Monday, November 10, 2008

The REAL Reason Why I Made Up My Own Rules On The Picture Tag

First and foremost--I hope that this post doesn't change your opinion of me too much. I am really not a slob--my house is clean except for 2 rooms. 1 being the storage room (we will get to that another day) and the other being my true nemesis of the house--The Laundry Room. To begin with it is not a finished room. The walls are still just installation, the floor is concrete and there is really no ceiling. It is ugly and I really hate going in there. Just last week my really good friend Annette decided that she needed to get rid of her messy places. She posted about her "Best Mess" and turned it into a contest. It got me really motivated because the prize for the winner is a hand painted portrait of your child/or up to 3 children. She is an amazing artist and you can see one of her paintings on my sidebar (it is of her daughter). I decided to tackle the most disgusting place in the house--even if it was HORRIBLY embarrassing. I am now going to share with all of you my "Best Mess". The first picture is the east wall of the laundry room. Be careful to note the layers (and when I say layers I really mean layers) of clothes/towels/balnkets/sheets and the dryer lint piled 1/2 way up the wall.




This next picture is of the top of the dryer. Most of these clothes (with the exception of the little blue shirt) are things I could NOT get stains out of.




This next one is of all of the crap that I swept up off of the floor after removing the layers of clothes/towels/blankets/sheets.



Here we have the bags of garbage (almost NONE of the items were salvageable that were on the floor--there must have been some wet things among them so they were pretty moldy).



Now here is the east wall all cleaned up. I know that the floor is yuck but really--what do you do with concrete?



Here is the top of the dryer that I haven't seen in about 8 years.

There were several more pictures but I thought this should suffice. I am really glad that I took this challenge. Annette--you really inspired me to get my act together and my storage room will be next!!
There is still time to enter her contest. You have until Thursday to do so. PLEASE PLEASE go to her blog Four Girls and a Burly Man starting on Friday and vote for my "Best Mess". You will recognize it by the above pictures (and you will be able to see others).

37 comments:

Shauna said...

This is making me feel better about my house :) ♥ Hugs!

Lisa said...

Hi Jillene,
Care to come to my house??? Maybe I'll get inspired too...

Jillybean said...

I think in my house the best mess would be a tie between the laundry room, the storage room and my office.
My laundry room looks quite a bit like your before photo. Two of my children feel that it is their personal dressing room and leave all their dirty clothes on the floor because that's where they go to be washed anyway isn't it?
(duh)

My cousin did an interesting thing with the cement in her storage room. She took narrow masking tape and put it on the floor in a diagonal grid pattern. (with the squares about 12") Then she sponge painted the floor in a few different grey colors and when she removed the tape, it looked just like tile.

Jillene said...

Jill-
WHAT A GREAT IDEA!! I think that I will do that!! Thanks for the info!!

Lisa-
I would love to come!! I wish you were closer!!

Shauna-
I am SO glad that I am not the only one!!

tiki_lady said...

I have never seen dryer lint so thick and wide! like how many loads do you dry before you clean the lint catcher??? DH absolutely can not stand if I let it go more than 2 loads! Our clothes take longer to dry if I don't clean the lint catch. Other than your lint, it wasn't that bad. That is what my laundry room looks like after a weekend of camping. Clothes clothes everywhere. I probably have like 10 loads after a good weekend out. Great share!

Whitney R said...

Good for you, Jillene!!

You did a great job, that room looks great! With cement, ummm... carpet pieces? Like extras. They are pretty cheap at carpet stores. Or there's the cheap sticky tiles (my home I grew up in had an unfinished basement and these are a few things my parents did :)

Kristina P. said...

Jillene, I don't know if I can ever look at you the same again!

Now, I have to look at you with more admiration.

Me (aka Danielle) said...

I don't think there is a person alive that doesn't have a room, closet or at least a drawer they would hate for people to see. I know I have one or more of them in my house.

Jillene said...

Mother Goose-
That was only 1 side. The whole thing was HIDEOUS!! I empty the dryer lint when the dryer prompts me to. Maybe I should do it sooner so my clothes dry faster!! Thanks for the tip!!

Whitney-
I thought about carpet pieces but I really liked Jill's idea!!

Kristina-
First I laughed at yur comment and then I cried. SERIOUSLY the second part made me cry--thank you for being so awesome!!

Danielle-
I am glad that we all have one of those rooms/closets/drawers etc. That is why I was able to actually post pictures!!

Erin said...

Good job cleaning up! That was amazing!

rychelle said...

i'm totally voting for you. you deserve it!

(don't forget to remind us to vote on thursday)

Lorie said...

I feel your pain! I too have a crazy laundry room (that is also storage) and when I see pictures of peoples really cute laundry rooms it makes my jealous. But mine is in the garage, so I really don't have any desire to spend money to make it cute!

*MARY* said...

I'm too embarrassed to enter this contest. So I will definitely be voting for you.
That lint is awesome, you could make a winter coat, it would smell fabulous.

heather said...

THAT is the best thing ever!

Anonymous said...

You did an awesome job. My bedroom is. a disaster right now. That's where all the clean clothes end up. It looks like my dryer puked all over my bed and floor. I would be to embarrassed to display such a sight. But what a great motivator!

Alyson | New England Living said...

Wow! You did an awesome job! I always get so much anxiety when I have to clean a super messy room and then I usually end up just ignoring it.

Jo said...

I love you! Thanks for keeping it real. I am sure just about everyone has a place like that in their life, either real or in their minds. So few of us have the courage to show it. But you do. Yay! Thanks for the inspiration!

carrhop said...

Good for you! This looks great! It's so hard to tackle those spots that seem to collect the most mess--you're an inspiration!

Blessings!

Wendyburd1 said...

WOW. Well it is still not as scary as the basement we had our laundry in until we moved when I was in 10th grade.

Victoria Elder said...

Inspiring!

Denise @ Sunflowers, Chocolate and Little Boys said...

I think you did a great job exposing your mess, and I hope you win!! I will have to stop by that site and check it out.

Thanks for stopping by my blog...and I used 4 ounces of cream cheese in my pot of mashed potatos. I really just eyeball it but you HAVE to try it...it is SO good.

Annette Anthony said...

WOW! Jillene its nice to air your dirty laundry (literally)! I am glad someone dares to take my challange! SO PROPS to you. It is very hard to expose your hiding places that no one sees! I would know. But I don't have FREAK'N 41 followers. I figured I was showing my 6 close friends! So you really are gutsy!
I adore your responces.

Jillene said...

I am just really thankful that no one is hating on me. I was REALLY, REALLY nervous to post this but it is real and it is my life so I figured what the!?

Unknown said...

You so made my day! OTHER Messy areas other than my house!!!!!!!

{Rebecca Fellows} said...

It takes a brave, brave girl to show her hidden skeletons. Good job! Don't you just LOVE the 'after' pic? It doesn't matter that the room is unfinished. I could just breathe a whole lot easier!

I was going to suggest painting the floor, as well. And you need to get a laundry basket in a bright version of your favorite color so it makes you happy when you have to go down there!

Anonymous said...

LOVE IT!!!!! honesty, organization, some of my favorite things :)

Lara Neves said...

You are incredibly brave. I have a few hidden messes like that, and I don't know that I could bare all for the whole internet to see! I will vote for you when the time comes!

I'm glad I found your blog, too!

Jillene said...

Pinky-
Thanks so much!!

Rebecca-
I wasn't feeling so brave when I did it. I almost went and deleted it because I was so embarassed but OH WELL!!

I really like the idea of painting the floor and maybe adding a small rug because that floor gets COLD in the winter!

Stacey-
Thanks! You were one of the ones I was most scared of seeing this because of your organization!!

Lara-
I am glad you came over and checked out my blog! I love new blog friends!!

Lee said...

Trust me, your house is fine compared to my sister's old house. They used to just throw their garbage on the floor EVERYWHERE and leave it. It soaked through the carpet and I got to the point that I couldn't go to their house! At least yours was an easy fix!

And thanks for subscribing to my blog! I really enjoy yours and I'll return the favor! (:

Carissa(GoodnCrazy) said...

I agree...I feel sooo much better about the fact that I can't find the tops of my wash/dryer!

What am I voting for?

Carissa(GoodnCrazy) said...

Okay read that blog about the best mess...now REMIND ME WHEN I'm supposed to vote and I'll tweet out your photos for more votes k?

Anonymous said...

That's awesome!! Sorry I fell off the planet... It's taken me a while to go through my reader....

Way to organize your laundry room... I wish I had a house to organize. You have inspired me :)

Michelle said...

This is what I need to do. We are moving in 6 months and the army is moving all our stuff, so I have to get rid of all the garbage before then, cause I don't want it to all get moved with us. I am puting it off though, cause both my basement and garage are FILLED with junk. Plus there are bugs all over, and bugs scare me.

Jillene said...

Michelle-
I have seen some of those bugs!! Bugs don't bother me but mice/rats--that's a WHOLE other story!!

amber belmonte said...

holy awesome lint wall! :)
you're definitely NOT the only one! we ALL have messes!

Paige said...

Why dont you paint the concrete some bright color and use a high gloss paint that will clean up good?

My laundry room can get almost as crazy, and I dont have kids to blame it on!

Anonymous said...

It's a beautiful sight (site?). Truly beautiful:)

and it just feels sooooo good, right?!?!