Laundry room wish list, item 1, check!

I’ve been pondering a different arrangement in the laundry room for several years now, and eventually came up with an idea based on a Welsh hutch I found online. It was gorgeous but very pricy, $3k+, and I figured if I kept my eyes open I’d find something close enough to do the job. I checked on Craigslist off and on for months, never saw anything remotely similar, and moved on to other wishlists for home and farm.

Last week on a whim I checked and found a hutch that was very close to the one I wanted. We got it for $400 and I spent most of Mother’s Day prepping to paint the wall behind it. The wall is soft apricot now, on two sides of the laundry room, and the hutch is in place. I’m seriously considering painting it with chalk paint, layering a soft natural green and a creamy country white in an interesting way, and putting dark wax on top of that. But I like to live with things before I jump in and put paint on, so my husband brought this monster up the stairs in two pieces for me and it was almost instantly christened with the November Hill Feline Seal Of Approval by Pixie.

I can’t tell you how happy I was to put the horse minerals and supplements “away” on their new shelving and line up my boots and hang my gardening hats. We have twice the space we did before and it looks much more my style than the counter-top wood tables that were there when we moved in. 

Now I need the second item on the wishlist - a wood bench that will fit over the horse feed bins under the window, a place I can put a cushion and sit to put my boots on, fold laundry on, etc. I already know most benches are not as high as the bins are so it may be something I have to make or have made, but I want it simple and durable, and that shouldn’t be too hard to have done.

On the opposite wall, there’s a multi-item list of things to do. Have the dryer outlet rewired, see if the vent can be done differently/more efficiently, replace the shop sink with something beautiful that will also allow for buckets and maybe even a lower deck dog washing station, plus new shelving over the washer/dryer.

Not to mention the new laundry room door with built-in dog door to accommodate the Golden Retriever girl who lives here now. I’ve found the door I want, but have to get measurements before I get the quote to see if it’s affordable. I’ll be happy when I can make this room totally Done. :) For now, though, I’m happy as can be with this hutch!

A mother’s heart is as big as the sky

Clementine and the herd

Clem is spending time off leash in Poplar Folly now, along with her best friends Bear and Baloo Corgi. She’s curious about the equines but does not approach them, and if they start running she comes to my side and sits. 

The big lesson for Clem is “leave it” when it comes to horse manure. We’re working on it. 

It’s fun seeing her learn the ropes of living on a horse farm. She’s already a superstar when it comes to going out in the world. I feel sure she will be the same here as she gets more exposure. 

Deep work + grocery bag = outline for new writing project

After taking three dogs for a romp in Poplar Folly, doing my morning chores in kitchen, living room, and laundry, I dug in for some deep writing work today.

Once I had my paper and marker my brain focused in on the project at hand. My novel trilogy titled Arrow of Time seems to me upon editing to be better suited for the screen, so I’m giving it a shot. It’s been years since I wrote screenplays and pilot episodes but my head is full of this story and these characters and I’m ready to go with this.

Normally I would have closed myself into the garret upstairs but I needed to keep an eye on the pup, even though she was conked out from the romp. Our dining table offered a nice space to settle in for the work at hand.

Buttercups need mowing, barn surely needs cleaning, but both my farm helpers will be here tomorrow due to a schedule glitch so I opted to keep my deep work day and let them deal with the outdoor chores when they get here. 

I’m happy I did. It feels good to make progress with this project and filling in all that blank space is one joy of the writing process. 

When the things that you want appear before your eyes

Yesterday I was thinking (after seeing two mice in the barn) that we needed a resident black snake to move in. Husband sent this photo to me while out feeding last night:

Today I suddenly remembered the Welsh hutch I found online months and months ago, from a custom furniture shop, $3000+ which is why I never followed up on it. This evening I went onto Craigslist and found this, very close to the one I found, nearby, $400. Picking it up Saturday morning!

I’m redoing the laundry room at some point and this will be the first step of that process. We have two long tables that came with the house and they have served us well functionally but are not that attractive and take up too much space in a small room that gets used a lot. I’m looking forward to bringing this piece in. 

Though it’s a game of dominoes, as usual. Now that this is coming in I’m thinking, well, we should go ahead and paint the wall before moving this in so we don’t have to move it to paint later. Isn’t that always the way it goes? 

Happy, in any case. :)