Backyard Beautifucation: Part 2 (Airing our dirty laundry)

In Part 1 of the Backyard Beautification I mentioned how I would love to have a clothes line. I have always thought this would be a lovely addition to our yard, but once cloth diapering came along, it kind of became a necessity. If you are into the cloth diapering scene, you know those things can get kinda stained and smelly-- but you can't just use any old detergent or stain removers on them... and the very best, most effective stain and odor eliminator is... THE SUN.
But as much as I desired and required a clothesline, our space presented issues in making this dream come true
1) Shade. Our south facing house gets little sunlight in the backyard, as you can see in this picture. I needed the sunlight to bleach the diapers, but I didn't even have enough space to lay them out on the ground. Just that little strip on the back fence was all I had to work with.

2) Space. Obviously, we have a small yard, so putting in a permanent clothesline anywhere in our yard would be inconveniently in the way. Frustrating.
I started talking to Z about my dilemma. I thought I could put one up along the back fence... get some large screw eyes that would hold the line out a couple inches, and that should work. But it would be in the way of the gate, so you would have to duck if you wanted to go in and out, and that was a problem.

 

 Z thought for a moment, then cleverly suggested tying the ends of the clothes line to carabiners, so it could be easily removed when not in use. AHA!

 Genius! No? I knew I kept that man around for something! ;) So I purchased $.98 eye screws, $1.50 clothes line, and $1.00 carabiners for a project grand total under $5. And... I put up a clothes line.

And then I hung up diapers.

It worked perfectly. These guys were able to soak up all the sunlight necessary to dry them and remove stains (yay!). They hung a couple inches from the fence, too... so no splinters in wee one's bum. And it sure beats dragging a load of diapers to my parents backyard! 

 Oh, yeah! We are in business now! And when I am done with my laundry... I can just put the line away...

Which is handy if you want to open the gate, or walk through it without being--literally-- clotheslined.

Ah! It just makes me happy. Sooo... our yard is well on it's way to being beautiful AND functional now. YAY!

The Dirty Laundry

(Still no curtains to show you. They are done... ish. I just need to take pics to show you. Be patient with me... I'm a wild woman in full 'nesting mode'. And I have about 14 projects going right now. Maybe not the best plan... hmmm...)

No, I am not airing our dirty laundry and personal secrets on my crafty blog today-- if you want that kind of juicy info, you have to read the other blog... har har. Okay, it's not that juicy either, but I do make fun of my husband quite a bit, for which there is a grassroots sect of Valerie's-blog-following-Zach-sympathizers who feel quite bad for him. Which actually works out kinda well, because if someone else is taking the time to feel bad for Z then I don't have to... and I can spend my time doing more exciting things like making stuff for my baby! Yay! Anywho... what was I talking about?
Oh, Laundry.
So Baby P needed a hamper. And in my head I wanted a tallish woven basket-like hamper with a lid similar to the one we have. Only we got ours as a wedding gift, so I didn't really know how much one would have to invest in such an item. I was thinking like... $15-20 ish sounded reasonable.

Something along these lines... only... no matter where I looked, I couldn't find anything for under $50. UGH. Are you for reals? I'm not paying $50 for a laundry hamper. I checked all my usual spots... thrift stores, HomeGoods, BBB, Online... nothing. I was gonna be out $50 if I wanted a woven basket. Those basket making bums that over charge for their junk! Then the other day I was bopping past the baskets at Hobby Lobby on my way to the front and thought... hmmmm... sure enough, The Lob had tall hamper style baskets. For... $30-40. Meh, it was better, still more than I wanted to pay... but wait! It was 40% off coupon week at The Lob, and I just so happened to have in my possession one of those happy pieces of paper... It was my golden ticket. So I bit the bullet and got it. Yay.
It was all chunky and woody and woven and all the right colors for the room... and it already came with a liner...
And ugly brown swirly liner thing.
That I decided to spare you a picture of.
But which was promptly used as a pattern to make this happy green one:

 I used the same green fabric that you will also see in the curtains, and on some throw pillows. I was going to make another crib sheet out of this, but my mom was helping me and cut the hamper liner out of the wrong chunk of fabric, so now I don't have enough for a sheet. Oh well. We've got plenty of it going on already.

It's just a simple drawstring bag that I serged together super quick...

Not a life-changing addition to the room, but one I am quite pleased with. Now we have a place to throw all those tiny, dirty, stinky outfits our little one will enjoy soiling regularly. (I hear they can go through several a day, which means our kid will be rivaling his mom for the wardrobe high-maintenance crown... and I am not sure how I feel about that) I popped it back in the corner between the bed and the dresser... eventually our wetbags for diapers will be hanging in that corner as well. You know, once we get them. (Seriously, did you go to that link? How cute are those wet bags? You know I am not a bird person, but I think that print is precious and perfect for our little room! Yay. who knew a wetbag would get me so excited? Life is weird these days.)

And... because slapping together a quick liner for a basket doesn't seem life changing enough to account for the silence on the blog this week, just thought I would show you all this picture...

Because these stacks of fabric blocks are what I have REALLY been working on all week. More progress on that soon... because tonight is Mama night! My Mama has been coming over once a week to help me clean/sew/nest/prep for Baby P. It's so fun to spend time with her. I love my mama! Hopefully we will get a lot done tonight. :)

Have you...
Been working on your Pinterest Challenge? If you were one of the lovely ladies who said you would participate, I am going to harass you sometime in the next week, just to make sure you do something! :) If you wanna show off your project, or want me to show off your project send me a link and or pictures, cool? Cool. You're the best!