A Bakin' Station

Since my spring cleaning kick started early this year, I was a little worried that by now I'd be burnt out on organizing. Lucky for me and my apartment, that is so not the case! Bizarrely, though I know we'll be moving in just 3 months, I have been digging into the little forgotten corners of our place. One such corner is the skinny little cabinet to the left of our stove, which was home to my baking supplies and a few cooking prep items.

Before, things were a little messy. My sprinkles, silicone cupcake liners, & cupcake decorations were up top, so whenever I went to grab them, things would inevitably topple out and make a mess. They also weren't really filling the shelf, so I felt I was wasting space. The second shelf was crowded with ingredients and baking tools, including the sifter front and center, which I don't use too much so I was constantly shifting it out of the way to get to what I needed. The bottom was a mish mash of baking stuff and cooking prep items (my breading trays and awesome chopper).

On my first go-round of organizing the cabinet, I decided to move the food prep tools up to the top since they're less-often used and easier to grab from the top than the cupcake stuff. I also added my grater and Brita filters which had previously been crowding another drawer. Then I grouped my cupcake items and KitchenAid mixer attachments on the second shelf. The attachments were also in another drawer and it just made more sense to relocate them here, since the mixer itself is right below this cabinet. I grouped all the baking ingredients on the last shelf.

It was better, but still not the best. I knew that moving the KitchenAid attachments around in order to get to the other stuff on that shelf would bug me, and all the loose spices on the bottom shelf seemed like a bad idea.

Enter two dollar spot containers I picked up at Target a few months ago. I couldn't resist their fun pattern and color even though I didn't have an exact purpose for them in mind. Before this organization project, they'd been chilling in my craft closet awaiting their destiny. So I grabbed them and two Martha Stewart bookplates I had on hand.

Muuuuch better. I also decided that the door was a little lacking, so I relocated my little DIY bulletin board there and added a few baking printables from Martha: one on candymaking, one on pan equivalents, and one on measurement equivalents.

I probably won't make candy any time soon, hence why that printable is up the highest. I laminated them all because let's face it, I'm not very clean when I'm cooking, and you can bet that those babies would end up smudged with chocolate or something.

Oh, and I already had both of the glass jars I used to store my baking soda & powder in on hand--you might recognize the green-lidded one from here. I used labels leftover from my spice organization to mark those jars.

How about a before:

And any after?:

I love how just a little bit of easy reorganizing and decorating can make a small space cheerful and more functional! :)

Fab Finds Friday: February Pickin's

Wowza. Hard to believe that next Friday marks the start of a new month. March? What?! Seeing as this is the last Friday in February to be had, I thought a Fab Finds Friday was in order.

As you can see from the tags, these two bottles were $6.50 total: the old rubbing alcohol bottle for $3.50, and the plain medicine bottle for $3. I discovered them in a previously unknown "antiques" section of a local thrift store, along with these three mercury glass ornaments which the owner generously gave me for free!

At the same store, I also found this cute little "Bake King" loaf pan for $3.50.

And I couldn't resist a blue mason jar for just $5.

This large flour tin was also $5--loving the bramble-ish pattern!

I know that Christmas is over, but I keep hitting the vintage ornament jackpot, as evidenced by these two boxes of red Shiny Brites! The boxes alone are so cute--just check out those graphics! (Edit: Oops, forgot to share the price of these the first time! They were $4.50 per box!)

I got this little wooden well thing for $1.49. I think it'd be so cute at an engagement party or wedding with a sign that says"Well-Wishes for the Happy Couple" or something to that effect. One of my best friends is getting married this summer, so maybe I'll get to use it then :)

I picked up two bright orange pieces you might've noticed in my vintage displays shared earlier this week: an Isaac Mizrahi plate for $0.99 (which I added to my shelf on my happy wall):

And a little Gemco juicer for $0.69. I couldn't resist the orange design on there:

This trio of squat shot glasses was too cool to pass up at $0.69 apiece. I am so dorky, but the crests on them kind of reminded me of Harry Potter. So of course I had to have them!

Last up, I snatched this pair of wooden votive holders for $0.99 each. I like the sort of tree pattern they have going on. They had a new home in the living room that I'll share soon!

Here's hoping March continues the bountiful thrift trend and also brings awesome garage & estate sales with it! 

I'm linking to A Living Space's Nifty Thrifty and Sir Thrift A Lot's Thriftasaurus! 

New Vintage Displays

Since I've been hitting gold so much during my recent thrifting adventures, it was time to remix some of my vintage vignettes. I was really inspired to do so after I picked up two sunny yellow Pyrex pieces at Goodwill--a 1.5 quart #402 for $2.99:

And a 1 1/2 quart lemon carafe for $1.99.

 I loved these sunshiney finds, but didn't necessarily have a good spot to display them. So it was time to pull out all my Pyrex and rearrange things. 

As evidenced by my blog, I love the combination of yellow and blue, so I decided to pair my new bowl and other yellow pieces with my aqua butterprint collection and robin's egg blue "Eyes" bowl.

They're all perched above our island in our kind of odd space created by our vaulted ceilings.

This vignette really ties in well with my happy wall. And look, you can even see the lemon pitcher peeking from the top of cabinet next to the sink.

Here's a better shot of that cabinet vignette. I bought the cake stands 2 years ago from Bed, Bath, & Beyond (clearanced at $14.99, woot!) The orange pitcher was an antique store find for $5 from last summer, and a vintage aqua nut chopper that was my grandma's.

On the other side of the island shelf I arranged my milk glass and my horizon blue bowl set. I still have my pinwheel bouquets from last year's baby shower, so I displayed those for a little more color.

Waaaaay back in August during my long blogging hiatus, I saw a neighbor dragging something to our apartment complex dumpster. It was a rickety wooden corner shelf. After she went back in (and after I did a little looking around to make sure that no one was watching) I promptly pulled it out of the dumpster and brought it inside. After some cleaning and fixer-uppering, the shelf was sturdy enough to be propped in our dining room corner.

Now it holds a plethora of vintage goodies--tins, bakeware, utensils, Pyrex, and more!

My cookbook shelf also has a few pieces of Pyrex on it, including a $1.99 Golden Honeysuckle casserole with a cool wooden cradle.

I think my Snowflake Blue loaf pan looks great nestled in there.

And my Dandelion piece looks cute with a light blue frame on top.

The shelf next to our dishwasher used to host more of my Pyrex, but since I changed things up just the top two tiers do.

The bottom three shelves store our cake stand & dome, dutch oven, and cat plates/treats.

Lastly, I grouped my green & brown pieces atop our cabinets. Most of these items were thrifted for no more than $4.99! I kind of dig this color combination, even though the bright pieces are still my favorite!

Stay tuned for even more decor tweaks I'll be sharing--there's been some redecorating around these parts, and almost every project I've completed has had a ripple effect on other spaces! Can't wait to share! Til then, spill--how do you display your vintage finds or your collections?

Will You Be My Valentwine?

I love a good holiday vignette, so I popped a few Valentine's Day decorations in our place this year.

As a wreath lover, I couldn't pass up a heart wreath form for $1.99 from Goodwill. I wrapped it with twine and created some "LOVE" bunting with scrapbook paper and glittery chipboard letters. One white satin ribbon to hang it, and boom! A V-Day sight greets our guests at the door.

Since our apartment doesn't have a fireplace (ha, I wish!), our entry bookcase has to function as a mantel. Thus, I like to swap out the art for seasonal prints. All of it was found online and printed at Costco, except the LOVE canvas, which was on clearance at Target last year.

I decked the top of the shelf with a ton of thrifted goodies that I already owned: a blue mason jar ($5), bird ($0.99), a collection of red books, and a white birdcage with an old Valentine's card inside ($4.99). The globe was from Ross a while back.

The bottom two shelves also featured vignettes of items I already owned: our dictionary page backed monogram, a Target dollar spot plate (bought last year) which is propped up on a heart-shaped bookend, and a cute white bird from Ross.

I also framed a free "Keep Calm & Love On" print and propped it up next to some photos and a glittery "Love" block (another dollar spot score.)

I also strung up a little chevron love banner by our dining room memo station.

The kitchen also got a spot of V-Day love in the form of these towels (compliments of Gabriella in last year's Valentine's Day swap):

And this art:

Anyone else out there decorating a bit for V-Day?