Getting Something Together... Kitchen

Through a bit of teamwork between Hubby and I, and the use of my new canisters and labeler, the kitchen is in a much better place now. I'll be honest, it was bad. Really bad... I'm not going to hold anything back here... the before pictures are preeeeeety scary looking. But, here goes.

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Clearly a vast improvement. Hubby and I agreed that if he and I tackled a room per weekend like this and maintained the past rooms we've attacked, the house will be amazing in just a couple weeks. I'm feeling better. Accomplishment will do that. :)



Getting Something Together... Pantry (pt 1)

I've been feeling exceptionally depressed lately, so I haven't had much to say. But this morning I got it in my head that I would make a dent in the pantry so I can make a dent in the kitchen.

First item I felt like tackling was all of our spices.

We had a MILLION it seems, and I had an ancient spice rack in the back of the pantry, bottom shelf - completely inconvenient to get to and annoying. Well, no more. I pulled *most* of my spice and herb bottles out and gave them a good once over: what is still good, which are 7 years old...

Here's a pic of all the bottles I pulled out of the pantry:

That's 35 bottles!! 35 bottles that were being under utilized, ignored, or otherwise just taking up space. And kindly ignore the basket of laundry... I'm working on getting that all straightened up too. Another post on that some other time...

Here are the bottles that are going back into the pantry:

11 containers going back into the pantry. That's IT.

So here are the containers that are NOT going back into the pantry:



So I'm sure you're wondering... "Did she really only have 11 herbs/spices that were salvageable out of 35?? Really??" The short answer is: No, that is not quite the case.

So where did all of my herbs and spices go? Why, on the walls, of course!

The 5 spices I use most often are over by the stove for convenience, tho if I plan on making something, I can swap out for whatever the recipe calls for, and put my "ol' faithfuls" back with their friends.

Here's the other 20 herbs/spices that I had in the cabinet that were still good. But now they are in cute little tins that I bought at Michael's on sale (tin wedding favors) and some magnetic tape. Viola!!

I know it's not as tidy as something you'd find on pinterest... but that is exactly where I got the idea from. Should I have measured out my lines first? Yeah, probably... but it's not like I won't ever be able to move things around should I wish. And that new label maker I just bought? I think it just earned it's keep. :) Everything is labeled so nicely!!

***EDIT***
Ok, the lack of uniformity was pissing me off. And my husband managed to take one off and spill cajun seasoning all over the world, apparently... So I reapplied the magnetic tape and tacked it into place with brad nails. That puppy isn't going ANYWHERE. And it looks amazingly neater:

OMG, MUCH better!! 

Getting Something Together... Bathroom (part 1)

I'm on a roll today. I went out and bought organizational goodies for the kitchen, then mosied on over to Lowes to see if there was anything there I could use/be inspired by.

BIG MISTAKE. I should not be allowed in that store without adult supervision.

Instead of getting additional kitchen organizational goodies, I ended up buying paint. For my bathroom. Totally wasn't on the radar for an overhaul. But I saw a post on pinterest and kinda lost my mind. So I painted the vanity this afternoon. I will also be painting the walls, the other cabinets, and the tile. The bathroom will be very different when I'm done.

Getting Something Together... Linen Closet

My body isn't the only thing falling apart. So is my household. Since I am a control freak (I try not to be, really I do...) I need to take control of something. And as my own body seems to be on the fritz (confirmed new tear in lower abs. Joy.) I've decided to try to focus on the things I actually can change.

Like my house.

Currently it's trashed. Mind you, I do kinda live with a hoarder, and I am not the cleanest person in the world either. But it's bad. Like HELL NO company can't come in should they show up. So last friday I attacked the top half of the linen closet. I wanted to start small. Pace myself.

Here was before:

Our linen closet is the catch-all for paper products, cleaning supplies, first aid randomness, and a whole slew of other things. I had been cruising around on pinterest, looking for inspiration, and saw a pin on converting old diaper boxes into storage. That pin was pretty hardcore - covering the boxes with black fabric, then lining the interior with another fabric bag.

Yeah, um, waaaay too involved. I don't want to buy yards and yards of fabric. I do, however, have a HUGE roll of heavy duty brown paper. I covered 3 boxes with the brown paper and used those. I took everythng out of the linen closet and put them into piles based on what they were for. I had the big wicker basket in there already, so I was able to reuse it. Cleaning supplies went in there. I also have containers for bathroom supplies, hair supplies and paper products. It looks soooo much better.

 

After an overhaul and organization:

 

 

I threw out a LOT of stuff. Random empty containers, expired products, etc. I'm feeling pretty good about it.

 

Next hurdle... Attacking the kitchen. I went through and took all my "before" pictures. And I didn't even do a prelimenary clean out to make it cleaner... Nope, it's true, its raw, its filthy!!