Homemade Laundry Soap

I’ve made this stuff and I love it!  It’s so cheap and it rids your wash of all of those chemicals in commercial detergents.

It’s only three ingredients (excluding water) and takes 24 hours until it’s ready:

Borax
Washing Soda
Ivory or Castile Soap

The recipe on the site will make 10 gallons, but I made a half recipe to try it out (and because I didn’t have two buckets available).  Next time I’ll be making the full recipe.

Visit Happy Hooligans for all the details!!

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Freshened Up Kitchen Wall

We moved into our new home three years ago and we’re finally getting into some REAL changes to make it our own.

When we first moved in, we did the standard off white with some accent walls.  I love to paint, so I thought it was time to really go bold with some color!

Our kitchen is a wee bit outdated.  These first two photos are of the kitchen once we got settled in.  Since these photos were taken. we have installed a new ceiling fan, but that was about it.  The lighting over the counter top and sink we installed while moving in, and we bought all new appliances (except the dishwasher).  The rest is what it is now – except for that awesome brick wall!

Texture is awesome, and I was in no way tearing down that brick.  It’s not brick paneling (while painting, I wished it was, but…).  It’s thin, decorative brick glued onto a painted-black wall.  Over the years the bricks became discolored by the baseboard heat, and just were old and in need of some TLC.

I purposely slated this project for the winter.  It gets cold here in January, and it was a great way to pass the time during a cold snap.

I selected Sherwin Williams Ovation paint in eggshell – color SUNDRIED TOMATO.  Oh my goodness, this color is the perfect color and wasn’t a disappointment once the wall was completed.

Here’s the “before” of the main wall.

One coat…

Two coats…

Yeah, it took three coats to get it right.

It took a solid three days and almost a full gallon of paint for just this wall.  As you can see below, I had a lot of nooks and crannies to paint.  I painted it all – the black “mortar” had to go and it makes the wall so nice and uniform.

Slow and steady!  I worked in sections while music or Netflix played in the background.  I binge-listened to M*A*S*H that week. 🙂

All done!  My clearance rack Lowe’s curtains pop, which is what I was going for!

There was no way I could cleanly paint from edge to edge.  So, lucky for me, this part of the kitchen is a dormer, so I have a cozy nook to paint!

This side was easy-peasy as it is just plastered drywall.  It still took three or four coats!

I love this little corner of the kitchen.  I can’t wait to get some cute bar stools to make it the little bar it’s meant to be.

Ta-da!  All finished!

More to come…entryway, family room, and basement!

Image Credit – All me!