Under the Sink

That title was meant to get this song stuck in your head, in case it wasn't clear :)

I'm back to share another organizing mission I recently embarked upon. We're fortunate enough to have a very spacious vanity for storage in our bathroom. However, because there was so much room, it became crazy disorganized and packed to the gills with stuff, which led to many issues: buying an unnecessary bottle of shampoo when I already had some stashed down there, or causing a cascade of deoderant when I reached in to grab something.

See Exhibit A:

And Exhibit B:

And a full-on shot of the chaos:

Yikes. I had clearly tried to implement some organizing, but the containers weren't exactly doing a good job, and it was annoying to move things out of the way every time I needed to get something out of the drawers.

Enter some awesome baskets from TJ Maxx! I picked these guys up because they're durable and they have lids, so I can easily stack them. I got 4 small ones for $7.99 each and 2 medium ones for $9.99 each.

Next a picture to show that before any space gets better, it has to get worse. Much worse. This was the room after I pulled everything out of the cabinets and settled in to sort and purge. I watched some TV while I did this, hence the laptop. I also had some cat assistance (as in they kept jumping in baskets and climbing under the sink).

After better categorizing my bathroom products, donating the plastic bins to the preschool, and pulling in a few unused organizers I already had, I ended up with this:

Ahhhh, much better! Let's talk details. On the left side, I stacked two of the smaller baskets. One's filled with hair products, my curling iron, and headbands, and the other is full of skincare products (sunscreen, extra lotions, etc.) The basket in front holds some vitamins and supplements.

I grabbed some stackable plastic bins that I had previously used in our fridge and stashed travel-sized toiletries in the lower bin, then more-used items (body sprays, extra deoderant, mouthwash) in the upper bin so they'd be more readily accessible.

I also added an over-door basket to wrangle my hair dryer, straightener, brushes, and styling products I use when blow-drying.

On the other side, I stashed our extra shampoos, conditioners, body washes, Q-Tips, and my lady supplies. We buy most of our body stuff at Costco, so we have a lot of overflow items. Keeping them in the baskets keeps things contained, but still easy to get to when needed. I put my curlers on top of one basket stack, too. That black and metal contraption is my hair dryer stand. You just attach the dryer to the top and then you can sit and comb your hair without having to hoist your dryer up. (Yes, I am very lazy! Haha!)

Anyway, that's what's working for our current sink situation! Our future home has an even more spacious vanity, plus 2 more drawers, an upper cabinet, AND an awesome closet, so I am sure I will be back with an update of how we utilize that organizing space once we're there!

Pantry Revisited

Since I first organized our hallway pantry and shared it here on a blog a year and a half ago, it's become my most-visited post of all time! Thus, I thought it was high time to share a few tweaks I've made to make the space even more functional for us.

When we last left off, our hall closet was a sort of pantry/linen closet, with food occupying the middle shelves, and extra sheets, towels, & our vacuum cleaner occupying the upper & lower spots.

However, once we added a chrome shelf to our laundry room to create more storage, I had plenty of space to stash the linens 'n things (ha ha!) in there, opening up a ton of space in our pantry. Since we buy our basics like cereal, crackers, rice, canned veggies, and pasta in bulk from Costco, new pantry space = great and much-needed!

So here's what the space has evolved into since making those changes:

Let's zoom in a bit, starting on the left side.

The top left shelf is home to our pasta. We buy in bulk from Costco because pasta is a quick and easy side dish, and Ryan is sort of a spaghetti addict.

The second shelf has more of our snack foods--crackers, cookies, dried fruits, etc.

Just below that I stashed our rice, granola, nuts, & candy, along with these "Spice" and "Flour" cannisters I got during one of my first trips to the Missoula Goodwill way back when. They were $1.99 apiece. 

I stash brownie mixes (from Costco) in the "Flour" cannister and extra spices in the "Spice" one (go figure!)

Below that third shelf is a pretty large open space that I always struggled to fill in an effective way. These stackable baskets from Target did the trick. They're sturdy and don't wiggle around like some stackable bins tend to do. I keep chips & dip-making stuff in the top basket, cheez-its and goldfish packs in the one below, potatoes/pantry veggies in the third from the top, and pasta sauce in the bottommost basket.

And now the right side:

I added a wire shelf to create a little extra space here and take advantage of the height of the pantry. This is our little "breakfast nook" which holds cereals, Ryan's breakfast drinks & poptarts, plus some fruit strips. Once I am reunited with my Silhouette machine (it's back in MO) I plan on making cutie vinyl labels for these containers, similar to Jen's.

You know I'm a sucker for vintage storage (especially if it has fun graphics) so I liked using my two vintage cheese boxes here. They're the perfect size to hold the tarts & drink packets. The oil-rubbed bronze basket is from Target's Dollar Spot.

I love how the graphic even peeks out when you look at the other side!

I placed a faux-vintage crate (one of Threshold's lovely containers from Target) just below the breakfast area.

The crate houses overflow food items that don't fit elsewhere.

Below that is my little baking corner. I got rid of my kitchen cannisters a bit ago to free up counter space, and my sugar, flour, chocolate chips and such look great in the Oxo containers and are just as accessible here.

On the shelf below, smaller versions of the blue stackable baskets sit atop a shoe rack from Target.

The baskets hold baking mixes, sauces, and overflow K-Cups that didn't fit in my new coffee corner.

The lower shelves of the shoe rack house all our canned goods. There was just enough room under the bottom of the rack to slide in one of the K-Cup storage drawers that used to be out in the kitchen. There wasn't enough room for two of them side-by-side, but that's alright--as you can see I stashed some overflow food there (Costco Cheez-Its, how I love thee!)

Oh, and for those wondering, all of the labels are from Better Homes & Gardens, and I got most of my Oxo containers over time from Ross and TJ Maxx. I also got a set at Costco a while back, and now my Costco has a larger set in stock for $47.99--maybe check your store to see if they have them as well?

Of course someday I hope to have an awesome walk-in pantry with built-in storage (like this one, or this one), but for now this space totally works for us! 

A Changed-Up Coffee Corner

Last month I spotted this gray-brown metal card catalog at a local thrift for $2.95. Even though I didn't have a specific use for it, I loved its look and character and I just had to bring it home with me! 

For a few weeks it just sat patiently on the floor, looking good but awaiting its purpose. Then one day I was looking at the little coffee station I have set up on our island, and it hit me--wouldn't the card catalog make much more stylish coffee pod storage? 

As a refresher, here's what I was working with previously:

This little patch of wall/counter space on our island accomplishes many tasks, and these K-Cup storage drawers I purchased a few years back were certainly helping increase the area's productivity, but they weren't exactly aesthetic showstoppers. 

Since I already have an eclectic mix of vintage/industrial type items and modern pieces in my kitchen, I thought that the metal card catalog would be a great candidate to replace the old coffee pod storage drawers. I especially liked that the drawers already had a way to affix labels, so that I could separate my coffee pods from the cocoa and apple cider ones. A couple of printed labels later, and whoop, there it was:

For anyone wondering, even though it's deeper than the drawers, the card catalog holds fewer K-Cups than the previous two stacked drawers did, so I stored the extras in our pantry (I'll be sharing some updates I made to that space soon!) I also have a K-Cup carousel that picked up some of the slack.

The carousel and those two cannisters (both originally from Target, but scored at Goodwill) sit to the left of the card catalog and coffee maker. I keep tea and my mocha packets in them.

Since the card catalog has more surface area, I had a little more room to stash things next to the coffee maker. Hot cocoa, sugar, more tea and sweetener packets, some spoon-straws, and a bright orange ceramic votive all made the cut.

The little milk bottle was an antique store purchase I made back in Kansas City--funny because the bottle is originally from Missoula! 

Here's a head on shot:

But that's not all. I also added a chalkboard to the mix!

This came about after I purchased a large glass-less frame for a project that just didn't pan out. It only cost $4.99 at a thrift so I wasn't too torn up about wasting money on the frame, but still I knew I could so something else with it. So I grabbed a bottle of Martha Stewart chalkboard paint in gray, gave the back of the frame a few coats, primed it with chalk, and I had a kitchen chalkboard!

I wasn't crazy about the lighter wood tone of the frame at first and planned on spray painting it a teal or goldenrod, but then I realized that it matches our cabinets exactly. Thus, once I attached it with velcro command strips, it almost looked built in! Sweet. I still need to perfect my chalk penmanship, but for now it'll do. I wrote a quote from a reading at our wedding at the top of the board, then divided the rest into "To Do" and "To Buy" lists.

I really love the whole look of the island now, from the memo area to the Pyrex display to the coffee station to the bunting to the chalkboard to all the art on both sides.

For kicks, let's take a final look back.

Before:

And after:

Small changes, but they make me happy! I'm excited to share more home updates soon :)