Organizing the Kitchen!

I thought it would be fun to show how I organize my kitchen cabinets.

We've been in our house for four and a half years now,

and I actually just rearranged this week 

when we re-did our pantry.

Only the island cupboards and cupboards 

on each side of the stove/oven got rearranged.

But I much prefer this set up now. :-)

First off, to the upper right of the stove,

here is our everyday dishware.

We use Fiesta, and I LOVE them.

It took me forever to decide if I should get colors...

all one color, many colors, two colors, four colors, or solid white.

LOL. I ultimately decided that it would be very fun and very...

"not me" to get eight different colors.

SO glad we did. I just love them. :D

Ivory mugs are from Starbucks, but they are discontinued.

These alternatives are cute though! :)

Patterned dishes (also discontinued)

and all kids' dishes on bottom shelf are from Target. :)

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And to the right:

(some glasses are in the dishwasher ;) )

*Find cabinet shelves here.

To organize kids' sippy lids and straws,

I use this container. Works great. :-)

Upper left of the stove...

Extra Kitchen Aid mixing bowl.

Shelf of protein powders, drink mixes, honey, and molasses.

Pyrex and measuring cups

... and then measuring spoons in this 2-section container

(everything 1tsp and under goes in a small jar).

Bottom shelf is some baking stuff, plus salt and pepper. :-)

Baking stuff and oils, over stove.

Lower left of oven. Juicer (usually stays on counter), VitaMix,

and the grater and nut-chopper. ;-)

Lower right.

Rice cooker and slow cooker.

Lower left of sink.

Food storage containers.
(And popsicle molds!)

Waffle maker and toaster. :)

Under sink.

Probably the messiest cupboard in my house. LOL.
Some grocery bags in righthand corner.
Lefthand corner, I keep some shopping bags/old gift bags

for when I need to deliver something (random stuff) to people. ;-)

*Find shelf here.

Top of fridge:

Bins hold plastic/paper cups, plates, napkins, silverware.
And there are some extra food storage containers

that I use when I make meals to bring to people. :)

Baking utensils.

"Things that cut" utensils in a drawer. Haha.

Silverware.

Ice cream scoops/spades.

Slotted spoons.
Non-slotted spoons (and salad tossers).

Seasoning drawer (in island)

(I actually rearranged after taking this photo. :-p )
Mostly Wildtree. LOVE Wildtree. (I'm a rep.)

Also in island: 

Cutting boards, egg stuff, tongs, random utensils actually. LOL. :-p

(extra fridge water filter)

Under island:

 

This drawer pulls out and holds mixing bowls, popcorn bowls, and strainers.

And that's what I have in my kitchen cupboards and drawers!

Riveting, yes? ;-)

The Beginning! Well... the *New* Beginning.

I miss blogging. A lot.

So... I'm going to start blogging again. 

This blog turned into an "only photos of my kids" blog, 

and even though I love my kids and love showing them off (hee hee ;-) ), 

I miss blogging for *me*... and gosh darn it, 

I don't have anything that is for *me* anymore, so here goes... 

My blogging hiatus is over! :D

I'll be posting organization tips/photos. 

And some tasty (and easy!) recipes.
DIY projects.
Decorating endeavors.

Hopefully, some scrapbooking. ;-)
Some kids stuff.
Favorite products.
A review here and there.
Favorite things, clothes, can't-live-without-products, etc.
And maybe some... dare I say it... fashion. *gasp*
(Let's face it... jeans, a tee, and TOMS shoes is "fashion" to me. ;-) )

First off, my pantry!

It's no surprise I love The Container Store.
I love containers. I love organizing.
And well, I worked there for two years. LOL. ;-)
Truth be told, I had never stepped foot in a Container Store

until the day of my interview.
True story.
I had *seen* one.
I had looked in the windows,

but I never really had time to go. *sigh*
(I regret that now. :-/ )

Anyway, I adore their products, but especially elfa.
We now have elfa in SIX rooms in our house.
(Okay, seven if you want to count 

the cabinet-sized drawer unit in our master bath's linen closet. ;-) )

Our pantry was the 7th space, and boy, was I excited!

I forgot to take a "before" shot, but here is the "during" shot (taken with my crappy phone camera)! LOL. ;-) 

Here's the completed, full-pantry shot that I posted on Instagram. :-)

We already had the Door & Wall rack, but I did rearrange that just a bit, 

since our new shelves created a more efficient space.

And here's the top half of the pantry:

Product list:

Stackable handled basket (discontinued, but looks like this item replaced it).
(That basket holds lunch bags and extra water bottles.)

Reduce WaterWeek bottles.
Stack baskets.

Cereal/Snack dispensers.

Handled baskets.
Snack container (similar one here or here).

Bottom half:

Acrylic canisters.

Tea bag storage container.

Same handled basket above. Holds recycling.
Pet food container.

Small crunch can (holds dirty linens, hand towels, bibs, etc).
Behind the crunch can, I have the food processor and coffee maker 

(two things i really don't use anymore...
coffee maker is for guests and food processor doesn't get much love, now that i have a VitaMix).

I'm glad it's done,

and I love the way it turned out. :-)

I'll be posting a "kitchen cabinet tour" tomorrow! :-)

Organizing the Master Bathroom.

Need some help organizing your bathroom? ;-)

Ours was in need of some revamping. Okay, so I'm pretty organized, but hubby's side seems to 

be in disarray every few months. He's very neat, clean and organized too, but...

well, sometimes he just gets... busy. ;-)

*Unless noted, containers/bins are from The Container Store. :)

His side:

On top of his sink, *Before*...

And *After*...

His side: drawers and top of counter, *Before*...

And *After*...

(I put my toothbrush in here too. Made more sense to me...) 

Second drawer, "Before"...

I moved the first aid supplies (from my side of the cabinet) to the bottom drawer,

and I moved the trimmer (which is missing from above photo

because it was in use) and dog stuff to the other bathroom.

And *After*...

Close-up:

Under his sink:

(This shot of the "before" pretty much stayed the same, so I don't have an "after" shot.

I just moved the extra "feminine stuff" to the linen closet instead...)

And my side:

On top of sink *After*...

(didn't take a before shot because the only thing I did was remove the blow dryer... LOL. :-p )

And my jewelry essentials (plus tweezers/nail clippers):

(When it comes to earrings, I usually wear one of three pairs,

so I just keep those in little Amac boxes on the left.)

My main drawer, *Before*.... 

And *After*...

(These baskets, from Ikea, were actually holding first aid supplies at first,

but I much prefer them in *my* drawer. So pretty. :-) )

Believe it or not, those are ALL the things I use on a daily basis:

my lotions, perfumes, make-up, etc. 

I used to have LOTS more,

but I just tossed everything I wasn't using. 

Love keeping it simple. :-D 

Back basket has eye cream, baby shampoo [to remove eye makeup], and blemish cream. 

Right basket has 2 perfumes, deodorant, 

sunscreen, and two facial moisturizers.

Front basket holds my makeup bag [Vera Bradley], 

and I only own *one of each* of the essentials: 

foundation, concealer, loose powder (translucent), 

blush, mascara, eye lash curler, concealer brush,

blush brush, foundation brush, 

eye shadow, chapstick, lip color/gloss. 

I *may* have an eye pencil, but I don't remember... LOL.

LOVE that I only have one bag of makeup, so I can just "grab and go" if I need to. 

99% of the time, I just wear concealer (under eyes only), blush and lip gloss/chapstick. :-p

My bottom drawer, *After*...

(Forgot the before shot, but it was all the first aid supplies.)

I'm addicted to Halls Breezers, so I always have a stash. LOL. ;-)

Under my sink (this didn't need organizing...) 

Hair barrettes, bobby pins, elastics are in left basket.

Nail polish, nail polish remover and files are in right basket.

Jewelry (other than daily essentials) are in the drawers (from Ikea).

 In top jewelry drawer: 

Bottom jewelry drawer: 

With top jewelry tray removed:

That's about it! 

Medications and other first aid supplies are kept in the linen closet

(which is also in our bathroom).

I'll be posting that soon! :-)

Hope this gave you some good organizational ideas!

Do you struggle with your bathroom organization, 

or do you feel like you have a handle on it?

Touring the Master Bathroom.

I thought it would be cool to do room tours on my blog. :-)

Kinda random, but I wanted to show our master bathroom today...

My side of the sink... (basket [similar to this one] holds mousse, hairbrushes, scissors)

Closeup of center:

soap pump, silk flowers in Ball jar, 

Ralph Lauren candle, Ralph Lauren fabric box (candle came in this; it now holds clothing tags)

small basket filled with everyday essentials:

earrings, barrettes, favorite bracelet, tweezers, nail clippers 

 Box on top of toilet came from Ross Clearance for $10.

Holds random lotions and scrubs.

Jeremy's basket holds his daily essentials:

deodorant, face wash, meds, etc.

This came from a garage sale...

Box to hold magazines and after-shower tile spray (had just cleaned it out, sorry :-p )

Trash can from Pier 1.

Little "Hope" bear. I just think he's so cute, and didn't know where else to put him.

Hey, he matches! ;-)

Mirror and shelf from IKEA. 

Mix and match towels. 

To the left of window....

To the right of window... 

Jute bath mat (we just lay a towel down on top of this,

and that way it's SO much easier to toss a small towel in the wash, 

than a bath rug. ;-)

That's it! Hope you enjoyed the tour! :-)