Orange Laundry Room, New Refrigerator

My first week in the house has gone pretty well. One of the "surprises" was that the refrigerator didn't work. As much as I like to cook, this was a priority. I was planning on updating the appliances in the future anyways, just not this soon. So purchasing a new refrigerator moved to the front burner, so to speak. I settled on going with bisque color appliances since I don't really like stainless steel, black is too gloomy and white is just so...what's the word i'm looking for? white. Bisque is pretty retro without committing to seafoam green or avocado (by the way I actually love both of these colors) Plus I'm planning on using earthy colors throughout the house so I think the bisque color will compliment pretty well. I've been doing tons and tons of research on "green" remodeling and energy efficient appliances, etc. "They" say that a fridge with a bottom freezer is the most energy efficient. Which is totally awesome, because I love bottom freezers. I think they look cooler too and somehow more classic. So I got a 21 cubic inch Maytag. I really wanted a Frigidaire but they don't have any bottom freezers and seem to duck the bisque color scheme for the most part. No biggy, the Maytag is freaking awesome! It's sooo huge. Now there's no excuse for me not to cook wonderful meals from now on!

Next, my friend Ginny found me an awesome 70's pearl crushed velvet couch at a Goodwill in Atlanta. We went to pick it up this past Saturday. While we were over in the neighborhood we stopped by SimpleFloors. They are one of many flooring places that carry bamboo, cork and other eco friendly flooring. After much research I have decided cork is the best way to go given my dogs and my back. It apparently "gives" a little bit, kind of absorbing shock and stress. I also prefer the designs that are available in cork over the bamboo. There's swirly kind that is available from many brands that I freakin' love. I got some samples from the store and took them back to the house and I think it's going to work just fine. I'm going with the floating kind so I don't have to mess around with glue. I'll have to do the house room by room instead of all at once given my budget. I'm going to do the biggest room (the living room) first to get that wallet pain out of the way. It's going to cost around $1000 for that room and about another $1700 for the rest of the rooms that I want to do. $2700 total - not too bad.

Last, I wanted to start on something that would be small, inexpensive and rewarding. Luckily the laundry room is the first thing I see when I enter the house. This room is about 6x3 feet. I decided I'll tile the floor, paint the walls and replace the lighting fixture. Simple, but enough work to make me feel like I'm doing something. So tonight I painted it "Lucky Penny", a sort of light rusty orange. It's by Olympic's Low VOC paint. (I'm trying to go as green as possible on this house). Tomorrow I'll stop by Lowe's and pick out a nice, simple light fixture. I'd like to use reclaimed tile, but since the room is so small, it might be more "green" for me to get a few new tiles at Lowe's rather than have a few recycled tiles shipped via air polluting diesel rig from out of state. Pictures soon....