Shop Your Shelves

Months ago, Valine gave me a small begonia when I came to visit.  I have managed to keep it alive on my kitchen windowsill, which is the only room in the house that lets in enough light to grow plants.  I has been getting quite long and dangly, and was still in the original plastic wrapped pot.  In addition, I picked up a several small herb plants at Wal Mart the other day and wanted to keep some of them indoors. Time to spruce things up!  

I have been in a purge and donate regime at the house, so I really didn't want to purchase new pots, but I did look while at Wal Mart and Joann's. Since I didn't find anything that I really liked, I came home and decided to shop my shelves. I'd almost forgotten about the small terrarium I purchased several years ago at Round Top. It was tucked away in one of the bedrooms with fake plants inside, but not being used in a very effective way, so it was time to bring it out again. I've never had much luck growing my herbs indoors, so I thought I would see if being in a terrarium might help. Terrariums capture the moisture and act like a mini greenhouse, so it was worth a try. 

The next challenge was finding something to pot the herbs in. Clean tin cans to the rescue! I poked holes in the bottom of the cans for drainage and transferred the plants into the cans. 

Using ordinary scotch tape to secure it, I wrapped a piece of burlap around each one. 

I was afraid that I might mix up which was oregano and which was thyme, (which isn't a big deal if you aren't actually going to use them for cooking), but becomes important when using them in a recipe. I wrapped a strip of chalkboard tape around and wrote the herb on it. (I've had the tape in my scrapbook stash for a while). 

Next up was the begonia. 

While shopping my shelves, I noticed an old teapot that had once belonged to my mother and my grandmother before that. 

The handle had been broken in several places and glued back together and the top was missing, but I always liked it nonetheless.  While there are no drainage holes, I'm hoping that the spout will provide a little bit of drainage and keep things from getting too moist.

I re-potted the plant and then gathered a few other things onto a metal tray and set them on the butcher block cart. 

Putting things onto the tray will make it easy to move if I need to use the top for cooking or baking preparation. 

Back in the late fall, all of my herbs suddenly died all at once. I had huge rosemary, thyme and oregano plants which were all well-established, as well as a potted Satsuma tree on a small patio by my storage building and one morning I discovered them all dead as can be. It was so weird, but I think that it coincided with the day my yard was sprayed with weed killer, and I think some of it must have been accidentally sprayed onto the herb patio. So, as soon as it warms up again (which I'm sure won't be long), I will plant the rest of the herbs outdoors. But, these will stay on my windowsill, with hopes of happy growing and cutting.

A Quick DIY

Like most of the Pinterest world, it seems, I love the chalkboard style.  I have a chalkboard on my front porch where I enjoy posting seasonal quotes and artwork.

While I have several small chalkboards I use in my home decor as well I would love to be brave enough to have a chalkboard wall or cabinet face like these:

(source: Almost Makes Perfect)

 (unknown source)

(source: Junk Chick Cottage)

But, I am also a little bit leery of having chalk dust all over the kitchen. Instead, I opted to create a quick little chalkboard on the inside of one my cupboard doors.  Big enough to write some stuff in a handy location, but can be hidden by closing the door. How's that for commitment?

Since I was too lazy to walk out to the storage building to find painter's tape, I used a piece of the pretty washi tape that Jana gave me to create a straight edge at the top.

Armed with popcorn and some Zipfizz, I gave the surface 3 coats of paint, then pulled off the tape.

I prepped the surface by covering it with chalk and then wiping it off.

Just for fun, I drew a fun little arrow border with a white chalk pen--chalk pens are more permanent, so I won't be erasing that. (You can see here that a bit of the paint peeled off with the tape, so I had to touch that up)

Now it's ready to keep up with shopping needs or recipes or even a fun message.

Knowing that the paint peeled off really easily with the tape makes me wonder if it is going to stick on the rest of the surface.  The cabinets were originally painted with oil-based paint and the chalkboard paint is acrylic.  But, that's the nice part about being a somewhat small surface inside a cabinet---it is not big deal if it doesn't last and in the meantime, I'll have fun with it!

Coffee and Drink Station

It's January, and I, like many people, are in organization mode.  I started small yesterday, with the medicine cabinet in our kitchen.  It is very narrow space and has been perfect for this purpose, but goodness, it had become a mess.  I took every single thing out of the cabinet, purged the things that were no longer useful and put the remaining items back in a more organized manner--cold medicines in one basket, analgesics in another and vitamins on the bottom shelf.  I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that I had 3 bags of calcium chews hidden in this tiny cabinet that had never even been opened! The baskets are probably not the most idea for this space, but they are fairly functional, so no need to replace them unless I find something better.  Trying to decide if I should add labels to the baskets--I know where everything is, but no matter how many times I show him, Ron will inevitably ask me where the cold medicines are.  ;-)

Today, I tackled the small table in my kitchen. I've had this table for years and the girls spent many of their mornings eating their breakfast here when they were growing up.  However, since they have been grown and gone, it really has been more of a catch-all space than anything else.  I attempted to make it my desk to work on my dad's estate business, but it just didn't work well and just accumulated piles of papers. Sorry, I forgot to take pictures of the before, but trust me--it was not pretty!

This morning, while babyD2 napped, I cleared everything off and turned into a drink station.  I've had most of these things on my butcher block cart, but the cord from the coffee pot had to be plugged in on the counter and it really did pose a hazard when I tried to move the cart in any direction.  Since there is an outlet under the table, this really is the perfect spot for the coffee pot.  I also wanted to include a setup for hot chocolate for these cooler days.

In the little drawer, I will keep spoons for stirring and some napkins.

I think I would eventually like to add some hooks for cups on that wall by the coffee maker. Maybe something like this?

(unknown source)

In the next couple of years, we plan to remove the wallpaper in this room and go with painted walls, and all of the cabinets need to be repainted, as well, so at this point, I am trying to work with what I've got. However, I've been brainstorming ideas for the future of this little nook.  Since we don't really need a table here anymore, I would like to have some sort of cabinet that provides more storage.

Here are few inspiration photos for what I might be looking for:
I love this little table with the drawers and baskets--I would need something wider, though.

(source: In Pursuit)

Here is another one that uses baskets for storage:

(unknown source)

I like the space for pet bowls that is recessed under this cabinet. Emmi's bowl is currently kept in front of this table, so even a drawer to hide it would be an improvement.

(source:  HGTV)

Do you have any ideas for this space?  Let me know if you run across anything that I should consider.

Here's a quick little project I did a couple of weeks ago.  I've been wanting to find some sort of new dispenser for my dishwashing soap.  A good while ago, a friend gave me a really pretty hand-painted bottle that I have been using.  (please ignore how dirty my sink is in the picture below!!)

But if you look closer, you'll see that it gets really yucky around the top.

When I was cleaning out some cabinets, I found a brand new mason jar I'd hidden away and a pump that I'd saved from a bottle of lotion, or soap or something a long time ago.

I begged Ron to drill a hole for me.

Put the pump in and used a bit of hot-glue to hold it in place.

Voila'!  A new soap dispenser that doesn't get all gunked up (not sure if that's a word or not, but . . . )

I might try to paint the brass top at some point, but for now, I'm enjoying it as is.

Organization

For many people, a new year is often accompanied with a desire to organize--this will be the year, I get my files in order, clean out the closets, etc., etc., etc. For me, this took the form of organizing my kitchen. It's no secret that I don't especially enjoy cooking. I CAN cook, but in most cases, I would much rather be sitting at my sewing machine, or creating a new scrapbook or even taking photos. That's where my creativity lies---not in recipes.

But, with my new oven and much nicer cookware, I'm finding it a bit more fun than in the past, as long as it doesn't take up too much of my time. Hence the kitchen organization. My lower cabinets are pretty full. Not horribly disorganized---I really do know where everything is. But, in order to get to some items, I have to completely remove the contents of that shelf. And the bottom shelf---well, I might as well stand on my head to get to most of those things.

From Mommy's Treasures

Just before Christmas I installed a new chrome sliding shelf for my cookware and I love it!! But, it was pretty pricey and the single ones they had in stock locally weren't the right measurements for my other cabinets. I began searching online for something similar and found Roll-Out Kitchen Drawers. After some research and measurements, I decided to order them----not only are they affordable, but the shipping is free.

Today, I installed them. Talk about easy! All you do is align the drawer base and screw it in place with 4 screws. In about 2 hours, I had cleaned out my cabinets, installed the drawers and replaced everything.

From Mommy's Treasures

I even filled up one of the boxes with items to take to Goodwill (I think it is safe to assume that I will NEVER use a hand-crank apple peeler!).

From Mommy's Treasures

I still have some scrubbing to do, shelf paper to repair and paint touch-ups (someday), but in the meantime, anything I can do to streamline the cooking process is a welcome change for me!

From Mommy's Treasures