Slow Home Challenge Week Three Update

Update:

The laundry room/pantry challenge this week is moving right along. It's been a busy week for me work-wise and I've had a few other personal obligations to which I needed to attend, so I'm feeling a little bit behind in achieving my original goals for the week. Yet after speaking by phone with John Brown yesterday, founder of the Slow Home movement (I know, I was pretty excited about it too!!!) regarding an article I'm working on, I was happy to learn that the slow home concept is something that should be considered more of a process, that it's not necessarily a home project that you can just whip out in a few weeks.

So for now, I'm happily applying the small changes I am capable of making at this time, and am making notes here and there about additional (and maybe even larger) changes I'd like to pursue in the future. After all, the idea of a slow home should be aligned with the notion of supporting a slower lifestyle...not putting more pressure upon ourselves to get the job done as soon as possible!

Thoughts? Ideas?

Oh, and if the above mentioned conversation with Architect John Brown peeked your interest, you'll be happy to know that I'll be sharing more about it with you soon!

 

Creating the Perfect (Slow Home) Laundry Room

Lovely, isn't it? Sorry to disappoint, but no, this is not my laundry room.

I am one of those people who loves the idea of decorating, more than the actual art of making it happen. For those of us who are a bit challenged in this particular arena of life, creating organized, functional, and decent looking spaces (it doesn't even have to be beautiful...although that would be great) throughout our homes can often be a frustrating endeavor. That might explain why so many of us don't ever get around to making it happen.

But I am not here to complain, rather, I am here to forge ahead, and get the job done. My hope is that my doing so, will also encourage you to try and accomplish the same thing! What every (great)unorganized, overwhelmed, and procrastinating home decorator needs the most is inspiration...So, with that in mind, I headed over to Pinterest.com to gain some of that magic mojo by seeking out inspiring photos of simple, efficient, and yes, even beautiful laundry rooms. Here are a few of my favorites to help get the creative juices flowing:

love that this one has a sink

I really like the color of the cabinets in this one,
and ohso more important, I LOVE that it actually has cabinets...

This one is simple, a great use of space,
and provides lots of natural light. Perfect

Even the tightest of spaces in smaller homes can
properly accommodate a great laundry room.
This is a fantastic example of that!

More proof that a small laundry space can still
be both functional and well designed.

Slow Home Challenge Week Three: The Laundry Room/Pantry

The laundry room

This week I'll be dedicating time to tackle and slow down my home's laundry room/pantry.

This is a tough room for me because it serves waaaayyyy too many purposes, and is constantly disorganized, and therefore a true hindrance of me gaining better efficiency.

The Utility philosophy of the Slow Home concept states:

"A Slow Home has utility spaces for parking, laundry,

mechanical equipment, and storage that are unobtrusively

located, highly funcational, and do not conflict with other uses."

-Slow Home Studio

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our pantry: not a whole lot to brag about there!

I am thankful that my home actually has a laundry room (with a door I can close, might I happily add), and a pantry separate from the kitchen, yet, I'm not so sure that they're being practically right on top of one another truly reflects the Utility philosophy of the Slow Home. It is what it is, however, and unless my husband agrees to build a whole new laundry room in the attic (which I think is a fantastic, yet doubtful idea) we are going to have to accept this space as a multi-functioning room. 

Here are the typical contents of our Laundry/Pantry room:

• dry goods (cereal, soup, grains, your normal pantry items)
• washer/dryer
• (super) large bag of dog food for our two lg. breed dogs (and sometimes two bags when Sophie, our occasionally over indulgent Weimaraner, needs some healthy weight management chow!)
• cleaning supplies (spray bottles, laundry detergent, floor cleaner, etc...)
• mops, brooms, dusters
• one... (okay I'll fess up, it's really four) containers of random household odds and ends
• kids lunchboxes
• a pile of dirty kitchen towels and cloth napkins on the floor (more of that fessing up the truth thing here)
• two separate bins for the kids shoes
• one bin for dry vegetables (onions, potatoes, etc...)
• one bin of cloth rags and old towels for cleaning (I don't use paper towels)
• grill utensils
• shower rod for hang drying clothes
• recycling bin
• hanging mesh storage piece from IKEA (can anyone properly name this?) holding: plastic bags to be returned to Publix, snacks for the kids, and... hum, I'm not really sure what else is in there! (note to self: find a better purpose for this one!)

I think that actually might be it...unless of course I mention all of the random junk that usually ends up sitting on top of the washer and dryer during the week because I can't seem to find a better place to put it. Yup, then there is that stuff too.

We do have lovely tile floors, high ceilings, and a decent size window that lets in lots of natural light.

Here's what we don't have in the laundry room/pantry:

• cabinets in which I could properly store (hide) all of this stuff!
• (ohhh so pretty) front load washer and dryer
• a folding table
• a sink (I know, that would be fantastic, wouldn't it?)
• an actual laundry basket...this would be really ideal for the above mentioned kitchen towels and cloth napkins

So there we have it. Way too many things being stored in such a small room. Although this is going to be a tough challenge, I'm excited about going through this room in an effort to reduce and organize the contents, make it more asthetically appealing, and improve its overall efficiency and functionality. Another challenge for me is that I am sure this room is   going to require a lot more of my time. These days I work part time as a freelance writer, and am feeling the time squeeze now more than ever. With that in mind, I plan on having the kiddos help me out with this week's challenge. (I'll be sure to update you on how that aspect of it goes as well!).

Does your home's laundry room/pantry align with the slow home philosophy? If not, what changes will you be making this week?

Reflections

Two weeks into my slow home challenge, and I have to say that I have learned a good deal about this movement, but I am also fairly certain that I still have a lot more to understand. I'm learning to love and appreciate my house and all that it offers us. It is more than bricks, wooden floors and a roof top. Despite the scattered toys, the piles of "stuff," here and there, and the smeared finger prints and dog drool on the widows, this place is our HOME. It represents a place of comfort and a starting point from which we jump into our lives each day. It is a work in progress, (and probably always will be!) but what I want more than anything is for this house to become a true reflection of our family, and it through this slow home challenge that I feel this will come about.

This week I set a goal to improve our outdoor living space, to give that space more of the qualities associated with slow home living. I feel great about the cool weather garden we planted, and am excited to watch the growth that occurs and feel pride in the finished product (fingers crossed!). Yet, aside from that, all kinds of weeding, and working to de-clutter the outdoor toys and surplus garden supplies, I still feel as though there is something missing. I can't help but feel that I didn't challenge myself quite enough this week. Perhaps this is one of those weeks where I have to accept that the space may not have needed that much transformation, that aside from a major transformation (and major money) not much could have been changed.

So be it.

I've lived in a lot of houses throughout my life, (in fact, too many to take the time to count right now) but there are a few where the backyard/outdoor living space really stand out in my mind.

One such place, one of the two houses from my childhood in Maine, was surrounded by a deep forest that actually backed up to a small, rocky beach on the ocean. On the edge of those woods in our backyard my dad hung a big tire swing in an old sturdy Oak tree. I have great memories of spending hours with my sisters swinging on that swing as well as exploring in the woods behind it. With so much of nature's best practically spilling into our home, that property was an amazing and truly magical place to be a child. All of my days spent playing there were nothing but fantastically slow...

Cow Beach, York Maine

Here, we only have one tree in our backyard, and despite the fact that it is shared among the property of two other neighbors, it is a large walnut tree, and does provide some decent shade to a portion of the yard.

I really miss trees.

I do however live practically across the street from Alabama's largest outdoor park, Oak Mountain State Park...thankfully, there are lots and lots of trees there, not to mention plenty of nature's best. I'll take what I can, and do my best to be thankful for it!

I wish I could say that I'm ending this week's challenge having made some incredible and massive changes to our outdoor space so that it is better aligned with slow home living...Instead, I had the chance to recognize the fact that most of it already was that way.

After a little more work this weekend, I'll post some pictures of the updates I've made to our outdoor living space.

Next week's challenge: The Laundry Room/Pantry/Cleaning supply room...sigh...this is going to be a good one, I promise!

The Fall Garden is In!

This fall we've planted winter squash, spinach, sugar snap peas, carrots, and several varieties of greens.

About a month ago I planted the seeds for my first ever cool season garden. Yesterday, I decided it was time to get them in the ground. It felt great to take some time to kneel in the dirt and wrap the soil around these growing vegetables. I'm hopeful for some decent crops, but after checking on the little guys this morning, I did see that something has had been nibbling on the leaves of my squash plants. I'll need to lay down some sort of mesh for the time being.

The Slow Home movement is similar in concept to the Slow Food movement where quality, healthy food is celebrated and enjoyed in a mindful manner, not scarfing down a greasy cheeseburger while sitting in your car at a traffic light. Planting a garden somewhere in the outdoor living space of your home not only helps you and your family to get back in touch with nature, but also gives you complete control from growth to plate. If you choose to grow organic produce (which I highly recommend), then you also know exactly what your eating-there's nothing extra.

Shannon Honeybloom, author of Making a Family Home, addresses the issue of an entire generation of Americans-mostly teenagers-who know nothing about the origin of a vast majority of our food. She says, "The problem is, the school children experience the product, the french fry, but have no connection to the process — from farm, to factory, to plate." To read more of her thoughts on this topic, go HERE.

This week as my slow home challenge tackles the outdoor living space, I'll be encouraging my children to help water our newly planted vegetable plants, and we'll begin a more dedicated effort to watch their growth each week.

I'd love to hear about your experiences with planting cool weather gardens!

Slowing Down Your Home's Outdoor Living Space



-James Brown



In many ways, the outdoor living space of a slow home should be an extension of your home's interior. The two spaces should both highlight natural beauty. No matter how large or small, the space should be divided to fit the multiple purposes most outdoor living spaces serve-in the same way you would divide the rooms of your home.

Local varieties of trees and shrubs are the best types of plantings, as they'll adapt and thrive better to the particular conditions of your location. In alignment with reducing unnecessary natural resources, minimal watering is also something to keep in mind. Water your yard, landscape and gardens in the early morning, before the sun has a chance to quickly absorb the moisture.

For families, toys and other outdoor clutter should be kept well maintained and in its own designated storage area.

The outdoor living space of a slow home should also reflect each season accordingly. Gardens are a great way to achieve this, and (with a little help from you!) will showcase the best of what nature provides.


This week, I'll be working on:

•  pulling weeds (ack! But no chemicals here...)
• reducing the amount of outdoor clutter (so long old and broken soccer goal net)
• working on our outdoor living room to make it both more personal and functional
• planting vegetables for our (first) cool weather garden
• Tidying up shrubs etc...

What about you? What will you be working on this week to create a slow outdoor living space?

Week Two Slow Home Challenge: Outdoor Living Space

In a slow home the outdoor living space is just as much appreciated and mindful as the indoor living area. The outdoor space should be a visual extension of a home's interior.

The folks over at Slow Home Studio (the founders of the slow home movement) have this to say about a slow home's outdoor space:

"Outdoor living spaces are equally important and a Slow Home should have at least one. They

should be visual extensions of the principal indoor living space, bringing many of the

internal functions of the house out into the fresh air and sunlight. In good weather these

spaces can often double the amount of available living space at only a fraction of the cost.

Unfortunately, most fast houses are designed as hermetically sealed boxes and most terraces

are left over spaces that may hold a barbecue but little else. The situation can be even worse

in multi-family units where the balconies are usually oddly shaped, poorly proportioned, and

only the minimum area required by the planning code."

This week I'll be tackling our outdoor living space. Our yard space is fairly decent in size, but the greater majority of it is in the front and sides of the house. This leaves our backyard serving many purposes (doggie zone, kid play area, garden, compost, and deck seating area). The above picture is part of our deck-which I love, in fact, I have often said it is my most favorite "room" of the house. Yet, then there is....this...

Right. You see I have some work to do! I'll check back tomorrow with some more detailed goals and plans, and a few other slow home resources. Till then...