Monday, February 25, 2013

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! :)




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5 comments:

  1. I hope you'll lend an organizational hand to me in all my remodel & redecorate work ahead for June 2013 through May 2014! We have a lot to do to get ready for Shari and Grandma to come live with us!

    The Kenny's Tile folks are estimating the costs for the staircase remodel. Once that's complete (or during the process), I will paint the great room light grey, with a paler shade of grey above the trim (which will replace the wallpaper border). The fireplace mantle is going to be painted white to match the new stair trim.

    The bookcases in the loft need to be painted, and trimmed with crown molding. I'm planning on painting the walls a soft gold, and can't decide if I should paint the interior and shelves of the bookcases the same soft gold and the exterior trim white enamel to match the stairs and fireplace mantle, or all white, or all soft gold.

    Then, your old bedroom must be completely emptied - and Dad's nook, too - so we can paint both the loft and your old bedroom. Shari is choosing her wall paint for the bedroom. We are also thinking about pulling out the shower and enlarging it (the space between the shower door and the wall is wasted, we could make that whole space into a walk-in shower) and she also might want to change out the vanity and sink. It's up to her. After we get that done, we can have the wooden flooring installed.

    Next, we'll empty the master bedroom, repaint, pull the carpet, and get that wooden flooring installed. The bathroom remodel will have to wait a bit, unless we decide to just go for it - a big job and not cheap!

    Finally, we'll turn our efforts to the pink bedroom and get that repainted in a soft, creamy beige for Grandma (that's the color she likes). We'll need to relocate the furniture (except for the cedar chest) so we can bring in Grandma's bedroom furniture and so she'll have closet space.

    We do need to remodel the master bath before Grandma arrives - she'll need the walk-in shower and a bathtub she can sit in without climbing over the edge.

    Won't we have fun making all these decisions? I'm relying on you, Meg, and Shari for input. I'm looking forward to it!

    All that, plus whatever you and Ryan plan to do in the lower level apartment!

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  2. great job! It is inspiring me to organize forgotten corners.

    Smiles,
    Rachael
    The Joyful Thrifter

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  3. Love how organized you are! Also your persimmon Kitchenaid is fabulous!

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  4. You're so fabulous! We're moving this summer, so I'll really spend some time decorating and organizing our new place. You better believe I'll be looking to you for tips and inspiration :)

    And I'm still obsessed with your Kitchen Aid. I can't wait to register for one :)

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  5. Those bins were great Target find! I love the idea of a baking cabinet.

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