This week her challenge was about kitchens. Some ladies have posted redoing their sink area, cabinets, drawers, large pantries and more. I started off thinking my kitchen was in pretty good shape and decided to tackle my dining room hutch.
As you can see in this picture, things had been piled on top of things and I couldn't get to something without pulling five other things out. I. DO. NOT. OPERATE. WELL. LIKE. THIS!
The white cloths that are sticking out are special towels for drying china/crystal. I have a tablecloth and some extra placemats shoved on top of things. All sorts of trays/crystal/bowls and more are still in boxes FROM OUR WEDDING!!!
From the outside, all appears to be in order. (Isn't that SO like our lives!!) But once you opened the doors, you found out the truth. I have some of my wedding china on the top shelf, several crystal bowls, goblets and pedastal trays are displayed in the top. I have my "Christmas" dishes out still. I usually leave these out until February because they are all snowflakes and snowmen.
I was able to move my crystal vases to the bottom of the hutch and I think the buffet shelf looks so much better now! You can see the "snowjar" that I made with the boys a few years ago. (It is SO cute and easy to make. We used epoxy to affix a small tree, like you would find with Christmas villages, to the bottom of this jar. We filled it will some fake snow and tied a ribbon around the lid. You tip it up and back and the snow falls, covering the tree.) I also have a platter and serving tray for my dishes. The peppermint striped candles are on a pedastal tray that I used as a centerpiece while entertaining this past Christmas season.
Inside the hutch, I cleaned out some empty boxes. I stacked several serving trays on top of one another. I also found individual cake plates that have our monogram etched in them that I received from my college roommate at our wedding. They match the covered cake plate. I had forgotten about them! Now they are out and stacked carefully so I will remember to use them. I moved the crystal to one side, followed by serving pieces.
On the far right side, I have candles, candle sticks and vases. All of these items are in plain view and ready for me to use while entertaining!
My second project unfolded yesterday afternoon. I decided to clean out the cabinet that holds a lot of spices and baking needs. I had a shelf in the pantry with similar items. I wanted to go through both places and free up some space. I may have spent $10 at Walmart on a few airtight plastic containers. In those I placed confectionary sugar, brown sugar, cornstarch, butterscotch chips, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, cocunut, nut topping, and more. I went through spices and threw out expired bottles. We found five boxes of cornstarch - FIVE! Who needs that much cornstarch? I found a box of light brown sugar that was a BRICK. Everything I wanted to fit in the cabinet went in with some room to spare. No more shuffling back and forth from the prep area to the pantry!!
I don't have any "before" pictures, but here are some after pictures:
This is vertical view of one of our pantry closets. I have cereals on top shelf, other breakfast items on the next one down. Also on the second shelf are peanut butter, spaghetti and other pastas. The next shelf is full of canned goods on 3-tiered shelves (which I love). On the next shelf down, we have a small lazy susan with applesauce, puddings and fruit cups, crackers, and other snacks. The next shelf below is snacks for school, drink mixes and seasoning mixes/dry goods. On the floor below I have a tupperware container with napkins, cups, plastic utensils and plates. I also have bags of potatoes and extra large containers of animal crackers.
This is the left side of the cabinet. I have mixing bowls, cutting boards, garlic press/small chopper, measuring cups, and pyrex dishes.
This is the right side of the cabinet. I have tiered shelves on the two bottom shelves that enable me to see spice jars and other baking necessities because the back row is up higher than the front. I got these at Walmart years ago and use them in various places in my home (pantry closet, craft room and more).
I am so happy with the results of all my "organizing" this weekend! Greg helped me with the pantry and it is nice that everything has a specific place and we can SEE it all! I confess I have already started on my next project - the vanity in our Master bathroom. I'll share that this next week!
What are some "organizing projects" that you have or want to work on now?
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Wow! You did so good! I cannot believe how much you accomplished! Aren't you glad you did it. I am on a roll too. I'm organizing things that I am not even blogging about. I just can't stop myself. And my hubby is loving it too.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for linking up to my party!
Blessings,
Traci