The Haven Conference & A Little Down Time

I'm not even going to try to explain where I've been since Easter but I will share where I've been the last few days (in case you were wondering).

For those of you who might not be familiar with the Haven Conference, it's a conference that is held in Atlanta, Georgia for roughly 350 bloggers (a lot of great DIY "stuff" but also very informative  about blogging, in general).

I missed the Haven Conference last year because I was a fairly new blogger and didn't find out about it until tickets were already sold out. This year I ordered my ticket early to guarantee a spot.

My Kitchen Panty Door & Why I Did It

Do you have a spot in your house where someone can see in at night time but you can't see out if your lights are on?

Does it give you that kind of creepy feeling all over?

Well, that's what I have at my front door.  But, if I open my pantry door at just the right angle, it blocks the view into my kitchen and keeping room where I typically hang out!  So, the pantry door stays open 99.9% of the time day and night!  Sounds a little crazy, I know, but hey, whatever works!

Creepy feeling at the front door resolved - but the old view of the pantry door was, although harmless, creepier!

When I was reorganizing my Kitchen back in April, I looked at that pantry door and knew I had to change it.



I remembered that I had picked up these small jars from Hobby Lobby about a year ago after Southern Living magazine featured them with a BBQ rub recipe.   And while my awesome sisters, Pege & Cheryl made rub and labels, I on the other hand did not.

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The jars are just too cute with the little wooden spoons attached and they work great for small spoonfuls!

I found these free labels and was able to download and customize them for what I needed.  I didn't want adhesive labels so I printed on white card stock, cut them out and then laminated them to protect from moisture.

I used foam board and white contact paper and made a base for each wire shelf so the jars don't move around when the door occasionally gets opened and closed.  For the top two shelves, I used larger glass jars for items like cocoa, baking Splenda, etc.

Now when I walk past this area of my kitchen, I just smile!  No more creepies - well at least not in my pantry!

Kitchen Makeover Challenge Reveal

Okay friends!  It's here - Reveal Day!

How busy was your April?  Mine was crazy busy tackling some areas from scratch and others that just needed some tweeking.  So, let's get started!

Several years ago I transferred all of my spices into these small jars that I found at Bed Bath & Beyond.  I write the expiration dates on a round sticker and place on the bottom of the jars to ensure freshness.


In a previous post here you may remember I added Fridge Coasters to my refrigerator which I am totally in love with.

I spilled red hummingbird food the other day and really put the coaster to the test.  It passed with flying colors!  No clean up and no sign of a spill!

This cabinet used to make me crazy.  I removed several items that I don't use very often and then added  a couple of cabinet shelf organizers for easier access to heavy glassware.

After our kids all moved out, I noticed that the pantry door wasn't swinging open and shut quiet as often, so I decided that since it was just the hubby and me using it, I could make it nice and pretty with baskets and chalkboard labels.

I liked the look, but I noticed that I was getting a huge overflow on the bottom and stuff in the baskets was lost and forgotten!! Surely I didn't need to stop buying....

So, I removed most of the baskets and added some Clear Better Homes & Gardens containers from Wal-Mart.  Between the clear containers and my new labels, it should be easier to see what I've got!

I also added some bamboo lazy susans to make bottle and canned items more visible as well.  I was surprised that the bamboo ones were the same price as the plastic ones.  They were also purchased at Wal-Mart.

The pantry door is probably my most favorite part of the entire kitchen makeover!  Silly, I know...sometimes it's just the little things!

Here's the Before & After

Ahhhh....
I will be doing a post on my pantry soon and fill you in on all the little details that brought it together!

So, that kind of sums up my kitchen makeover.  Now it's time to hear all about yours!  Please email me your pics  (before and afters) or just afters if you like.  I want to share your amazing work too!

Oh, I almost forgot,

May's Challenge:

HOME OFFICE SPACE

More to come on that too!

Have a great weekend,

Kim

linking up to tidy mom, A Bowlful of Lemons, Sugar Bee Crafts, Savvy Southern Style, Ginger Snap Crafts, diy dreamer

Label Searching on Pinterest

Pinterest is such a great place to find lots and lots of ideas for projects to do yourself.  They have recently changed the format with larger images, design changes and a web analytic tool that provides data to approved and verified websites that will let you know what your followers are like!!  If you aren't already following me on Pinterest, I would love for you to start following me now!

Over the past few days I've been working on my kitchen pantry and looking for the perfect labels for my new containers that I shared on Facebook yesterday.

How about these?

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Soooo many choices!!!!  Which one would you choose?

I think I know which one is my favorite!

Happy Organizing!

Kim

Kitchen Cabinet Storage

While organizing your kitchen this month, are you having any dilemmas as to how to reorganize some of your cabinets?

Just so you know, you aren’t alone.

Today, let’s break down the cabinet that houses Tupperware/Rubbermaid/Martha Stewart or any other type of plastic food storage containers.

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The first thing you will want to do is take everything out of the cabinet .

Remove any containers that don’t have matching lids!  For that matter, remove any lids that don’t have matching containers as well!

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Consider another area that these containers without lids may be used and move them to that area.

Remove any containers that have been melted and/or stained that you really don’t want to keep anymore.  You know the kind I’m talking about!  Go ahead, let them go!!

Take an inventory of the remaining containers and determine if you need to purchase new containers and if so, identify sizes.  Here are some options for replacement.

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Some people prefer to have the lids attached to the container while being stored.  If you have enough space available, that’s a great option.

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You may already know that my favorite containers are Martha Stewart’s collection, which I used here when this pantry was reorganized.  

For those of us, who don’t have plenty of storage space for our containers, the lids are better stored separately.

Here are some interesting items to keep these containers and lids in order.

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Now that our food storage containers dilemma is solved, what’s our next victim???

Happy Organizing!