Thursday, December 08, 2011

The decluttering continues

I've had some issues with my kitchen since I moved in. I don't know what the designer was thinking when he or she planned my kitchen but it wasn't designed for real people who actually cook. I am still thankful for my kitchen, I have experienced some more poorly designed than mine, but it has some areas that are lacking. For one, most of the cabinets are not large enough to house pots and pans or any counter top appliances. Smaller things like plates, cups, cookbooks, etc. fit just fine, but anything on the largish side is impossible to get in or out without major twisting and shouting.

Thankfully I have a decent sized pantry, which up until today I had poorly arranged and under maximized.

A friend, Katy, mentioned a blog on organization that I checked out: www.iheartorganizing.blogspot.com and I have spent some time going though her posts. I admire her decorating sense (though I don't have a speck of it in me) and her creativity (I would like to grow in this department). She also has 3 children and a modest home.

I gleaned some ideas and concepts from many of her "redo" posts.
1. Empty space to analyze it.
2. Sort what was pulled from space into keep and pitch piles.
3. Decide how to use the space the best for your needs, even if it means something unconventional or different from what you were originally thinking. Keep an open mind.
4. Shop your home for containers and methods to better organize the space
5. Put together the new space.
6. Bask in the joy of your accomplishment.

Well earlier this week I did this in my kitchen cabinets and ended up with a huge bag to donate, some things not worth donating that needed to be thrown away, and an appliance garage!!! I also was able to group like things together more than before so the flow and ease of use is improved in the entire kitchen.

So now my counter tops have just the toaster as far as appliances are concerned. I will be taking an updated picture of the kitchen showing the counters soon, but not today :)

These changes got me thinking of how I could maximize some other spaces. I have two pantries in my kitchen, the food pantry and another one that holds all kinds of things from vacuums to trash bags. It started out as a closet under the stairs and has the hot water heater in it. A few years ago Rocky put some shelving in there and now I can put in many more things.

When I tackled the food pantry today my goal was to be able to get my stainless pots and pans into it so that I could eliminate the over the sink potrack that I thought I needed but HATED!

Lookie!

I did it! (and for those who don't believe me check this out!)

Not only did I do it, but I love how the pantry is now organized. It looks clean, things are easy to find and get to and there is plenty of room for grocery day!

One of the tips that I found on Jen's site that I tried was removing things from their packaging and putting them into baskets or Tupperware. It did end up giving me more room. It makes my pantry feel cleaner and more unified as well to have like containers.

And all of this was what I already had on hand! ♥♥♥

I will be doing some other projects around my home, finding areas that I have neglected and tackling them to make them work better for our family, stay tuned!