Get Organized: Tackling the Kitchen

The cliche "a place for everything and everything in its place" could not describe my kitchen more accurately at this very moment.

Saturday, on the other hand, was a different story. I don't have before pictures of my cabinet and that's a good thing, in case I ever run for President.

One of the problems that had plagued the kitchen since move in day was the abundance of storage--and how could that be a bad thing? It's a bad thing because the previous tenants envisioned it, and their space solutions created nothing but problems. Bulky built-in Lazy Susans in the cabinets took up more space than they were worth, and what was worse, I couldn't even remove them without dismantling the cabinetry. They compromised the height inside so much that standard spice jars couldn't stand up, and small things I placed on them (pudding boxes, just about the only thing that fit) fell over like dominoes and out of sight. I could never find spices, which always led to many profanities just before dinner and burned sauces, and that was just the beginning of it.

Coffee cups fit much better in this space!

The pots and pans didn't even fit in the kitchen cabinets, so all were regulated to the broom-closet-turned-pantry (previous tenants' brainchild, apparently, and there is nowhere to store the mop and broom).

I could go on and on, but it was a disaster. Canned goods and boxed goods and what-have-you ended up whereever they would fit, and that was just generally "anywhere but the kitchen counter", and I never knew what I had for ingredients, so dinner was whatever ingredients I picked up from the store that same day. (I'm a big fan of grocery shopping every other day, since there are three grocery stores within 5 minutes of the condo, and one within walking distance.)

I finally had it with the kitchen and decided the best way to tackle its organization was TO TAKE INVENTORY. Break out the notepads and pens!

Here's just some highlights of what I found:

• 3 jars of Peanut Satay Sauce
• 7 boxes of cornbread mix (I had JUST bought two because I thought I was OUT.)
• 7 cans of black olives
• 3 containers of ground white pepper
• 9 cans of chick peas (I like to call them garbanzo beans because it's fun to say).

So to avoid this nonsense, the inventory notebook is now consulted before making out my shopping list.  

And then, there were the cookbooks.

Several months ago, I purchased a wicker shelf at an auction, intending to put my life's work of journals on it, but it wasn't aesthetically pleasing in the space where I put it.

No, it didn't stay in my car all this time, but it did inspire me to buy an SUV.

No. It's bad enough my headboard is also wicker.

GAG.

Anyway, bookcase is now in a more suitable place!

It freshens up the kitchen and gives more storage though I was just complaining about having too much storage.  More workable storage, and that's important.

A Simple Before and After!

My mom found this bench at a yardsale back in October, and figured I would appreciate it. (My mom is made of awesome.) I had just spent a week looking after the cat when she went on vacation and she wanted to get me something nice. Intending to surprise me with the bench, she accidentally broke off a handle when she was trying to clean it. This was good, because it gave me an excuse to immediately go buy the awesome $1.50 knobs I had just seen at Michaels the week before. (Another thing you must know about me: total Michaels junkie).

Before:

Broken pull on the right makes this a sad yardsale bench.

After:

Happy bench!

Close-ups of ceramic knobs:

These knobs are just awesome.

Things we learned today:

• Breaking parts off of furniture is not always a bad thing.
• You can find fun furniture at yardsales.
• My mom is awesome.