I purchased this brown paint, the lady who mixed it for me sold me glossy paint instead of eggshell.  She wouldn't listen to me and said it was my mistake and not hers.  Thus the shiny walls in the photo below:

I'm not the best photographer in the world so I'm sorry for these photos, but it's a tiny room and hard to photograph.

Now the room is a soft yellow (the same color I recently painted the kitchen).  My collection of aprons hang on the old pantry door.

This room is much more cheerful now!

I'm not crazy about this shelving, but it was here when we bought the house and works for now.  I would love to have some old cabinets someday.  My porch pillows are stored in the basket on top and I can grab them easily to take outside when the weather is right.

I moved my old gas station "self service" sign to this room because it seemed a little insulting in the kitchen.  I thought my guests might be a little intimidated by it. 

I plan to make new curtains soon from tea toweling material.

Now for a confession.  I won this adorable rolling pin holder from Carol at Firecracker Kid Primitives quite some time ago and never blogged about it.  I tried to take photos of it to share but everytime I took a picture the flash bounced off the shiny wall.  When I tried taking a photo without the flash the rolling pin holder didn't show up well against the dark wall.  Now it's the focal point of the wall.  Please check out her blog and her Etsy Shop.

This little apron hanging below the rolling pin holder was made by Grandma Chickie and she made it when she was very young.  Notice the great red and white polka dot trim around the edges!  It goes perfect with my polka dot apron and matching boots!  I'm sure she wore this to hang up clothes because I think the pocket was for clothes pins.  I'll share more when the curtains are finished.

I'm linking with "The Charm of Home"s  

Home Sweet Home party.