I like to keep a phone list on the fridge that has contact information for family and friends. I used to laminate it, but I found that people’s numbers changed and I was unable to “edit” my list on the laminated surface. The page protector allows me to do little edits without having to re-print and laminate the whole list. I can either do minor edits by hand or re-print the sheet without having to laminate. This works much better and looks good too. Here’s how I did it.
Custom Made Page Protector:
I followed this comprehensive tutorial for the most part, but did not need to make holes to insert it into a book. I love the clean look and finished edges. This concept would be great to use in a scrapbook.
My project was not quite so pretty and more about filling a need. I keep my telephone list template on the computer, so the size remains constant and it is very little work to update the list. I stroked out phone numbers , so that takes away from the over all look, but here is a summary of the tutorial including the steps I used to make my sleeve.
Place page in bottom right corner of protector sheet. (This is actually the back, my list is double-sided and this is the spill over onto the back side of the list.)
Be sure the page is pressed snuggly into the corner.
Add on the width of your double-sided tape and then cut your page protector. (Cut the top of the protector sheet to same height as your paper.)
Use narrow double-sided tape to adhere the left side of the protector together. Mine is about 1/8″ thick.
Lift the left hand side of the page protector and carefully place the double-sided tape along the outside edge of your page, being careful not to touch the paper.
Cut a border about 3/4″ to 1″ wide and then fold the paper in half so it will slide over the edge. I made two, one slightly larger than the other, to create a layered look. Add the double-sided tape to the sealed edge on both the top and bottom. Peel the paper and slide border over.
Here is the page protector with the paper removed. This allows me to update the information on my phone list whenever necessary.
I didn’t really think about it at the time, but of course realized later that I didn’t want the phone numbers all showing in my post. This last photo is not my actual finished product as I had to hide the contents of the document, but it gives you an idea of how it looks when its all done. The rectangle is the actual colour of original document. The photo of my phone list looks like more of a beige colour, but its actually this light yellow.
Yay! I finally got my spice rack finished. I am super pleased with it. The first pull-out shelf we built works great, but the empty space above was annoying me. Tim has been on holidays the past couple of weeks, so he ended up helping me more than usual and we finally got the spice rack painted and mounted. It was so great having him home. I could get really used to that!
Wall Mounted Spice Rack:
An old book display rack was where this project all began.
Here is the spice rack with holes filled and ready for sanding.
I painted the cabinet yellow to match the bottom and then spray painted the front face with chalkboard paint. I still need to decide on a handle, prime the black surface and apply my chalkboard art.
I love the way the two pieces line-up so nicely and fill the gap between the wall and fridge.
Here is a shot of both shelves.
I picked-up full extension drawer slides for around $23 at Home Depot. Tim mounted them on the back of the spice rack and on the back wall. The shelf tucks in the space perfectly and the two shelves line up really nicely. Both units were made from two panels of the original book rack. The cost was next to nothing for the entire project. If I’m not forgetting anything, I think we paid around $6 for chalkboard spray paint, about $6 for the metal strapping, $7 for the handle on the bottom and $23 for the drawer slides. We had all of the other materials on hand. So, even if I missed something I am guessing this project cost us well under $50 and totally transformed our kitchen. It is so much more organized. I was able to empty the top spice drawer and move my tea towels and dish cloths into it. The smaller drawer that they used to reside in is now for odds and ends like the remote for the fan, a tape measure, shoe horn, etc. These “gadgets” use to be in another drawer along with my foil, cellophane, parchment paper and Ziplocks. Everything is just so much tidier. Loving it!!
You may remember the book rack upcycle I did a few weeks back. I used an old book display rack and converted it into a pull-out pantry style shelf that sits between my fridge and the wall. It works really well and I am happy to say that the chalkboard art has stood up extremely well – in fact, better than I would have ever expected. Not a single image has been smudged and I have yet to touch-up anything. I can’t honestly say if this is because of the hair spray I top coated it with or if it is just because I only move it in and out using the handle. Either way, it works well and I really do love it. However, when I was making it I knew that the empty space above the pull-out shelf would bug me. It just looks like something is missing. So, I decided that I would use the other half of the display rack and convert it into a spice rack.
Here you can see the empty space above the pull-out cabinet that I upcycled into a pantry.
Pull-out Spice Rack:
I began by taking the second panel of the book rack completely apart and then had to spend quite a bit of time thinking about how this would work. My plan was to create a spice rack using the existing wood from the display rack. The depth of the space would accommodate the full 24″ of shelving, but in order for it to fit between the cupboard support board and the wall, I would need to make the shelves narrower. I thought this seemed like a super easy project as the modifications were quite minimal. The issue was that there seemed to be lots of little details to think about: the thickness of the pegboard backing, whether to trim the back or front of the shelves, how to keep the little lip so the spice bottles won’t fall off, how far apart to make the shelves, how to make the cut shelves fit in the grooves they previously sat in, etc. I must say, I found it a bit hard to consider all of the details that perhaps wouldn’t even be considerations in a “new build”, but had to be accounted for because it was an upcycle. I got the boards cut and prepared to a point, but then had to ask my husband to help. The one and only tool that I’m not allowed to use is the table saw. I’m not exactly sure why, but Tim doesn’t feel that it’s very safe and at times I can be a bit careless. So, on Saturday I finally pinned him down and got the help I needed to do the final cuts. The new shelf is about 17″ high and 24″ long and should fit perfectly in the space, once the drawer runners are added. The front face of the shelf was not cut down as I wanted it to match the size of the bottom pull-out shelf. They won’t line-up perfectly because the bottom one is more centered in the space and the spice rack will end up sittng closer to the wall than the fridge. Keeping it the original 4″ width will also help to keep the contents of the rack somewhat hidden, as opposed to a more open look.
We got the boards cut and nailed the shelf together. I used the original top and bottom pieces from the rack and one of the shelves, but had to insert a second shelf in between so that the final spice rack would have a total of three shelves. My plan is to move all of my small spice bottles to this rack. It should be large enough to fit them all, so I will have some additional drawer space in the kitchen and perhaps some room on my pull-out rack as well. We filled all of the holes with wood filler and let it dry over night. I am out of time and weekend, so this is how it will stay until I can get back to it.
Here is the spice rack with holes filled and ready for sanding.
This will be the front end of the cabinet. You can see the side is wider to match the bottom pull-out cabinet.
This shows the end that will extend to the back wall. It had to be narrower to fit in the channel beside the fridge.
Here is the rebuilt rack. It is now the perfect size for my spices!
The next step is to sand and prime the shelf, so that it will be ready for painting. I can’t wait to get it mounted and see how it works!
So often I am asked how I manage to do all the things a good mom does as well as work, blog daily and do all those projects I write about. The answer in a nutshell is LISTS!! I have lists everywhere for everything. I have sublists of lists and sometimes even sublists for the sublists. It’s crazy! If I have not committed “it” to paper there is no chance I will ever remember it. I have so much on my plate, I am barely staying afloat some days. In fact, I have so many lists that I decided to develop a list for my lists. I just seem to write and re-write the same things over and over again, and find myself wasting time looking through my lists for the right list. I finally decided to try something new. It’s a new system and I’m hopeful that it’ll work.
A List with a Twist:
Basically, the same things seem to appear on my lists over and over again, so I thought, why not streamline all of my lists onto one page. I created a Weekly Planning Sheet that is customized to meet my own personal needs. I am hoping that I can work from this one, single list for an entire week. Of course, we will continue to have a Grocery List, but other than that, my goal is to see if I can keep it to one paper.
I created a basic template on the computer and will plug-in events from the calendar every Sunday, before printing it off. The template provides the framework for my whole week and that I don’t have to write scheduled items like “piano lessons” every week, as it is already on the master template. Obviously, I will need to update the little calendar portion at the beginning of each week and plug-in any special appointments or meetings. I created a space to keep track of my workouts, blog posts and I have made several categories for my ongoing lists. For now, I plan to “pencil” in the items on my lists, but if I am finding that they are regular items on my “to do list”, then I may just type them right in to the master template. A great example would be laundry. That is always on my list of things to do over the weekend, so I may decide to add it to the permanent template. I am also not sure if I will have enough room to add everything I need to do, over the course of the week, but as long as I use pencil, I can erase my accomplishments to make room, if need be. My general feeling is that with the separate categories, I should have room, but we’ll see. I am so excited to see how the new system works this week.
Here are the lists from last week.
Weekly Planner Template
New List
You can see the pile of lists I started with and how I combined them all onto my new template. I hope it all goes as planned ~ we’ll see!
Having lists does help me to stay organized and on top of most things, but the bottom line is a list without action is futile. I too get overwhelmed at times and push the worst jobs to the bottom of the list, but what I have found is that action actually creates motivation and momentum. When I am feeling tired and out of gas, I will often scan my list and look for two or three items that will take: Little Time & Little Effort.I take action immediately and knock off those items that require no more than a couple of minutes of my time (making appointments, placing an order, RSVP to an invitation, send an email, etc.). By taking immediate action, I feel like I have accomplished something and the result is often a “second wind” and motivation to take on a bigger task. However, even if I go no further down the list, I have done something and something is always better than nothing at all!
Obviously my template won’t work for you, but perhaps it is something you could use as a guide to create your own weekly planner. Just what every busy mom needs ~ another project!
I was out picking up a few things at Home Depot for my tray storage cupboard and came across the section where the Command Hooks are kept. I have purchased these in the past, but rarely. However, it suddenly occurred to me that they were just what I was looking for! When I made my sliding storage rack, I had to cut it down because of the support board that ran along the side of the fridge below the cupboards. It was about a foot deep and it meant that I had to sacrifice the additional space behind the cabinet. I thought perhaps I could still make use of the space by adding hooks to the wall, but had a temporary mind cramp and couldn’t figure out a way to get a screw or nail in the tight space ~ Dah! The Command Hooks would work perfectly. I was so excited that I ended up looking over the entire selection and picked-up a few packages. In the end, I mounted two behind the sliding cupboard, one for my broom and another for my oven mitts.
More Kitchen Storage Ideas:
My original plan was to install this system, but unfortunately it wouldn’t work in my kitchen.
As well as installing the Command Hooks, I also picked up a set of hinges and plastic storage trays that are designed to fit behind the false drawer front that sits in front of your kitchen sink. Unfortunately, we have an under mount sink and it was impossible to use the set due to the way it was installed. Although I was disappointed I figured I could install one of the plastic trays inside the door of the cupboard that sits under the sink. It is perhaps slightly less handy than the original plan, but serves the same purpose. I would often have my scrubber and sponge sitting on the back ledge behind the sink and really hated it. This is much better.
So, here are some photos of how I installed and used my new hooks and storage solutions.
Command Hook broom storage solution.
These are actually about 20″ apart to accommodate larger trays and such.
You can see one of my cooling racks hanging on the hook. I love how I am now able to make use of this extra storage space in my kitchen.
Yesterday I mentioned the great date my hubby and I had on Thursday. What I didn’t explain were the details surrounding our “date day”. About 3 or 4 years ago, we had hydro come out and do an efficiency test on our house and it failed miserably. That was not surprising since our heating bills for our first winter surpassed our monthly mortgage payments. Once the test was done, we were given an outline of suggestions that would help to make our home more efficient. The number one suggestion was insulating our basement.
The basement of our 1921 home had no insulation, but there were a few rooms that had been roughed in. Obviously, these were primarily used for storage and laundry and looked to be at least 70 years old. It was in a very sad state, but provided adequate space for all of our tools and stored items. We had everything put away and organized and although the basement was really only used for laundry, it was tidy and functional.
However, when we decided to insulate and drywall the space to help lower our heating costs, we had to remove everything from the exterior walls and place it in the center of the space, so that Tim could work his way around the exterior. This project seemed to progress in spurts with most of the insulating completed a few years back, but it was at this point that it seemed to stall out. Now, for an organization freak like me, this became a huge issue. It wasn’t so much that the basement wasn’t finished, but more an issue of not being able to find what I was looking for. I absolutely hate wasting time and sorting through a “pile of rubble” was not scoring high with me. Although my husband won’t admit it, I think that he felt somewhat overwhelmed by the job. We have pipes hanging awkwardly from the ceiling and wires that need to be moved as well as bulkheads that need to be built. Between the mess from the renovation, the pile of storage tubs and the construction materials themself, he just kind of shut down and really no progress has been made for a long time. It was a bit of a “hot topic” in our house, but last fall I finally decided to temporarily let go of the idea of having a finished basement and just focus on what was stressing me out the most ~ THE HUGE MESS! So, this is where the date comes into play.
The Best Date Ever:
So, you can imagine my excitement when I got my husband to agree to “a date”. No, this date didn’t involve a romantic dinner or flowers, but something much more meaningful to me. A special date marked on the calendar that would be dedicated to the basement. We would clean, purge and organize as much as we could in one day. That is all I requested…just one day to see what we could accomplish. So, on April 3rd, shortly after lunch, we took the walk of shame and headed down to the dungeon. Honestly, it felt like a clip from the TV show “Hoarders”. There was stuff everywhere and I simply could not live with it any longer. Although we have a large basement of about 1500 square feet, there literally was hardly any floor space. Construction materials, tubs of storage items, tools and sporting goods seemed to be everywhere. So, without much of a plan, we set to work.
We sorted out our pile of reclaimed wood from the tear down to determine what we should keep and what should be tossed.
We organized all of the scrap wood we were keeping for future projects and placed all of the large garbage items at the base of the stairs. We need to get a BFI bin or something for all of this, but wanted to have all of the garbage ready before we actually order it.
I went through all of the cans of paint to determine what was still good and what needed to be tossed.
Tim vacuumed and cleaned all of the floor space and moved all of our storage tubs against one wall, so that they are more out of the way.
I spent about 6 hours going through all of our “hardware” stuff: screws, nails, tacks, plumbing, electrical and painting supplies. I sorted, vacuumed, organized and labelled until I was almost delirious.
I bought a Casio label machine and was so excited as I began to unpack boxes of supplies that had yet to be unpacked from our move to this house in 2008. I think Tim just kept waiting for the day he would have his basement “workshop” set-up and never really bothered to go through some of the boxes. Normally, I would just go do it myself, but I knew that it was impossible. I had tried a few times, but this was his stuff and I was unable to determine what some items were and how they should be sorted or if they even needed to be kept. I knew that the only way to get this done was to work together.
So, after about 14 hours of work (times two bodies = 28 hours), our basement is in much better shape. I was disappointed when the sample roll of label tape ran out and I hadn’t finished my job, but overall it looks much better. There are still many things that need to be done down there, but I can live with this. It is organized and there is once again ample usable space. My hope is that now that the mess is cleared, Tim will feel more optimistic and once again begin to complete one task at a time. We don’t really have a design plan in mind for the “family room” type of space that will eventually be down there, but we have already got the walls up and drywalled for the storage room and we’ll keep the existing laundry room walls. Of course, I have my wish list and even a preference for the order of completion, but for now I will relish in the fact that a job that was long over due is finally done. As I looked around the basement, I seriously got a bit teared up. This basement has been a huge bone of contention for me and the disarray of this space just seemed like a weight on my shoulders. Every time I walked down the stairs, my annoyance would resurface. This was a huge amount of work. It was dusty and dirty and tedious and long, but none the less, for me, the best date ever! My husband scored huge points with me this week. I can find what I need and now have the space to work without feeling like I need to drag everything up to my scrapbook/project room.
If and when we proceed with our basement plans, I will keep you posted. If I had my wish, we would begin by finishing the storage room. Although it still needs a ceiling, flooring, mud and sanding, and electrical work done, it still seems like the most logical space to complete first. Finishing this space, would allow me to move all of the tubs of storage items into their permanent home. It would literally clear-up most of the basement clutter and because it will only be used for storage it seems like a great space to fumble and learn. I’m not really worried about perfect seams and the finished look in this space. I’m merely looking for a clean, organized room banked with shelving and hooks to store our Christmas decorations, off-season clothing and other off-season items. Finishing this room will be another great reason to celebrate.
Now, I had to dig deep to actually have the guts to share these BEFORE/AFTER pictures with you. Anyone who knows me well, would be astonished that my basement looked like this for so long. I certainly didn’t keep it a secret, but few ever saw the state of affairs. The makings of this mess began innocently enough, but I just didn’t know how to get things back on track when I really was not able to do the work. I would love to think I am capable enough to be a great helper or assistant, but the reality is I don’t know the first thing about basement construction and my hubby really does have to take the lead on this. You know what they say about couples and how opposites attract ~ I am a total “get ‘r done gal” and Procrastination is Tim’s middle name. Ugh! I love him to pieces, but sometimes, I can’t figure out how we manage to make it all work. I’ll give God credit for that!
Brace Yourself for the BEFORE Shots:
28 Hours and Two Back Aches Later:
AFTER: This still looks pretty bad, but it should. This is the sorted garbage pile ready to be taken out. Yay!
AFTER: This was where the laundry sink was previously standing.
Here is the space where the sink used to sit, but we removed the green board so that we could add it to the junk pile. Don’t you love the old wood planks on the walls.
Hey! There’s the work bench or should I say examination table. A doctor used to own the house and this was converted to a work bench somewhere along the way.
AFTER: This is a close-up of the examination table/work bench. I opened the end drawer just to show you they were there. We didn’t even know there were drawers there until Thursday!
AFTER: I used the drawers at the end of the bench to house the screws. Any that were in little labelled boxes were arranged by size. There are three drawers full!
AFTER: The table, door and piano pieces were moved to the rear of the grey storage tubs which makes much more sense don’t you think?
AFTER: It is really hard to appreciate the hours I spent going through the odds and ends that ended up sorted into these bins.
AFTER: This is the same shot of the length of the basement. Notice the open floor space in the middle.
AFTER: This is where the original pile of wood from the tear down was, but now all of our storage tubs line this wall. The door way leads to the “someday” storage room.
AFTER: The old wood that we want to repurpose is now neatly leaning against the pillar in the center of the space.
AFTER: The sink is temporarily sitting in front of the now organized paint shelf.
Still so much to do, but I think we might actually be back on track. What a relief!!
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Tim and I had set a date a few months back. We specifically picked April 4th because I would be on Spring Break and Tim is off on Thursdays and Fridays. I have had this date circled on my calendar since February and couldn’t wait to spend the day together. We had the most incredible day ever and I even get a bit teary-eyed thinking back on the events of the day. I know you are on the edge of your seats wondering what we did? Well, let me just tell you that this is something that has been a deep desire in my heart for several years now and yesterday, it finally happened. Now before I get carried away with our date, I have to tell you about the super easy and quick DIY project that I did in the morning before our date. I will fill you in on our fabulous date tomorrow….it is a long story and I was up way too late and can only commit to a quick post as I am bagged, but believe me this is a good one.
Here is a BEFORE shot. It doesn’t actually look as bad as it was.
Nail boards onto the bottom of the shelf (or top of the cupboard depending on your space).
Use your divider as a spacer between the wood pieces.
AFTER: The shelf has been placed inside and the dividers just slide into the channels.
Here is my new space. I was even able to add my loaf pans on the new shelf!
DIY Cookie Sheet Storage
You may recall me mentioning the sad state of my cookie sheet/muffin tin cupboard a few posts ago. I am not exaggerating when I say that a battle took place each and every time that cupboard door opened. Not one single item came in or out without a fight and I finally had enough. I knew what I wanted, but had put it off because I had never really taken the time to figure out how to get the job done and I honestly thought it was beyond my capabilities, but I was so wrong. This is one of the easiest projects I’ve done. First of all, I googled and within the first few links found a tutorial explaining exactly what I wanted to do. I was so excited! Here’s what I did.
Measured the depth and width of my cupboard (7 1/2″ X 24″ deep).
I knew that I would need two dividing boards and planned to use scrap pegboard that I already had in the house. The thickness of pegboard is about 1/4″.
The concept is so easy. You mount boards along the base and top of the cupboard that are the same distance apart as your divider board which in my case was 1/4″. The space between the mounted boards creates the channel for the vertical dividers to stand in. I didn’t really have boards on hand that would work for this, so I went to Home Depot and picked-up 3 four foot poplar boards that were each 1/4″ thick for around $10. (This is actually a bit of a fib. It wasn’t until I went to stain that I realized I had grabbed a 3 foot piece of the 1 1/2″ board. It wasn’t worth going back, but I had planned to mount it on the top under the shelf so it wouldn’t be seen, but completely forgot and used the longer piece on top. Oh well, it is not like anyone will ever see the back of that cupboard again!) I was aiming to have the boards equal 7 1/2″ minus the 1/2″ to account for the channel between the boards (1/4″ X 2 channels), so I could purchase boards equalling up to 7″ wide. I ended up purchasing two boards that were 2 1/2″ wide and one that was 1 1/2″ wide for a total width of 6 1/2″. I couldn’t get the numbers to workout exactly, but just planned to leave the extra space on the outside edges close to the walls of the cupboard. It worked perfectly.
I then stained the boards and cut them to 21″ long as I wanted the dividers to sit back a few inches from the front of the cupboard. So I ended up with 2 fat boards and one narrow board for both the base and top of the space. (I needed 6 boards in all).
I didn’t want to waste any space, so I put those little metal shelf plugs in the pre-drilled holes on the sides of the cupboard. This allowed me to add a shelf and extra storage space above my trays. I had the plugs on hand and for the shelf, I just used a scrap piece from an old desk top that I had dismantled and re-purposed a while back. It is not in perfect shape, but it will be completely hidden and has a melamine surface, so it will stand up well. It just needed about 1/4″ trimmed off the side to fit perfectly in the space. I placed the pegs in with the shelf on top and measured a distance of 16 3/8″ between the base and the bottom of the shelf.
I then cut the pegboard at 21″ X 16 3/8″ so that it would fit snuggly between the top shelf and base inside the channels I was making.
This part certainly wasn’t hard, but I must admit I took a bit of time to think this through to avoid making a mistake. After cutting the pegboard I realized that I may have to accommodate the shelf pegs by notching out the wood because I couldn’t have the shelf rest on my wood pieces or it would raise the height and my pegboard would no longer fit snuggly. I ended up placing my shelf on the pegs and marking the underside of my board, so I knew how far the pegs sat out under the shelf. I removed the shelf and mounted my first length of board so that it would sit tight against the pegs. I then used my pegboard as a spacer and mounted the next board. When I went to mount the third board, I realized that there wouldn’t be quite enough room for the pegs, so I ended up cutting about 1/4″ off of the side of one of the top boards. (Of course, this was not necessary on the base.) I placed the shelf back in, and it rested perfectly on the bottom of the shelf, not the channel boards. (Lucky for me that I only bought boards equaling 6 1/2″ otherwise I would have had to do more trimming to account for the pegs.)
I then used the same system to nail the boards to the base of the cabinet ensuring that the placement matched the boards at the top.
Finally, I slid in my pegboard dividers and have myself an awesome storage system for my pans. Yay!
* You might have noticed that I also mounted the base for a “Command” hook here. (You know the sticky kind.) I am going to hang my oven mitts here.
Tuesday, I spent the entire day cleaning and organizing my kitchen. You know that kind of cleaning you do when you actually take the time to look beyond the forks and knives and notice all the little crumbs that have fallen to the bottom of the tray. I must admit that juggling work, family and daily blogging has taken a bit of a toll. I have had to become even more effective at managing my time and despite all of the projects I have been doing, for the most part my house has never looked worse. I just don’t have the time to clean in the ways I am accustomed to. I tidied up the fridge freezer and found a mind-boggling 22 frozen bananas…Yikes! Let’s just say my kitchen really needed a “behind the scenes” cleaning. After having spent all day in the kitchen, I am sad to say that the kitchen isn’t even done and to the “onlooker” it looks like I haven’t touched a thing because most of it is behind closed doors. Don’t you hate that?
I called this post Spring Cleaning Gone Mad because I actually felt like a mad woman yesterday. I went from cupboard to cupboard vacuuming drawers, wiping out shelves and re-organizing their contents. I did odd jobs that had been avoided for way too long and after a very long day of slaving away I was left with a longer list of “to do’s” than when I started. Isn’t that the way it goes…you take on one project and it seems like you’ve opened up a can of worms. Every space I attacked revealed something else that needed attention. The good news is I have lots of blogging ideas, but the bad news is I don’t have the time to do it all! Although I am not done, it is looking much better.
Finished the job of cleaning spice jars and organizing the drawers. I must admit that I was a bit surprised that even after all of that work, I still have two drawers, a cupboard and now a pull-out rack that contain spices! How is that even possible? The great thing is that it is neatly organized and streamlined, but I didn’t really create the extra cupboard space I was hoping for.
Managed to fit my cereal into a drawer and store the accessories for my manual food processor (that I absolutely love) behind the cereal boxes to make better use of the space.
Re-configured the cupboard beside the stove, so that all of my Epicure jars are not hidden in the back, but rather neatly stored and much more visible in the second spice drawer.
Removed all of my baking sheets and muffin tins, cleaned the cupboard and organized the space better. This cupboard is like a thorn in my side. I honestly get so mad taking things out and putting things in there that there should be an alarm that sounds warning my family it is not safe to enter the kitchen when I open that cupboard. Let’s just say it does not bring out the best in me. Although I straightened it out. I already know I will be in a rant by Sunday if something is not done. This project is next on my list and hopefully will get done today….I have a plan and am a woman on a mission!
Hung the cord from the under cabinet lighting that came loose about 3 years ago. Every time I noticed that sucker hanging down, I would be annoyed that it hadn’t been put back-up. Not yesterday….I finally took the 5 minutes necessary and did it myself. Perhaps not the way my husband would have done it, but clearly he was okay with it hanging down loosely over the stove, so his standards weren’t getting in my way. It’s done, my way and looks way better.
We had mounted an old grate for school mail and notes at least two years ago. When we originally attached it, the holes were drilled too high and we had to lower them. That was fine, but the holes never got filled. Yesterday, I filled the holes and will sand and paint them today….yay!
Here are some of the before and after shots:
SPICE DRAWER INSERT: I’ve had one of these all along and still love it. It is actually hard to believe that the drawer was in such disarray because this really does help to keep things organized. I think that’s why the “before and after” shots don’t look that dramatic, but believe me it is so much easier to find what you are looking for now. (I had to saw the edges off of mine to fit this drawer as it was actually bought for a larger drawer.)
It may not look like much work, but scrubbing labels, washing bottles, filling and re-labelling took me hours!! (Just noticed the T missing from the word “yet” and I’m choosing to let it go. Not really my style, but even I have my limits. I have been working on this post for way too long and have re-done the screen shot of this collage about 4 times too many already. Oh well! I’m sure my readers can figure it out – consider it a fill in the blank lesson from grade school. I am absolutely not changing it.)
It seemed like we had cereal boxes everywhere! Hard to believe we were Paleo at one time!!
So glad to have this eyesore taken care of…finally!
These spice bottle look so much better and love the new rack!
We have a lot of spices and seasonings in our kitchen. In fact, we have them in the small narrow cupboard beside the stove as well as two drawers. They are a complete mess with doubles of some bottles and extra packages for filling up old containers. I really have only ever had one spice rack set. I used to have one of those spinning racks that hold the serving spoons in a large canister in the center. I trashed that years ago as I hated the clutter on my counter. Although we have the cupboard and drawer space for all of these spices and seasonings, the mess means that the space can’t be used for other things I would like to store more effectively. So, my book display rack upcycle has kind of taken on a life of its own. As I worked on it, my mind was literally flooded with ideas on how to make my kitchen space work better for our family. I have a feeling this will be a bit of a journey as many of the projects I have in mind will take some time to build or reconfigure, but I’ll just add them to my already lengthy list of “to do’s”. Here are some before shots of my “spice space” ~ Yikes! How embarrassing!
Spice Bottle Upcycle:
The first thing I did was remove all of the tops off of my old rotating spice racks set of bottles. I got this rack about 20 years ago and you can see how some of the tops have yellowed over the years. Besides that, there are literally spices/seasonings in those bottles that have never been touched, so part of this overhaul involved tossing the contents of those bottles that never get used. In fact, two of the bottles still had the original seal under the lid! Once I did this, I was able to free up about 4 bottles and add spices that we use on a regular basis. The original set of spices had clear labels on them. I left the labels on those spices that remained the same, but peeled them off of those I was changing. I used “Goof Off” to remove the stubborn adhesive from under the sticky label. I then washed and dried the tops throughly and spray painted the tops. I used chalkboard paint, but regular flat black spray paint would work just as well for this project. I then began to top up the existing bottles if I had packages on hand and filled the empty bottles up with spices we use on a regular basis. The final step was labelling each lid. I did this free hand and without much thought or plan for design. I basically tried to print evenly and neatly. I wanted a “chalk” look without the hassle of smudging every time you open a bottle. The solution was using a white Crayola Twistable for the printing. This really helped to give the bottles new life and tidy-up this big mess. The bottles inside the drawer are still a mish-mash of sizes and shapes, but there are no duplicates and they are arranged in alphabetical order. This is a big improvement, but I have a new plan that will make this even better.
Here are the materials I used. I also painted a few old baby jar lids for this project. I included a finished bottle in the shot as well.
Old discoloured lids/bottles.
Painted lids.
Spice jar lids.
When I upcycled the book display rack, the height of the cabinet was over a foot shorter than the fridge. I would have loved for it to align perfectly, but that was not the case. I have decided to make a pull-out spice rack in the “dead” space above the cabinet. I think I can use drawer sliders, so that it can slide in and out easily. I can also make the rack much narrower than the bottom piece so that it fits all or most of the way back and closer to the wall. If I do this, I think I can actually fit all of my spice bottles in one spot! Wouldn’t that be nice? I am not sure when I will get to this, but hopefully when I sit down and actually figure it out, it won’t be too much work and I can get on it right away. We’ll see.
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I thought I was so smart when I thought of re-using the wire hooks to help keep the wheels in line and prevent them from rotating.
If you look carefully you can see all of the holes demonstrating how many times I moved these stinking wheels. Ugh!
I love the industrial look of the metal strapping.
Here is the look when slid in its spot beside the fridge.
The Challenges:
For such a simple project, I have to say that I have been a bit frustrated. The rebuild was quite easy and everything came together quite nicely, but I am still not completely happy with the wheels and its mobility. I have mounted the wheels in several different places, trying to find a placement that provides enough stability and allows the cabinet to move easily in and out of the narrow channel between the fridge and the stove. I have run into issues with both:
Stability – the cabinet is quite tall and narrow, so even without wheels, stability is an issue.
Wheel Mobility – this has been impacted by two variables:
one being that the wheels tend to spin when you slide/turn the unit and it seems like they need to remain lined-up nicely in order to work properly.
the second issue is the baseboard and quarter-round on the wall. I suspected this might be an issue all along and am pretty certain that removing it will solve most of my challenges. My husband said “No.” Every once in a while he doesn’t quite buy into my plans and removing the quarter-round seems to be something he takes issue with. Oh well, I am on spring break this week (YAY!!) and he isn’t, so we’ll see what happens when he goes to work. This may sound a bit cheeky, but I know from experience that he usually agrees with me when all is said and done. For now I have left it as is, but at the very least I will be removing it to see if it makes a difference to the mobility.
The Next Steps:
As far as the stability goes, it really isn’t that much of an issue, but I had planned on adding some extra hooks in the very narrow space behind the pull-out rack. In most instances, you would only be pulling the rack partially out to get what you need and the fridge and wall would provide plenty of support for it to stand. However, if I want to add the extra hooks behind the cabinet, I would need to pull it out completely in order to gain access to the items behind. I was thinking of storing my cooling racks behind there because they are light weight for hooks and are too bulky for my cupboards. The downside of this is that I use them quite often, so I might be better placing items that are rarely used behind there. I am really not sure how this will all work out, but for now, I am waiting for a few touch-ups to dry and will then be ready for the final steps.
Cleaning and reorganizing my current cupboards in order to use my new storage rack in the most effective way possible.
Chalkboard art – I am really not sure what I am going to do yet, but I wanted to try some kind of chalk board art on the vertical face of the cabinet.
I’ll keep you posted.
PS If you are interested in checking out the previous posts on this project, here are the links for the first and second post.
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