52 week challenge - week 2 - advice needed

Hiya!

So, this week's task for the 52 week home organization challenge is organizing kitchen cupboards and drawers.  something i need to do BADLY. 

My kitchen has so much storage, but it is all laid out in such a bizarre way that it is hard to figure out how best to utilize it.  my friend Liby put it perfectly "I think a crackhead designed your kitchen. it makes no sense." heh.


I am hoping for some advice/ideas on this cupboard in particular:

See? lots of cupboards and drawers...

This is the problem one

Can you tell how far back it goes?  it probably goes back a good 3 feet to the wall, and is about 2 feet deep going straight through the door (if that made sense)

My question for you is "what the heck am i supposed to do with this thing?"  I think i'm going to try to see if i can get the stuff i actually use in different cupboards so i can stick the stuff i don't in here and forget about it, but it is such a shame to let it go to waste because it is so big.


pinterest was no help at all, surprisingly.


any tips/links/advice for me?

52 week challenge-week1-after

Phew!
oh man that was way more work than i really thought it would be!

So, i ran to the gym for about 35 minutes, then swung by the dollar store on my way home to pick up some supplies, and got to work! (didn't shower, or eat, or anything...i'm regretting that decision now that i'm done and have 30 minutes until i have to go pick up the lovely miss ang from work...hmm...)

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okey dokey, here you go...hopefully you saw the disastrous "before" pictures i posted earlier today...here are the "after" pictures :) 

I made these super cool canning jar soap dispensers last night...ended up replacing the pumps with these metallic ones. love love LOVE them!

our recycling got put into a milk crate to keep it condensed, and to keep the cat from knocking it over. i organized the drawers of the island, and ended up collapsing one side so it takes up less space.

This is quite a bit better, but i still hate these darn shelves...canning jars can only fix so much!

Much less clutter. i moved our cookie jar to cover up the ugly phone jack in the wall.

i think this took the longest. i took an old empty frame i had that just so happened to be the right size, made wine cork corkboard on either side, and put a carpet sample we had in the middle...used bottlecaps i have been saving up to cover up the edges of the carpet sample.  then i used contact paper from the dollar store to cover up boxes that i stuck to the corks with push-pins to sort out calculators, business cards and the like...phone chargers are thumbtacked to the board in contact paper covered tp rolls, and i hung a jar for pens.  trinkets and notepads are stuck to the carpet sample using christmas ornament hooks.  there is just as much stuff on this counter now as there was before, it is just up on the organizer now :) hopefully ang likes it...oh, and the clips holding paperwork on the left side are cut off the ends of a broken plastic jeans hanger :) the oly thing i had to pay for was the contact paper! everything else i had on-hand already!

close up of ang's counter :)

a temporary solution to the apron problem...a wreath hanger over the laundryroom door

i even made a divider to organize my caning lids by size (it was drivin me nuts!)

moved the insane amount of junk on the fridge to the side, and downsized it quite a bit to the important things.  also cleared off the top of the fridge except for my canning tools.  moved our bottle collection to the top of the cupboard so we can still see them without having to deal with them being in our way :)  ooh ooh and i also finally trashed my dead christmas lily, and put the pineapple that our roommate sprouted for me in the pot (see it on the counter by the fruit bowls? his name is gary :)  oh and the egg carton between the fridge and the counter is there to keep the cat from getting her fat head stuck in there.  because she has. no joke.)

i really wish i could figure out how to hide all the stuff i store on top of the cupboards...

this weird shelf will get conquered another day. it has become a catch-all because it is the only shelf tall enough to stand up my bottles of oil and vinegar.

have i mentioned how much i love this stand i made?  it is a glass platter and upside down ice cream sundae glass from the dollar store that i attached to eachother with superglue!  with a nice little half pint jar on it to put jewelry in while i do dishes, and my new favorite soap dispensers! :)

it looks so much better! i even found some stainless steel polish under the sink that i used to shine it up...i just need to find something to hang in that weird spot on the wall above it, and cover up those ugly holes.

this counter is so much better. i moved my green onions to a new container, and stuck them over here as well...

oooooh, aaaaaah!

i ended up downsizing to a smaller trash can. it is worth it because it means it will fit under the sink. no more waking up every morning to the cat tipping over the garbage! yay!  i tried to fit a crate under the sink to hold the cleaning supplies, but it wouldn't fit, so i'll have to figure out something else.

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impressed? i am! :)  i'll conquer the cabinets next week as per the challenge(yikes!), but for now you'll have to excuse me. i need to peel myself off the couch and hop in the shower.

have a wonderful evening!

52 week challenge-week1-before

okey dokey....lets do this!

So, my super awesome cousin, Angela Z. over at the Zuroevestes told me yesterday about the 52 week home organization challenge she is doing via this blog.  I actually made a resolution this year to be less of a slob, so i figured this was the thing for me! unfortunately, i joined with one day left in  the first week, which means i have a lot of catching up to do in one day!

The first Week's challenge is to organize your kitchen, so have a bunch of "before" pictures of the chaos.
I'll post my "after pictures" when i'm all done tonight!

(brace yourselves...this is a little nuts!)

I need to get things up and off this counter.

i really need a hook for my aprons

we're not alcoholics...you just have to drive your glass to a center if you want to recycle it, so we hoard it for a while :)

the only thing i like so far in the kitchen is my new spice rack we assembled last weekend :)

Bulk cereal in ugly buckets and wayyyyyy too many of my doodles on the fridge!

ugh. the pipes and garbage disposal under here make organization difficult. ignore the dishes :)

super exciting bucket close-up!

more clutter

and even more clutter!

the "pantry" may be a task for another day

Such weird shelves...hard to find anything useful to do with them

I love this floating island thing (came with the house) but i need to better utilize it.

ok...so, this is bad...like "i haven't cleaned yet this weekend" bad.

clearly my number one problem is clutter. we have a lot of counter space, and a lot of stuff on said counters.  my main focus today is going to be getting things up and off the counters, and then finding a way to better utilize cupboard space.  we have a lot of cupboards, but unfortunately, several of them don't have shelves which makes things difficult.

i'm going to drive ang to work, put in a half hour at the gym, and get to work.  Wish me luck!

Calling all knitters! Calling all Crocheters!

Hiya! two posts in a few days...i certainly am spoiling you! ;)


I just found out about a fantastic thing for knitters and crocheters called the
Love Scarf Project

If you are a knitter, or can crochet, and your "chrismas project blisters" have healed, you should join me in whipping up a pretty scarf or hat for this wonderful project. 

in fact, if you live in Boise and get your finished project to me by february 1st, I'll even ship it with mine, and you won't have to pay a thing!

see? now you don't have an excuse :)

go check out the scarf guidelines, or the hat guidelines, and leave a comment here or shoot me an email if you are interested in contributing!

Resolutions!

Hiya! miss me?

ahem...again i'd like to apologize for the lack of posts lately...i seem to do this every year around christmas...i think it is the whole "so much work done on projects i don't want to write about them" thing...One of my resolutions is to be better about blogging :)

i don't particularly feel like indepth explanations, and i'm drinking a glass of wine as i type this, so my motivation is just going to go downhill from here...so have a ridiculous amount of pictures with a minimal amount of words! yay!

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Baby Adelaide loves her presents :)

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Brooke's were a hit, too...raisin clearly approved hahaha


the forms for these bangles were slices out of a pringles can! genius, no?


i'm particularly fond of this fox...the blanket stitching around the edges took forever.

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i made Ang a new pair of jammies...


...and there was enough fabric left to make raisin a matching jacket hahaha ang flipped out :) i'll get a good picture of the two of them together when i get a chance :)

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for our unborn baby nephew :)

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my mom, dad, and brother all got emergency kits for their vehicles...this one in particular was for my dad. i didn't snap pictures of the others.
(you can barely read it, but there is writing stenciled on the flap above the patch that says "emergency kit")



it holds a surprising amount of stuff...


it holds a surprising amount of stuff...

dad's contained a compass/thermometer keychain (attached to the handle), pistachios (his favorite snack), a water bottle and instant cofee, extra socks, a thermal blanket, electrical and medical tape, a flashlight with extra batteries, a box-knife with extra blades, a pocket knife with screwdrivers, bungie cords, a tire pressure gauge, hand warmers, and a little first-aid kit i made. :)

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i also upholstered a chair for myself...which raisin has since claimed as her own


raisin got her own doctor who costume :)


we had a fantastic ugly sweater christmas party...


...for which i made a sacrelicious "geektivity" scene with bat-mary and bat-joseph, darth-baby jesus, 3 ewok wisemen, and a gummibear shephard with a flock of sheep including an owl, a dinosaur, an oversized bird, and a brobee :)


(even raisin got into the spirit!)


And we found some fantastic hats with ladies on them for a quarter apiece
at a thrift store on New Years Eve :)
(for the record, i realize that i look like i had too much fun in this picture...we actually stayed in, i'm in my PJs, and i fell asleep on the couch at 11...Ang had to wake me up to take this picture haha hence the dazed look in my eyes)


I hope that you had a wonderful holiday season, whatever holiday you happen to celebrate, and that everyone had a nice safe new year!

did santa bring you everything you wanted? :)