Kitchen Wish-list!

Well the future husband a.k.a. Chris is out of town for the week so I am all alone. I miss him very much! I really don't know how you military wives and girlfriends can stand being separated from yo' man for so long! Chris is gone for a little over a week and I'm falling apart!

Anyway, this leaves a lot of time to myself. And what have I been doing with all this alone time? You got it, Pinterest! I have found some awesome blogs:

a bowl full of lemons

and

iHeart Organizing

The woman from iHeart Organizing has a beautifully organized home with endless inspiration and ideas!

and finally, 

The Nest Effect

I especially love this blog because of Tiffany herself. She is a newer teacher and she lives in a small apartment as do I! I feel like I can really relate to her. =)

I apologize for the newb links. I haven't figured out the whole button thing yet. =/ So with all my time spent on Pinterest and many blogs, I have created a wishlist for my kitchen. Well, not just my kitchen but we will tackle other rooms later! 

First, I would like a menu board similar to the one below. 

No, it is not a menu board in the picture above but I love the idea of different pieces of scrapbook paper to make a slot for each day of the week. 

I do try to plan our meals for the week. Not only does menu planning save money, it offers variety! It is exciting to check the deals in the weekly ad every week. This also allows us to eat more of what is in season since those items are usually on sale. This week there was a special for limes: 5 for $1! Lime bars for us! Mmmm! 

Another item on my wishlist is this gorgeous frame with burlap for writing ingredients or love notes (*wink wink*)!

I love this idea and I have the perfect spot for it!

Finally, I would like some new kitchen towels since I am trying to slowly turn my kitchen colors into black & white. 

Hey, I could have the whole set!

I also would like to get a matching teakettle in stainless steel or black to match the color scheme I'm going for. I think we can all picture this, I don't need to post a picture of a black teakettle!

So what is on your wishlist for your kitchen? Is there a certain item you are missing that is easily obtainable and will really enhance the productivity or design of your kitchen? 

I want to know!

Amber

Operation Kitchen!

Wow, it has been awhile since my last post. Between having a full time job and school, I have been a very busy lady.

Since my last post, I have focused on organizing my kitchen.

I had a couple goals before starting this project:

• Get a matching black crock to store kitchen utensils. 

           

• Organize our utensil drawer that we don't necessarily need instant access to:

• Get some shelves for the inside of cabinets. 
• Find a better storage solution for future husby's workout supplements and protein. Their original containers are so unattractive!
• Buy storage for glassware.

Unfortunately, I did not take "before" pictures of the last three pinpoints. But here are the after photos!

I bought another crock to match the one black crock for $4 at Walmart. 

Again here is a picture of before:

And after!

I learned this tip from the Barefoot Contessa: separate your wooden spoon and spatulas from your other plastic/metal utensils. It looks uniform and organized. She is my idol. A couple Christmas's ago, my mom got me an autographed picture of her!

She watches over me as I cook! I love her!

Okay, back to organizing stuff!

I also bought drawer organizers for our large utensil drawer.

Remember the before? 

And the after!

Nice and organized. The future hubs was very impressed with the new drawer set-up.

Some other areas I organized but neglected to take before photos of were: 

I also got shelves from Walmart to create extra storage for bowls and plates.

I put the future husby's protein and workout supplements in canisters. I never used the flour and sugar I stored in here. I feel I have better sealed containers for my flour and sugar which I need since I do not use these ingredients on a regular basis versus Chris' supplements that he takes everyday. 

And wine glass storage!

And here are a couple areas that I just rearranged:

These are our regular used appliances: crockpot, rice cooker, toaster, wafflemaker and so forth. 

 These are appliances we use less often. 

 Mixing bowls up top and baking pans and colanders on bottom. 

Storage for cooking pots. Unfortunately, one of the shelves broke off and we haven't gotten around to fixing it. Oops!

I am very happy with all the organization I have done so far in the kitchen. There are still a couple areas I need to focus some attention on. 

These are two very sad cabinets. =( These two areas would probably not be very hard to organize but they are both very high up and difficult to organize when you are 5'4''. One of these days I'll have to get off my lazy bum and crawl up here and organize them. I will have to add this to my list of household projects!

Organization has made such a difference in the feel of our home. Just by rearranging items and installing drawer containers, our kitchen has transformed! We created a flowing path in our kitchen versus the maze it was before! 

I hope you enjoyed this kitchen organization post. How do you organize your tiny kitchen? Do you have a famous chef or cook that inspires you? I want to know!

Amber

Our Home

As I mentioned in the very first post of this blog, the little organizing I have already done in my home has made a difference in how my home feels. It feels like I can breathe a little easier since we organized. It also has helped me in my cleaning habits. When I get home, I actually put stuff away! After I take Libby for a walk, when I get home I don't just throw her leash on the counter, I actually put it away! Ah, it feels nice to have a place for everything!

Also as I mentioned in the first post, my home is a constant project even though it is a tiny one bedroom apartment. The reason is because of our changing day to day routine. My fiance and I don't have a set work or school schedule every single week so we are constantly adjusting. This means that we often change things around in our home to accommodate our needs for that set week. No, these changes may not be anything major but as you know little changes can make just as big a difference as a major one.

So where am I going with this? Well, I thought it would be a good idea to show you our home, space by space ( I would say rooms, but there aren't too many of those, just lots of spaces!). This will also help to compare before and after projects later on.

So here we go!

This is our entry. The two(techniqually three) shelf stand holds Libby's essentials such as her leash, brush, bubbles(she is addicted to them), etc. and our mail and local money pages. This has helped a great deal. Libby's items aren't necessarily decorative. There is a closet directly to the right of the front door. We store our board games, reusable shopping bags, our vacuum, and our coats in this closet.

This is our living area. We have a large couch as you can see that is perfect for holding us and our many guests that we have over often (lol not really). As you can see, I don't utilize our coffee table every much. I actually hate it but it was $20 total at Ikea and we needed one so, oh well. I have seen some cute IKEA HACKS for this table that I would like to try. And there's the Libby in the corner!

This is our dining area. That tall brown cabinet is our pantry since our apartment did not come with one. On top of it, I keep cookbooks and Libby's vitamins handy since her and the cat's food are situated right next to the pantry. We hope to obtain a better solution for pet food storage soon. We have two trash cans, one for actual trash and the other for recycling! Both the pet food dishes are on the other side of the table next to the bookshelf. That would be one of my cute little kitties on the left. 

And here is our tiny little kitchen. Somehow we are still able to fit all of our kitchen appliances and necessities in this tiny little kitchen. The biggest downfall is the lack of counter space for baking and preparing food. 

This is the main area of the bathroom where most of our bathroom necessities are stored. The second area in the bathroom has the toilet and shower with a decent size cabinet above the toilet. Sorry I didn't take a picture of that area but it is a really tiny space. 

This is our bedroom. Yes, both me and my fiance each have a computer. At times, we are hardcore gamers and we each need our own computer! Plus, we are both in school and don't want to be fighting over one computer once finals week arrives!

The opposite view of the bedroom. There's my desk with lots of STUFF on it! Oy.

And our bedroom closet with more stuff! We keep our photo albums, suitcases (with my purses stored inside), computer parts, art/craft supplies and much more stored in here. 

Well that is our home. I've already made lots of changes to it and I'm hoping to make even more. Of course, we can't really change the walls, carpet, or cabinets but we can change our decor as well as the mood of our apartment. I know that there are other people out there who are in a similar situation where they just want to make it easier to live in their current home. That is why I decided to make this blog. Soon I will be posting up my projects I have completed so far so you can see the change our tiny apartment has already undergone.

Is your home a temporary home situation until you purchase a home or other type of housing property? Do you try to make it as comfortable as you can even though it isn't forever? How do you set the desired mood? I want to know! 

New idea, Not so new blog.

Hello, All! Yes, I am attempting to blog again for the fifth time or so. This blog has taken on several forms, each covering a different topic. 


But recently, I was inspired! Yes! I was inspired to organize my home and let me tell you, with the little organizing I have done this week, my home feels like a totally different place. I can already feel the tension in the home from lack of storage and space floating away! 


Although I have done a bit of organizing before starting up this blog, there are always going to be projects around the apartment for us(my fiance and I) to tackle so I thought I would share my journey with the blogosphere! I hope you find some inspiration while you are here!


Happy organizing! 


Amber