Kitchen Nightmares - {Dreadful Drawers}

I'm chugging right along this week with installment three in my kitchen organization project. In our very tiny kitchen we are seriously lacking drawer space, we've only got five shallow but wide drawers and two narrow and shallow drawers. One of our wide drawers needed no work because it's just our utensil drawer; forks, knifes, and what-have-you. The two small drawers also needed no noteworthy work, they are pot holders and the usually referred to "junk drawer". But those other four wide drawers were in dreadful need! 

Here are the before and afters!

Drawer #1 

The top drawer is probably the most frequently used drawer in our whole apartment. It contained a few dozen kitchen utensils that I use most every night. With a small apartment we've grown fond of a "less is more" mentality in order to make cohabitation more manageable. With that in mind I quickly purged the utensils that we no longer needed or used and set to dividing up this drawer with only the items we most frequently reach for. I was lucky enough to have salvaged an extra drawer organizer from the pantry organization and look how much better everything is! 

Drawer #2

This drawer had no order at all. It contained some dishtowels, a broken cheese board and some overflow food wrapping materials. We were clearly not utilizing this drawer to it's fullest potential. With the utensils from drawer #1 categorized by how frequently we use them I made the quick decision to make this the extras drawer. Those two white drawer bins are also salvaged from the pantry makeover, score! Now our less used but equally important kitchen gadgets are tucked away nice and neat. 

Drawer #3

This was probably the most organized of the four drawers to begin with. Which isn't saying much considering that it was a hodgepodge of items. With the random napkin, measuring cup and napkin rings removed, this drawer came together in seconds. Done and Done! 

Drawer #4

As you can see the bottom drawer was filled with tea. Yup, tea! Who puts tea in a drawer?! Me apparently. I don't know what I was thinking... regardless the tea was removed and our wonderful Crate and Barrel placemats and napkins finally have a home! This little glass bowl, also from C&B, turned out to be the perfect holder for our napkin rings!

But where did all that tea go? you ask. Back up to Drawer #2 and you might have spied this little container in the back left corner. Labeled simply as 'Tea Bag Storage' I found this box at The Container Store, and immediately saw the end to my tea problem!

Total transformation right? They don't even look like the same drawers. Having these drawers more organized has been such a time saver when it comes to cooking dinner! I think I deserve a little pat on the shoulder for all my hard work, or maybe a glass of wine... :-)

Well that's all I've got. My kitchen finally resembles my obsessive personality and my sanity has been restored. Continue to share any organizational stories of your own in the comments!

xx,
Amanda

Kitchen Nightmares - {A Frosty Freezer}

Installment two of my kitchen organizing frenzy is our fridge and freezer. I don't have any "before" shots of our fridge because minus being a bit haphazard it wasn't in that bad shape. I just rearrange things into a more logical order and added some organizational bins to help make getting to items easier and voila! 

These great bins I scored on sale at The Container Store for $8.99 each. They are perfect for creating the organization of drawers without really having drawers. The bottoms of these hard plastic bins are grooved which makes them slide on our grooved shelves almost like they are built in. This divided one shown below is great as a 'sandwich station' with all the necessary goodies tucked into one easy to grab place.

Our fridge door has alway been a source of frustration for me, the shelves don't divide out like most other fridge doors. It's just two big long, unadjustable shelves. I alway feel like this space is cramped or under utilized. But I work with what I'm given.

Our freezer gets a legit 'before and after' because it was a bit of a disaster. I dreaded having to get something from inside it. Venturing into our freezer was dreadful, I was either fearful of what might fall out on me or frostbitten contemplating how long I'd have to dig through stuff to find what I was looking for.

With a little help from pinterest via iheart organizing, I found these file bins, also at The Container Store, and knew they would be the prefect solution to my freezer issue!

I'm very happy to be getting our kitchen into a better functioning state. I love investing a little time and energy into organization with the knowledge that we're going to be saving LOADS of time in the long run.

Anyone have any tips or tricks of your own to keeping your fridge and freezer disaster free? I'd love to hear them, so get to sharing in the comments!

Next up the dreadful draws get a fresh start!

xx,
Amanda

Kitchen Nightmares - {A Pantry Makeover}

With the undertaking of a spring challenge to be more adventurous in my fashion choices came the decision and need to purge and organize my closet to make my wardrobe work better for me. Like any OCD ridden female this side of crazy town, one organization undertaking can only lead to many more!

Once my closet had gotten it's makeover, my eyes were opened to all the organizational possibilities I could create in EVERY other space in my apartment. With pen to paper I made a list of all the spaces that desperately needed some TLC. Then I prioritized that list by "level of need". At the top of the list, our kitchen.

Let's start with a little reminder of what our kitchen looks like:

Can you say itty bitty?! Our 1bed / 1bath apartment is only 735 sq ft total. With this little amount of space we've learned how important it is to live with less and maximize the space we do have. My goal was to overhaul the cabinets, drawers, counters, fridge and freezer to utilize them to their fullest potential. Here's a quick diagram to help follow the flow of the kitchen.

For this first installment I'll be focusing on the cabinets that function as our "Pantry". Because we don't have a traditional pantry I use three of our cabinets plus the narrow 'spice rack' on the back wall for food storage. Let's have a look inside.
Before:

Again I enact a No Judging Rule! You have no idea how many times I've rearranged those cabinets trying to make everything fit while still being accessible. Too many boxes, bags and misc shaped snacks made that task nearly impossible. This time I was determined to find a better way. I started by removing everything from the cabinets. It got a lot worse before it got better!

Once everything was out, I checked expiration dates and tossed anything that was passed it's prime. Next I sorted things into logical groups (canned goods, pre-packaged snack items, boxed goods, liquids, baking supplies, etc.) Once everything was grouped I was able to visualize just how things should be arranged.
So, like any other OCD organization crazed person would do, I drew a diagram. And then I made it pretty, just for you.

For those of you about to recommend a good psychiatrist for me to talk to, I am well aware of my crazy half and she's fine by me! Putting my ideas on paper helps keep my never ending thoughts from making my brain seriously overwork itself.

Then, I just emptied snack goods into baskets, moved things around until it all fit like I'd planned, and called it a day in about 45 minutes. And here is the final result...
After:

These stackable baskets from Target were a great find at just $2.99 each for the small and $4.99 for the medium. The medium holds all of Mr. B's coffee stuff perfectly making it an easy grab each morning!

The smaller baskets are just the right size for all those pre-packaged snacks that I had. Condensing seven boxes to just one basket is a MEGA space saver! 

How about a little side by side:

As for that 'spice rack' I mentioned earlier it wasn't in bad shape at all. It's a very shallow cabinet so not much fits inside, but it's very handy in this small a space. Just a little rearranging and some prioritizing and this is what I got. 

Well, what do you think? Have you come down with the organization bug lately? Share you're makeover story in the comments! I hope this post shows how a little time and thought can make a big difference. 

Next up the fridge / freezer get there time in the spotlight! 

xx,

Amanda

Creating A Working Closet {Part 1}

If you've visited my newest page on the blog, Fashion From My Closet, then you already know what a "working closet" is. If you haven't, here's the quick recap:

"A working closet is a closet that works for you so that you don't stand in front of your closet and feel lost. A working closet is one in which you can remix what you own into infinite cute outfits. A closet that doesn't scream "go shopping now!" at you every time you walk in. One that knows when a new piece is needed and when it's time to let an old one go."

The term and it's definition are taken from one of my favorite fashion blogs, Kendi Everyday. She did a series about creating a closet that works for you, so that you can get the most out of your time and wardrobe. I decided to follow her steps to creating a working closet to see if they might help me in my challenge to be more adventurous with my fashion choices.

I began with step one, purging, and combined it with step three, organizing. The two seemed to go so well together, that I couldn't do one without the other.

Deep breath, door open, here we go! 

Before:

No judging. With only 735 square feet of living space in our 1 bed/1bath apartment, my closet is more than just a space for my clothes. I couldn't even open the door all the way! My clothes hung in no logical manner, over flow ended up on shelves that were already over packed. 

The floor was a catch-all of misc bags, boxes, and shoes.

My shoe corner was a total disaster zone!

I started by removing everything from the closet carefully and assigning things to piles, 'trash' - 'donate' - 'keep'. It was a simple enough system that made decision making quick and painless. I had a little help from furbaby Xander! And in just under three hours I had a totally new experience when opening the closet door. 

After:

After I had removed everything from the closet I was able to purge a lot of unused junk that hadn't been seen or heard from in over a year. I was also able to sort things into categories, that were then stored in a more organized fashion inside those super cuter Target boxes.

My clothes got a good picking through and then a quick reorganization to how they're hung. I decided to sort tops by sleeve length for a simple and clean look to how they hang.

I also gave my dresses some more room to breath by condensing Mr. B's pants and dress shirts to the far corner of the rack because he rarely wears any of those pieces.

Going off of a pinterest tip I purchased a package of 'S' hooks at Target to help organize my belts and scarfs better. I love this so much!

I also decided to pick up some divider hangers to help encourage me to keep to the new system. These tags will also help Mr. B when he goes to put clothes away for me.

My shoes found harmony with more room to breath. My shoe cubby wasn't big enough to hold all that I own so I prioritized my most frequently worn pairs to the front.

Before & After: 

I'm extremely happy with the end result. It's a space I can easily go to and find what I'm looking for. I'm excited to get all the boxes and baskets labeled for even more ease of use. The best part is that I was able to clear out at least 5-6 boxes of stuff / clothes that I no longer need. It feels good to simplify!

Next step: Assessing my wardrobe...

xx,
Amanda