More Organizing

Hey everyone! I thought I would quickly share what happened after I cleaned out my much neglected pantry. Well, once the pantry was looking just right it gave me the urge to tackle the three drawers in my kitchen that store almost all of my cooking utensils, baking tools, and other random things.

Here they are! I'm sure this isn't THAT bad, but I always like things to be as organized as they can be. Best part about being organized... it makes it easier for my girls to put the dishes away in the right spot!

This drawer is supposed to store cooking utensils... not candles, zip lock bags, and paper baking cups.

Next up is my baking drawer. Most of the stuff here actually looks like it belongs, it's just all too messy.

The bottom drawer stores my food vacuum sealer (love it!), ricer, hand mixer, and immersion blender. I use these items more often in my kitchen so I need to keep them within an easy reach.

After about 10 minutes of rearranging, and throwing some unused items away, here is what I'm left with. Soooo much easier for me to find what I'm looking for now.

The baking drawer

And the I-don't-know-what-to-call-this-drawer drawer

Here is the randomness that was left behind. The Kool-Aid packs I used to make play-dough 3 years ago, birthday candles, wooden spoons, and trash no longer cluttering things up.

Not terribly exciting, I know! But maybe it will give you a little motivation to get that random job done that you've been putting off for a while.

Kitchen Pantry {Organize}

When our family moved into this house almost two years ago, it was a very sudden and quick move due to some major issues with our last home. Because of all the work that went into packing and unpacking a house within 10 days (or less), I wasn't feeling very eager to organize my pantry or closets when we moved in. So over the last 2 years I've done small projects here and there, but mostly I've just closed the door and pretended like they don't exist... Such as our kitchen pantry.

This pantry is such a black hole. Things go in but they never seem to come out. Each shelf is over 2' deep and not very wide. If I buy something that is needed for a recipe (such as the panko bread crumbs below), I sit them on the edge of the shelf until I need them. If something crazy happens and they work their way further back on the shelf, I'll never find them and I just end up buying more the next time I need them.

Here's a good look at them in all their unorganized glory...

Last week I finally broke down and decided to get organized. I pulled out our camping table from the garage and set it up next to the pantry.

By the way, in the background you can see my super cute, mustard, Timi & Leslie (Diaper) Bag. Amazing. Seriously.

Then I gutted the pantry. I organized the food into different categories as I went (pasta, baking, canned goods, snacks...),and tossed out randomly collected items from the last two years.

I was pleasantly surprised (and a bit baffled) to find:

-8 glass storage canisters, empty and ready to be filled

-10 packages of pasta

-9 cans of chicken (Amy Johnson, I bought these after you made me some really yummy chicken salad at your house... seriously, how long ago was that!!)

-3 canisters of oatmeal

-3 bags of brown sugar 

 3 bags of powdered sugar AND

-6 different types of flour. 

Look at that, there is a back to this pantry!

And yes, I do line my shelves in my pantry with floor tiles (my Grammy makes me!). It makes them easy to clean & dust, plus the cans and bags of food don't stick. It also looks a lot better. All of my kitchen cabinets that house pots & pans get the same treatment, along with the cabinet under my kitchen sink.

All that was left to do was to put it all back on the shelves. I had several large, metal, pull out shelves that I picked up at a garage sale. They're ideal for such deep pantries. I put them in first, then found homes for the remaining items.

I tossed my bags and boxes of rice and couscous into a basket so they would be kept neat and tidy. I also added a piece of wood in the back to be used as a small shelf to make the items in the back more visible.

I kept the oatmeal and cereal in their jars and added little chalkboards I had lying around to the pull out bins and baskets.

The metal baskets really are fantastic. Here is something similar if anyone is interested. I was able to snag mine for $20 for the set. I almost passed because I didn't want to spend $10 on each shelf. I'm glad I went for it now!

There you have it! It makes me happy every time I open that door. Of course this led to cleaning out my cooking drawers... Who needs spring cleaning? It makes a lot more sense for me to clean in the fall, right before the holiday season when my kitchen and oven are working overtime!

Little Switch A Roo

Hi All! I wanted to quickly share a little project we worked on the other day. We were inspired by the black drawer pulls on the recently refurbished cabinet in our kitchen. There are plenty of things we would LOVE to do to this kitchen if we owned this house, but in the meantime we'll make simple cosmetic changes that make it feel more "us".

Here is our kitchen before. The hardware is silver and a bit more modern looking than I usually pick.

And here's our kitchen after we switched out the hardware for some inexpensive black knobs and handles.

*Disclaimer: I'm still getting to know all the settings on my camera, but at least these aren't phone pictures anymore!

Here is a close up so you can really see them. I definitely think it flows better with the style in the rest of the house.

I couldn't resist posting this picture. I asked Ruby to move out of the way because she was in the picture, so she laid on the ground thinking she wouldn't be in the picture anymore. Nice try!

I was hired to do a birthday party over the weekend. I just loved how it turned out! I'll share pictures, and a few diy projects I did for the party soon!

Kitchen Cabinet {Refurbished}

I had originally purchased this cabinet for my little workroom, but  it was too large for the space so I started searching for somewhere else to put it. We have the most awkward nook in our kitchen. If you look at the picture below, it's on the right side between the fridge and the wall by the sink. In this photo we had two small butcher block carts to fill the space, but they were just too small. So, when we realized the cabinet would fit perfectly in that spot I was all too excited.

Here is my $5 cabinet. I forgot to take a before picture so I quickly stuck a couple drawers back in just so you could get the idea.

It has two cutting boards built in as well. Look at that lovely mixture of random white paint and old, chip-y stain.

Before painting I laid down a drop cloth and propped the cabinet up with four paint cans so I could paint all the way to the bottom.

I lightly sanded the piece. I'm not a big fan of sanding projects but all the chipping stain made it mandatory for this job.

 Then I got to painting!

I painted it with two coats of paint. *Hint* Don't paint the bottom of the drawers or the track, it will likely get sticky and not slide as easily if you do.

And here it is in its new home! We plan on adding a new butcher block to the top to extend the piece out. I think it would make a nice little spot for the girls to sit and help me while I cook. 

By the way, the cabinet hardware is by Martha Stewart, you can get them at Home Depot for about $5. I love these, they make me want to add pulls to everything! Kinda funny to think that each pull cost the same amount as the whole cabinet. 

For those of you who like all the nitty gritty details, here it is!

Cabinet, thrift store (half off from $10)- $5.00
Paint, Behr Premium Plus Ultra- I bought a gallon but used about $10.00 worth
Martha Stewart Pulls- $32.00


Total= $47.00