Operation Kitchen Organization: The Pantry- Day 1

Just stopping by for a quick update on my kitchen organization mission.  I decided to start out with the the pantry, mainly because I've been pinning almost every pantry picture I could find on Pinterest.  That and the fact that I brought home groceries and couldn't fit them into my pantry....  I couldn't take it anymore, I had to get my pantry whipped into shape!

This is what it started out looking like...

I was almost too embarrassed to show these... almost.  :)  It was really bad.  As you can see in the last pic, the toaster had even fallen off the shelf.  (actually I didn't notice that until now or I would have picked it up for the pics)

So last night and into today, I took everything out to have a clean slate to work with.

The clean slate for the pantry meant a not-so-clean kitchen.  How does that much food fit into that little closet?!?!?  I guess the good thing about doing a project like this is that you have to finish it pretty quick!

I was going to leave it white, but it turned out to be really scuffed up, so I decided to paint.  I also decided that after almost 2 years in my house, it was time to take the tags off the shelve, ha ha.

 

So, I cleaned the shelves, removed the tags and painted.  That's as far as I've gotten.  Here it is with 1 very splotchy coat of paint.  It will definitely need another coat.  

I have something special in mind to finish up the paint job.  (You didn't think I would just leave it tan, did you?)  Be back later with more updates, but for tonight, I'm settling down for some TV.

Brooke

Chalkboard Canisters

My mission this week... kitchen organization! This week I plan to show you the good, bad and the ugly of my kitchen.  And let me warn you, it looks like a tornado went through my cabinets, not to mention the pantry or the fridge... 

Tonight I'm gonna start cleaning out the pantry, I figured I'd tackle the hardest part first.  So in preparation for the big pantry redo, I made some cute chalkboard canisters. Let me tell you, this little project turned out to be quite a drama-fest.

I bought these 1 gallon size canisters at Walmart for around $5 each.  I wanted a canister with a sealing lid to keep critters out.  (c'mon you know you've had ants before)

The plan was to tape off a square on the front, paint it with chalkboard paint, remove the tape and voila!  No dice... it couldn't have been that simple.  My whole plan was foiled by one misstep... and I tend to have quite a few missteps.  Picture it, I grab my paint brush and my chalkboard paint and head down the hall. (Yes, I was going into the family room so I could watch TV while I work... don't judge.)  I trip over my own feet; the can of paint flies from my hand.  This all happened in slow-motion, I swear.  Imagine me slowly reaching out for the paint, screaming, "Noooooooo....."  Splat!  BLACK chalkboard paint on TAN carpet!!!  Not a good thing.  So naturally my canister painting plans took a backseat to cleaning the carpet plans.  I soaked up as much as I could with an old rag so it wasn't gloppy anymore, then poured almost a whole bottle of Resolve on it.  I don't have a carpet shampooer, so I frantically ran out of the house and to the nearest Kmart to rent one.  To my surprise, it all came out!  I couldn't believe it!  I think the secret was keeping it wet.  One thing for sure, I've gotta start hammering the lids down on paint cans.  

So... the next day.... I taped off the square on the front of the canister.  The chalkboard paint I had was Valspar from Lowe's.  The only thing I don't like about this paint is sometimes you get brushstrokes.  I have since learned that they sell spray chalkboard paint, so I think that would be way better.

I used a foam brush to apply the paint to the canister.  It took 3 coats.

After it was good and dry, I peeled the tape off and was left with a writable surface on my canisters!

So there you have it, chalkboard canisters!  I made three, one for AP Flour, SR Flour and Sugar.  I may do different sizes once I get into the pantry re-do, but for now at least I have three.

I hope you enjoyed the drama filled tutorial.  I'll be back later this week with "Operation Kitchen Organization" updates! I have no excuses... now that I've announced it, I have to follow through.  :)

Brooke 

Hidden Treasure

Last weekend, Chris took me kayaking on the Tygart River.  To get there, we drove for a little ways and then the road turned into gravel... and then the road turned into stones... and then the road was barely a road at all.  So, we parked the truck on the side of the road and carried both of our 500lb kayaks to the river.  (Okay they aren't 500lbs, but they might as well have been with my flimsy little arms.)  In the midst of my agony on the walk to the river (I'm not a drama queen at all), we came to a really old railroad underpass.  I couldn't miss this photo opp.

When we picked up the kayaks and started walking again, I noticed that the stones under our feet weren't really stones.  They were bricks.  Really old bricks.  Then I noticed that they had writing on them.  They all were stamped with "Fairmont, WVA".  I don't know how old these bricks are, but after a little private eye work... also known as Googling... I found out that the abbreviation for West Virginia changed from WVA to WV in 1987 (also cool because it's the year both Chris and I were born).  Since these bricks have "WVA" on them, I assume that they were made before 1987, so they're at least 24 years old.  Not quite antique, but still pretty cool.  Back to the bricks in a bit.

We finally made it to the river and put our kayaks in. 

We floated for a while, through some small rapids... nothing dangerous, Mom.  Then got out to take a break at this little, abandoned cabin right beside of the river.



It really makes me angry when you see graffiti all over an old, beautiful landmark like this one... no one cares if "you" were here!  This place would have been a perfect picture if it weren't for all of the writing on it.

Anyways (my rant is over)... while we were there Chris decided to play fish off the shore.

When we reached our take-out point, we had floated about 5 miles and I was tired!!  But it was so much fun.  And, I took home some unexpected inspiration!  The underpass, bricks and old cabin made me want to bring some vintage industrial elements into my house.  I love old things, they all have a story behind them.  We may only be able to guess at what that story is, but that's part of the charm.  I don't want to go shabby chic, that's just not me, but I like the idea of old posters, industrial-ish light fixtures and old crates and barrels.  I won't go overboard, my house won't look like a warehouse, but I would like to incorporate some of these elements in with what we already have.

On the way back to get the truck, I picked up 2 of the bricks I was talking about earlier.  I figured this would be a good start on my vintage industrial mission.  I brought them home, scrubbed them clean, and this is what was left.

I love it.  It makes me go all warm and gushy inside :)

Right now it's on the end table in my family room, but who knows where it'll end up.  As for the other one, it's just a spare for now.

Since that trip, I've been working on some changes for the family room.  I'm not finished yet, but I'm working on making it more of a cozy game room with vintage industrial touches.  We'll see how it goes!

Moral of this story- look around you, inspiration and hidden treasures are everywhere!

Brooke  Y

Sorting Out Life...

Now that I have my new office, I'm wanting to get really organized with all of our paperwork.  So, I thought a good place to start would be sorting the mail when it comes in.  It is so easy to get a big stack of mail on the kitchen table that ends up being not only an eye sore, but also makes you lose bills and other important docs.  I didn't want to take up space on my desk, and I really didn't want to look at bills all the time... who does?  So, I decided to fill up one of my empty walls with a mail sorting system.  Like before... my office budget is still non-existent low. 
Target is one of my favorite places for home stuff, and I love their little place in the front of the store where everything is just a buck or two.  So one day while scavenging around in the dollar spot, I found these.

Just $2 each!!  I surfed on over to Pinterest for some inspiration and found this cool idea for hanging baskets on the wall.

I figured if they could get their baskets to hold vegetables, mine could hold a few magazines!  The only thing I didn't like about my baskets was the inside.

They all had really bright colors.  This could be cute in a different area, but with all the color already going on in here, I decided to take it out.  I also didn't want the handles on the baskets, so I just gave the handle a good tug and it broke loose.  This made a hole in the pink fabric, so from there all I had to do was pull the fabric to break the stitching loose. 

I needed to label the baskets in order to make a sorting system, so I printed these off the ol' laptop and glued them to some pretty scrapbook paper.

I'm the treasurer for my church in case you were wondering :)

I hot glued these to the front of the baskets and Chris put them on the wall for me! 

So far it's been really functional and I like the way they look on the wall.  How do you sort your mail when it comes in?

Brooke  Y

The Door to my Heart

So, the last time I left you, I had showed you my office after painting the walls and the trim.  It was already looking A LOT better, but it was just an empty room- now came the fun parts.  Since this room was going to be an office/ craft room, I knew I needed a lot of work space.  Being that this room isn't one of the main living areas in my house, the re-decorating budget was slim to none... so imagine my sticker shock when I started looking for desks....like this one from IKEA.

Yikes!  180 bucks and it's not even that big!  Okay so $180 may not seem like a lot, but it was more than I was willing to spend for something that didn't even have the space I wanted.  So, I talked to my dear sweet husband. ;)  We had some old doors in our basement- solid doors, not the hollow kind.  So, that handy-man that I married made me a door desk!

The doors were a little too wide, so he cut them down to size.  Then he mounted 2x4s on the wall to rest the desk on to give it extra support.  So the desk is actually attached to the wall which makes it extra sturdy.  I found the table legs online at iKEA for $3.50 each, but since we don't have an iKEA close, I was going to have them shipped... not a great idea.  The total for 4 table legs was $14 before shipping, after shipping, the total for the order was $44.  Yeah, that's right, the shipping was over double what the actual order cost.  So I decided to hold off on the desk until I could make a trip to iKEA.  When we went on vacation in May, I got to stop at the iKEA in Charlotte so I picked up 4 table legs along with some accessories for the office (the hat boxes stacked on the desk).  After the desk was standing, I painted it with glossy white enamel paint.  It's nice and shiny and you can wipe it down.

I pulled in a chair that I already had, set up my computer, printer and sewing machine, threw my supplies into baskets and jars, and what I was left with was an almost no-cost office re-do! 

The only problem with making a desk like this, is that there are no drawers.  I needed a place to stick some books and my office supplies, so I bought this cheap-o bookcase from Target for $17.  It gave me all the storage I needed and blends well with the desk.

Just for fun, here is a before and after shot.



I had been hunting for things for this room for a long time, so I got some really good deals.  Here is the breakdown of how much it cost.

Desk- $21.00 (doors were free, paint $7, legs $14)

Chair- $0.00- already owned

Bookcase- $17.00

Paint for walls and trim- $20.00

Curtain rod- $1.50 (was supposed to be $17 found it tucked away on a shelf at Walmart on clearance!)

Curtain- $4.00

Lamp- $10.00 (clearance at TJ Maxx)

Storage drawers- $0.00- alread owned

Accessories- $20.00

Total: $93.50

Not bad for turning a completely non-functional room into a multi-tasking one!

Brooke  Y