"Works for Me Wednesday" - Organizing

Organizing: My Kitchen Pantry

I recently got fed up with my plastic food storage cabinet and my free-standing pantries. We couldn't see what we had, and there was never enough room for what we wanted to put in there. I took two days to take everything out of all three cabinets, lay it out on the kitchen table, re-organize it by category, and then put it back in and labeled the shelves with my Dymo.

The countertop-sized appliances (panini maker, George Foreman grill, Henrietta Hen, etc.) went on the shelves in the cabinet under the microwave, where the plastic food storage had been. The appliances are all large enough to be visible without having to move stuff around, and the cabinet isn't the easiest to look into at a glance — a perfect match.

The plastic food storage got weeded out (hallelujah). Identical stackable pieces got stacked together with all their nesting lids on top. Everything else got its lid put on top of it (to save matching time later) and stacked according to shape/size. Most-used medium-size containers got put on a lower shelf in the pantry, while large ones got stacked on top of the tall pantry (tiny ones got thrown into a basket on top of the pantry).

The categories that needed to be visible (canned goods, sweet snacks, savory snacks, crackers) because we keep forgetting what we have and buying more (or letting them go stale) got put on eye-level shelves. The categories that aren't used often or don't need to be visible because we always know they're there (breakfast, baking, chips, etc.) got put on high or low shelves.

All candy/tiny snacks got sorted into the plastic-storage-I-wanted-to-keep-but-never-used-for-leftovers, so it could be stacked for efficiency and ease of browsing...and so all our candy doesn't end up smelling like mint (which, if you've ever stored all your Christmas candy in one jar or bag before, you know will happen). Even new bags of M&Ms get dumped into their own container. Ahh, order.

Every shelf got labeled so my new order can be maintained by grocery-put-awayers.

It feels great to have all that stuff finally purged and organized, but heck, any day you get to use a label maker is a good day! LOL



This post originally appeared on my family blog and is reprinted with permission.

How to Make-Over a Glass Lazy Susan, part 2

How to Make-Over a Glass Lazy Susan, part 2

1. Avoid additional painting for two days because you're paralyzed by the thought of "screwing up".
2. Conclude that the first 5.1 coats weren't opaque enough to cover the fruit from every angle (especially when light shines behind it...which it won't if it's set on the table, but...). Consider découpaging instead of painting more.
   
   
3. Ask husband's opinion (he votes "découpage"); get grapes from fridge for sustenance.
   
4. Research technique online and find the website for "The National Guild of Decoupeurs" (who knew?). Read through their FAQ, then head to Craftown.com instead.
5. Look through "Découpage-able" drawer (yes, it's labeled that way) for inspiration.
6. Find a great poem on an old wedding card, but no background materials.
   
   
7. Realize in a flash that you have three humongo storage tubs of gift wrap to plunder! Research "découpaging gift wrap" and find Durwin Rice's site. Get distracted there, then check out Mod Podge online.
   
8. Wonder if cellophane is découpage-able.
9. Settle on some lovely hydrangea-covered wrapping paper that you've been hoarding. The date on the paper says MCMXCIX. How ironic — it was probably on a wedding gift!
   
   
10. Unfold the paper and realize that it probably was not on a wedding gift. Sigh.
    
    

Okay, blogoshere — what should I do? Can I still use this paper, in patches? How can I do that without it looking weird? Should I find something else I can just cut the full circle out of? Should I try painting again, instead? Would thicker coats of paint be good? Aaaggghh!

Separate question: have you had any success in printing things on an inkjet (quotes from old wedding cards, for example) and then découpaging them onto something without the text smearing and bleeding? I could hand-paint the quote instead, but [shudder].

Last question: do you have any idea what kind of determination it takes to reach for the Function and Alt keys with your pinned-down hand just so you can type an accented character while NAK? :p LOL


This post originally appeared on my family blog and is reprinted with permission.

Roadkill Rescue ~ Glass Lazy Susan

Here is my before-and-after for the Roadkill Rescue party by infarrantly creative:




"Wait," you say, "that isn't even finished! How lame!"

Well, savvy reader, there are two important tidbits which must be considered at this point. First, I will replace the "after" picture with the real "after" when the project is actually finished. Second, the contest didn't stipulate that the project had to be in hands-off finished mode in order to qualify. So, just in case life happens (HA!) and I don't get to paint more on my lazy susan today, I will still have a before-and-after to submit for the contest. After all, the new silver lazy susan already fits our style better than the fruity one did. Thank you, fruity-lazy-susan-giver, for providing me with a project to do! What an AWESOME gift!!! (seriously, no joke)

What? You think I should post another set of before-and-after makeover pictures that still fits the contest rules, just in case? Okay!



Ha! Yes, this makeover (on myself) technically fits all the stipulated rules of the contest. And hey, it's what I do! While I don't get to refinish furniture or refab yard sale finds on a regular basis, I do get to exercise a little creativity in making-over damaged skin and poor color choices. And it helps other women in the process — what a joy!


This post originally appeared on my family blog and is reprinted with permission.