How the Tables have Changed

I was reading today on a blog about how people covet lovely laundry rooms, and it does make a difference in a house to have a nice and easily accessible laundry room. Amazingly enough, in this trailer we call home - we have a laundry room..and its not bad. A little dark and really old cupboards, it is lovely have to have a dedicated room on your main level to do laundry.

This is one thing that was a priority from the start in the new home. I have never lived anywhere where I had to use a laundry mat, even on the road with the horses, there were laundry facilities at the barn. You just had to get your clothes and unmentionables in BEFORE the sweaty horse stuff hit.

Having a full laundry room in our house that had room to move and fold and iron and store things was a high priority for me. So i got thinking back to houses 10 or 20 years ago. What was the priority then. From what I remember in the houses I grew up in, a formal living and dining room were all the rage in the 80's. I wonder if we add up all the time we actually spent in those rooms vs. the time we spent running down to the basement to switch over laundry or fluff and fold, which would win out. I think about all the money spent on expensive furnishings to go in those rooms that you were yelled at if you even looked in with feet. I think its just a reflection of the way we lived life and what we valued back then and how it has changed today. Today we wants friends that hang in the kitchen with us, take us at face value and don't care if they park it on the old leather couch. We don't need fancy entertaining rooms with plush carpets and chandeliers.

But this leads to a bigger issue. Back in the day when we were all building those fancy entertaining rooms for the twice a year use - that became the norm and realtors were quick to tell you that your  house wouldn't sell without a formal living and dining room. Today they like to the same thing with jacuzzi tubs etc.. but what if you don't want those things, what if you build a house sans sunken, plush formal room and jet propelled hot tub in the master, are you dooming your house to be snubbed in 15 years when you put it on the market. What will the trends be then? Is a house to live in and for you to enjoy or purely a resale endeavor. Sigghhhhhhh.....

To me its much nicer to have a well laid out laundry room, easy to get to, good for storing all the laundry detergent etc.. or is it just a reflection of me being Martharized?

Some lovely laundry -