Prettying Up the Pantry

A few weeks ago, during a post about the evolution of our kitchen, I shared some pics of our wonderful pantry.  Well, there's nothing like posting pictures of your home on the Internet to make you notice areas in need of improvement!  And that picture, along with the daily problem of seasoning packets falling out every time I opened the doors, helped me realize that our pantry was in some desperate need of organization.

A before shot.  I picked up those packets of seasonings on the
 right side of the frame at least twice every day.

I needed something to corral all of the small items that were prone to falling from the doors when they were opened.  Things like seasoning packets and tea bags.  I was also looking for containers that I could use to condense items that I tend to buy multiples of in different flavors.  Things like sugar-free drink mix packets, microwave popcorn, hot chocolate.

I didn't want to spend a ton of money buying traditional pantry organization tools (although some of them are really nice!), so I looked around the house to see what I had on hand....

 ....enter mason jars.  They fit perfectly on our pantry shelves, can hold all of my drink mix packets and artificial sweeteners, and are free, because I have a ton of them on hand.

And THEN, I stumbled upon these awesome mini-loaf pans with chalkboard labels painted on them at Christmas Tree Shops.  I had a hunch that they would also fit on the shelves and they were only $1.  So obviously I bought a dozen of them!

 They are working out beautifully!  

 I love that I can get rid of the bulky boxes and just store the individual packets of items.

And suddenly the pantry is a far happier place.  Clean, organized, and nothing falling to the floor when I open the door.  Pretty much all I need. 

What easy and affordable organizing tips do you have?  Does being organized make you as happy as it does me?

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Evolution of Our Home: Kitchen Edition

Monday already?!  Hope everyone had a great weekend, I certainly did! We hosted some friends for the first Sunday of NFL football yesterday, which meant I spent a LOT of time in our kitchen.  Which got me thinking that an 'evolution post' for the kitchen is long overdue.  So here you go!

Remember how I told you that I cried on the day we bought our house?  Well, the kitchen was one of the rooms that did it to me.  It was covered in vegetable wallpaper and carpet, lacked any sort of modern lighting, and felt very dark, mostly due to the heavy curtains that covered the windows.  However, the cabinets were in great shape, there was room for a casual dining table, and the kitchen has some really convenient, unique features. Here are some before pictures....

 The Tiffany inspired lamp reminded us of what used to be over the tables at a certain large chain of pizza restaurants.

The cabinets were in good shape, but the oil rubbed bronze cabinet pulls really dated them. Note the huge fluorescent light above the island,  the outdated range hood, and the heavy curtains in the window to the family room.  All of this = tears.

The doors to the laundry closet were mustard yellow, all interior doors in the house were the same honey oak color as the kitchen cabinets. 

So we got to work removing wallpaper.  And while we were spoiled by relatively easy-to-remove wallpaper in some rooms, we paid our dues in the kitchen.  It was a nightmare.  While the wallpaper in many rooms peeled off using only fabric softener and water (or in some cases, nothing!), the kitchen was a far more difficult endeavor.  We ended up renting a wallpaper steamer for a long weekend, and it took every moment of that weekend to scrape every last bit of wallpaper from the walls.  I'm talking finishing up the job at midnight on Sunday night, just in time to catch a few hours of sleep before the work week.  And.....it was SO worth it!!

We painted the walls an apple green (Tortoise by True Value) that complimented the color of the cabinets, swapped out the cabinet pulls for more modern, brushed nickel options....

....and replaced the fluorescent light with two pendant lights and the pizza place light with a casual chandelier over the kitchen table.  My husband also replaced the outdated range hood with one in a simple, stainless finish.

We also added some fun kitchen art. For months, I longed for a HUGE fork and spoon at Pier 1 that I wanted to use to flank the kitchen window.  However I never found them at a price I wanted to pay, and most of the people I showed them to thought they were dumb. Haters. I still kind of regret not buying them and, truth be told, I still kind of have a plan to work them in.  But it worked out for the time being because I'm pleased with these fun, affordable kitchen prints. Find out where I got them in this post.

Remember how I said that our kitchen has some really cool, convenient features?  Well here they are!  First up is a convenient, integrated cutting board....

.....and there's also this amazing pantry with sixty shelves worth of storage....

...and best of all, the NuTone Built In Food Center, which is basically a motor that is built in to our kitchen island.  It has attachments that turn it into seven different appliances, including a mixer, blender, meat grinder, ice crusher, knife sharpener, fruit juicer, and slicer/shredder.  My favorite is the mixer--it has really made buying one of those expensive stand mixers unnecessary!

Now, a room in our house wouldn't be complete without a To-Do-List, and the kitchen has a hefty one, not in length, but in scale...

To-Do-List

Tile the floor

Replace countertops (one of the few jobs we can't DIY)

Install an interesting backsplash

Replace the dishwasher and oven with more modern appliances (but not until they die)

...and in a dream world, I'd love to knock out the top half of the wall that the oven is on, between the pantry and the corner, to open the upper half of the kitchen up to the dining room on the other side.  This is a total pipe dream at this point, and I don't even know if it would be structurally possible.  But it would be amazing!

But for now, I'll just look forward to the day that I can get rid of that carpet.  And judging by the entire jar of con queso that I broke on the carpet last week (and the many, many other things that have been spilled on that carpet)....that day is coming soon. 

The debate about tile, countertop and backsplash choices has been raging in my mind for years.  Really, I've been thinking about what I'll pick for years! I don't want to paint the cabinets, so I think all that wood rules out having the Pergo continue into the kitchen. I'd love to hear your input--what do YOU think would make the kitchen fab?!

I'll Cover You

The chairs at our kitchen table have long been a source of debate in our house.

 When searching for a dinette set, we wanted something that would fit the casual, small eat-in area of our kitchen, wouldn't compete with the wood on our kitchen cabinets, and could double as a place to write lists, pay bills, eventually have kids do homework (ie. not a wood surface, because I was worried that the impressions of our writing would transfer into the wood). 

This set fit our needs perfectly.  Except for two complaints. 

My complaint: It's pretty boring.
My husband's:  "These chairs suck. They squeak when we sit down."

So after trying my skills on my desk chair at work, I decided to try my hand at re-covering the cushions with a fun fabric.  I don't know much about fabric or sewing, but the fabric I chose seemed very expensive (I think it was over $30/yd!). However a Joann's Fabric coupon coupled with the fact that I only needed a yard made the price a little easier to swallow. 

Taking apart the chair so that I could remove the cushion was really easy.  I used an allen wrench to remove the screws/bolts, and that was all that I had to do!

If you're interested in doing the project properly, you could remove the original fabric and replace it with the new.  But if you're like me, and want to preserve the original chair in case you hate the results, you can just put the new fabric over the old! This worked because I was covering fabric that was a solid, light color.  If you were covering a print or a dark color, you might have no choice but to remove the old fabric.  Either way, removal of the old fabric should be pretty easy and would require some pliers to pull out the staples holding it onto the cushion.

To add my new fabric I just cut a piece of fabric that was a few inches wider than my chair cushions, and used my staple gun to secure the new fabric. I found it easier to staple the straight edges first in order to pull the fabric taut, and to work on the corners last.  The corners are the most difficult part, but with some patience I was able to fold, pull, and staple the fabric so that the creases were on the bottom part of the cushion and would not show. 

Once I had covered all four cushions, all I had to do was put the chairs back together and it was like I had a new dinette set!

It look so much more interesting!  And as for the squeakiness? Hey, I'm no miracle worker :)
(In all honesty, Mr. M. tightened the bolts and the chairs are MUCH less squeaky).

Put a Cork In It

I love a cork project.  As a wine lover, I accumulate a small moderate large number of corks and am excited when I can find a use for them.  They have a natural feel, plenty of uses, and are free. Sign me up! 

Here are some of my favorites from the many cork projects that I have pinned:

You know I love a new wreath!



We're really into watching the birds in our yard (hip, I know!).  Wouldn't this be such a cute little home for a bird family?



I have dreams of making this happen in the buffet area of our dining room.



I think this looks easy!  And it would be cute on our kitchen counter...



And this one is just so cool.




So when I wanted a centerpiece for our kitchen table, I was excited to be able to incorporate some of my wine corks into the project!

All it took was a clear vase leftover from our wedding reception, six allium stems, and some wine corks.  I cut the allium stems to varying lengths, arranged the flowers so the colors were spread out, and used the corks as filler.  The whole process took about ten minutes, and I love the casual feel it offers in our casual dining space.

What have you created with YOUR wine corks?