Organization Bonanza

Around our house, Brent does the lion's share of the grocery shopping and the cooking. It's definitely the part I least like about motherhood and he actually enjoys the challenge of finding the best bargains and isn't as bothered as I am when the kids complain about their meals. It stands to reason then that the kitchen was largely organized in a way that made sense to Brent, not to me. I still cook, and I definitely do most of the baking but I was hitting a breaking point with the way the cupboards looked. Aside from struggling to find basics (where is the baking powder again?), everything just looked cluttered and it was driving me crazy. 

We had a meeting of the minds and finally came to an agreement about how to most optimally use the space in the cupboards. We pulled everything out, I used a Magic Eraser sponge to clean and disinfect everything, cut new shelf paper and then Brent helped me rearrange things. The kitchen make so much sense now! I couldn't be happier and so of course I'm going to blog about it. Here we go:

This is a tiny cupboard over the doorway to the dining room (which is currently being used as a playroom). We used to have the odd baking supplies in here and decided to move things we really only use a couple times a year: bread pans, popsicle molds, ramekins, pie dish, cupcake and trifle stands, etc. 

Top: Before

Bottom: After

This corner cupboard alone was enough to make me want to tear everything out and start over. Even though it has prime placement in the kitchen, there were a lot of things we hardly ever use taking up space. Mostly china that we bring out just for Christmas. Furthermore, the cooking supplies were shoved to the side and don't even get me started on storing a pitcher sideways! I hated this cupboard but thanks to a couple of lazy susan's, it now functions beautifully. When I purchased them, the saleslady pointed out the middle was just the right size for a roll of paper towels. It occurred to me that they would be perfect for a pitcher as well!

Before: Left  After: Right

The cupboard right next to the stove and oven was packed with cooking utensils which seemed to make sense at the time but a couple of shelves were full of things we hardly ever use. Those had already been moved and after a lot of discussion, we decided to move the spices to this cupboard. Previously they were taking up space in a huge cupboard so we moved them here. We do have a lot of spices compared to the average household, but not enough to take up a huge cupboard. 

Before: Left   After: Right

This cupboard is on the other side of the stove and oven and is right above the toaster and cutting board. This was stuffed with baking supplies, tea and hot chocolate. It just didn't make sense. I think the best decision we made here was to move the bread. It's right next to the toaster and makes life so much easier! This cupboard was just choked and I couldn't find anything in here.

Before: Left   After: Right

The last cupboard we tackled was the biggest one- between the stove and the sink. It was pretty much just filled with spices and there was a lot of wasted space on the very top. We decided to move tea and hot chocolate which ended up being the smart move because it's one smooth motion grabbing a mug, filling it with water and then getting the tea/hot chocolate out of here. I love it. As previously mentioned, we moved the spices closer to the stove which also made a lot more sense. When cooking, you really want those things at your fingertips. Aside from all the baking supplies, we also had enough room for the girls water bottles and snacks. Again, this made so much sense because they need to fill them up in the sink and then run out the door. Moving those things here made it a one and done. No more rifling through the pantry. 

Before: 

After:

Supplies in the kid desk were driving me crazy as well. Every year the school sends their list of supplies and at the end of every year, the girls bring home whatever they haven't used. Then the next year there is a new list and at the end of that year, more leftovers and well, times four girls ends up being a lot of crayons, colored pencils and markers. I pulled out the drawers, bought  lots of containers and another lazy Susan to divide everything up and enlisted the girls to help me organize them by color.

I don't think the picture really does it justice- we have so many coloring supplies!

Remote learning just isn't going anywhere so we decided to invest in proper desks for Brigitta and Ireland. I'd had my eye on one that was girly but substantial and when they went on sale, we pulled the trigger. 

Good thing too, because just a couple of days later they were back at full price. Eventually we are going to get a matching mirror for Brigitta and then there will be a reflecting image here. I can't wait!

Here's the girls reaction to their new desks!

The mud room closet definitely needed an overhaul and in my organization frenzy I figured, why not? How long could this take? It was an absolute mess and to make it worse, different length shelves were overlapping so it was hard to really have an effective system in there. It was dirty and depressing.

As long as I was painting the inside of the closet, I decided to go ahead and paint the upper portion of the mud room. It seems the previous owners really love this sickly beige color because I've painted over it in numerous places and I was happy to see it go here. 

Before:

After: much brighter, and happier!

There was an odd board screwed into the wall on the left side of the closet and when I took it down this is what I found. Good thing I had plenty of putty to fill on all those holes!

Who would do that?

I feel strongly that any closet or cupboard should be pure white. It's the brightest and easiest way to see an item the way it truly is, not colored by the shade of light around it. 

Before:

After:

The shelves ended up being quite the project within the project. Brent and I debated quite a while about the shelf depth and length. To have the shelves span the entire closet was actually extremely expensive because we had to get them cut to fit. It was starting to make sense why the previous owners had all those overlapping shelves. Finally we came to an agreement that only the very top shelves needed to fit perfectly, the rest of them could leave a space on the left side where we could hang brooms, mops, etc. 

Initially I screwed the shelved into the studs as was done previously. However, there was a section right in the middle where the stud finder would just beep at me and the drill would bounce right back. Whatever is behind that section was going to prevent a traditional installation. I decided to have the shelving hang from a top bar and then screwed in where there were studs. For the section with no studs, the shelving could just hang from the top bar and still support the shelves. It basically meant taking out everything I had installed and that was a little demoralizing. However, I wanted this sucker to last so even though it was a setback, I set to work. The shelves no longer sagged in the middle and finally we were in business!

Well, mostly. Then there was the issue of the baseboards. Again, I don't know exactly what happened, but what was there was very poorly installed. There was a huge amount of kitty litter popping out behind one section and there was another section where it didn't even come close to properly meeting. Before painting, I ripped it all out and threw it away. We'd have to start fresh. My dad generously offered to bring his chop saw and nail gun. In the space of an afternoon he showed me the ins and outs of installing baseboards and with my Mom for moral support, the baseboards inside the closet were looking better than the baseboards in the rest of the mudroom. I caulked and painted those bad boys and we were ready to put everything back. 

Well, mostly. I didn't just want to arbitrarily put things back, I wanted a system that would make sense going forward. I envisioned the mud room being like a mini-mart, with all of our household back stock (yes I've binged The Home Edit on Netflix). I dropped a pretty penny at The Container Store (again) and really, really, we were in business. This project had dragged on a couple weeks longer than I thought it would but when we had everything in its place, suddenly it became incredibly functional. It just made sense. Like it should have been this way all along.

Since I had leftover paint from the mud room closet, I figured I might as well use it on the inside of the hall closet- again, I firmly believe the inside of every closet and cupboard should be pure white! Usually my energy is long gone after 5 PM but I blasted some 80's and 90's music through Alexa and knocked this one out. It's a small space, but it made a HUGE difference!

Liesel's door was sticking every time she tried to shut it so I pulled out the sander and we worked together to get that fitting better. I'm a big believer in girls learning to use some power tools!

Finally, in our closet there was a really sad cardboard shoe divider. It was collapsing and dirty and I wanted to just install shelves. I tried to just grab some from Home Depot but they were too short. After some investigation, I found the shelving supplies were sold at Lowes and I was able to order some lovely, white shelves that perfectly fit. 

Man, before writing this post I knew I'd been on an organizing bonanza but I guess writing it all down helps me to see that I did A LOT! There were so many spaces in the house that weren't working well and I'm so very glad I put in the time and money because it makes such a difference!