Thank you so much for the kind comments you left on my 10-year anniversary post! I was out of town this weekend so I'm still reading them all. I will contact the winner tonight or tomorrow so watch your email! :) I appreciate you taking the time to comment and I loved reading how you found me!
Today we're talking organization! One of my favorite topics because of all the things I do in our home, organizing the spaces makes the biggest impact on how we live. An organized space makes our lives easier, lowers our stress and saves us money because we don't buy multiples of everything.
I didn't realize when we moved in how long it would take me to get this house lean and mean though. We have more storage space in this home so I thought it would happen a lot quicker! Some closets I did deal with sooner than others:
And I have to tell you -- there was a remarkable difference in how I felt in the house when those spaces were organized. It's SO NICE to find something when you go to look for it! The older I get, the less I can deal with clutter in our home. It makes me twitchy.
I say that, and now I'll show you the insides of the lower cabinets in our kitchen. 😂 I don't know why I waited so long to tackle them because these areas were really started to drive me crazy. From the outside the kitchen looked like I had it all together!:
But here's how the insides looked:
Not horrendous, I know. (If you want to see some good messy befores check out the posts I linked to above!) But I never knew where anything was. I would quite literally open the doors and throw stuff in. We've lived here nearly eight months now and that was getting old.
I decided it was time -- and like every organization project I have to take everything out and see it all in one place. There was one more cabinet I didn't get a photo of that I included as well. The cat was not in a cabinet:
He just likes to be up in my business. :)
I started by looking over the island with everything on it and picking out things I knew I didn't want. I use the Konmari method (it has changed my life!) and it makes it easy to decide what I'm keeping. (That's the key to Konmari in my mind -- you decide what to keep, not so much what to get rid of. It's so much easier for me!)
Then whatever was left I separated into piles -- pitchers, bowls, baking dishes, etc. It became a lot more manageable by the time I got to that point.
I took advantage of the empty cabinets and cleaned them really well. Then I started to assess where I wanted to put items. I lucked out big time when I realized the small shelf in our lower cabinets is removable. You know the one I'm talking about? The skinny one in the back that is difficult to get to and always seems to get in the way of the tall stuff you want to store? In our old house I removed a couple of them and it was a MESS because I had to cut them out.
I did a little dance when I realized ours are adjustable and removable. YES! I took it out of one cabinet and installed these jobbies I've had for years:
I think I got them at IKEA but these are very similar! I've used them here and there over the years and they are super helpful for awkward items like big pans. I installed two of them in this cabinet since I could take advantage of the height and depth without that back shelf.
It ended up going much faster than I thought it would! Here is one cabinet before and after:
One thing that I've learned over the years when decluttering and organizing -- it's OK to have empty space! Let your stuff breathe! Just because you have space doesn't mean you have to fill it. I don't know why, but at first that was uncomfortable for me. Now I love it. ;)
Here's the other one, this is the cabinet I removed the shelf from:
I made a quick DIY shelf for one side (I did this in our old house too). I love doing this because it makes it easier to access items. I put the larger mixing bowls that I don't reach for as often in the back underneath.
And in the "baking" corner cabinet I put some odds and ends on the top shelf and put larger items on the bottom:
Does anyone have that cool shelf for the mixer (affiliate)? The one you install and then it brings it up to counter height? It's so expensive so I wonder if it's worth it!
I keep our everyday appliances in our pantry and the others go in the tall cabinet above our ovens:
I love this cabinet! When I was unpacking the kitchen shortly after moving in I realized I had totally forgotten about that one -- it was like finding treasure. ;)
I shared my storage hack for over the fridge in the old kitchen and repeated that here:
In the old house we had the dining room/library built ins for most of the serving stuff we use when entertaining and for holidays. I keep the smaller items in our island cabinets now and the new console in the morning room for larger items:
This piece has SO much storage! And I love that ALL of my larger serving dishes are in one spot. They're so easy to access too:
I haven't shared the uppers in the kitchen because we really only have two and they're pretty basic. The drawers though -- those are for a different day. They need some big time binging and organization! But now that the pantry and cabinets are done, I'm most of the way there as far as the kitchen is concerned!
It's already made such a difference having these so clean and organized. I just feel at ease when I open the doors. I've said it a million times but tackling projects like this make me feel SO much better about life in general. It's amazing how much having "tidy" spaces reduces my stress. And at extra stressful times I always find solace in making the little spaces in our home more streamlined.
Do you enjoy binging and organizing? Does decluttering stress you out or make you feel lighter like it does me? It always boosts my mood, I love it! I'm off to donate a few more bags of stuff! :)
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