Organized Kitchen

When I saw that Toni @ A Bowl Full of Lemons was doing "14 weeks to an organized home"I thought, 

"I can do this". 

Yep!! I'm laughing too but I'm sure as heck going to try. I figured it would be easy seeing how I just moved AGAIN the end of May. And, most of my things are in a storage unit!

For the most part my house is always pretty organized so I was hoping that this challenge would give me the incentive to organize the areas that are not. So, needless to say I was ecstatic to see that the Kitchen was the first place we are organizing. 

Why? Cause mine already is...woo hoo!!!

A real quick history before we get to the good stuff..."The Pics"!

In the last 3 yrs we down sized from a 2400 sq ft house to a 2600 sq ft town home to a 1200 sq ft condo to a 2800 sq ft town home to a 1400 sq ft house to our current home and it might be a 1,000 sq ft. Did this make you dizzy cause it does me to see that we moved that many times in the last 3 yrs. This last move is only for 1 yr and we are hoping to buy a house next year (this is another blog for another day)

With our current downsize I have a lot of my things in storage. So, if it didn't fit it went to storage or goodwill. One thing I can not stand is clutter. Especially on my counters and in my cabinets. Since I don't have a lot of counter space my racks from IKEA came in handy for some of my most used spices and my fancy (never use) coffee/tea cups.

I will not bore you by showing you every cabinet in my kitchen but you will get the idea of how I organize. It really is nothing fancy. I keep things I need at an arms reach and everything has it's own place. Including the cute dividers I use in the junk drawer.

***NOTE: I DID NOT LINE THESE SHELVES WITH THE HIDEOUS PLAID PAPER!!!

My IKEA cabinet came in handy for my dishes. With being in a small house I don't have a lot of space and I needed the space for food and my bigger appliances. 

Here are some pics of the house before we moved in, and some after pics of what it looks like now!!

This is the kitchen if you enter from my side door...

And, the kitchen standing on the other end...

So, see it's not much and a bit small for me but I make it work.

I hope you enjoyed my kitchen tour of my "Cabin in the woods" (as I call my home)

What are you organizing???

Spiced Up IKEA Expedit

If you know me or have been following my crazy life then you know that my SHELVES drive me nuts...

I love them but decorating them is quite the adventure...

Place objects on shelve...step back and look...take objects off and move to another shelf...step back and look...REPEAT!! (for months)

Makes me "CRAZY"!!!

One of the shelves I have is the IKEA expedit and I love it because of the all the dividers...just if I can get them decorated to my satisfaction...

(Are we ever really satisfied???)

I vote NO!!!

My expedit has wicker baskets...love them...and drawers and cabinets...which I love as well...great storage...It's just they make the darn things "White" and to me it's distracting...

See what I mean???

No matter where you put them the eye just stops...boring!!!

If you sit and look at something long enough you get an apiffany (my big word for the day)

I busted out some supplies...

It was time to give my expedit a makeover...

Don't you just love mod podge??

I took them boring...eye sore...white drawers/doors and gave them a much needed face lift...

(Boy do I wish mod podge could do that to my face..lol)

Ready for the big reveal???

Taaa Daaa....

What a difference...it gave my expedit some chicness...

I went from BORING....

To fabulous....

Now I will stare at it as it sits on the wall across from my desk and work on getting the decor where I want it...But for now I don't have "WHITE" distracting doors/drawers...

I'm open to shelf decor ideas!!!

TELL ME ABOUT A MOD PODGE IDEA YOU HAD TO REVAMP SOMETHING???

Will it end???

Just when you think you have something the way you want it...you sit back and look at it and realize it's all wrong or it's not what you really like...drives me nuts...I'm alway changing something...just wish I could get it right and move on to the next 500 things I have on my home re-do list...

Have you ever had to just have something and once you got it don't know what to do with it??? I had BIG ideas in my head when I first saw the Expedit shelving unit at IKEA ...my hubby even went as far to get me some baskets and cabinet doors for it for storage...LOVED IT!!!

Got it home and all set up and it just sat and became a catch all for all the things I didn't know what to do with...I had an idea in my head of what I wanted but I just couldn't find exactly what I wanted to put on it...so here it sits....

Hey this doesn't look bad it just needs some TLC (Totally loaded clutter)...This is what happens when you are busy...out of town...and are still in search of the perfect shelf decor' ... (ok...maybe just a little lazy)...

See what a little TLC does...LOL

That is enough to drive someone with OCD to a padded room...Now it's time to get rid of everything and start all over...I've been trying to find some vases that match the office for the top of the Expedit and after weeks of searching for the right colors and price I finally found them at TJ Maxx...How can you beat $22 for 3 vases???

I think adding a mirror was just what it needed...Not that I can look in it...at 5'1" it makes it hard to even see the dust... ;)

Now it's time to put everything back on the shelf...Not easy...I got rid of half of the clutter so there is not much left...My organization books were the only thing that was a definite save...(I should probably read them) that's another blog!!!

Well after some TLC (Totally losing clutter) and putting the things back on the shelf unit that I wanted to keep...I have a lot of empty space (sounds like retail therapy to me)...

It took me weeks to figure out what I wanted on top of the shelf...how will I ever figure out what to put on the rest...Might have to hit Barnes & Noble...

I really did know what I wanted to do with the shelf ... and I could spend all day walking around the house moving shelf items around...But, like I said "Will it end"???...CRAZY...

TELL ME ABOUT A PROJECT THAT NEVER ENDS FOR YOU???