Kitchen Storage Organization (Small Space Living)

Living in a small space has its challenges.  Although we redid our kitchen a couple of years ago and added lots of new cabinetry, I still needed to economize on space.  A lot of the items below were put in initially with the kitchen remodel.  But a while back I did a lot of kitchen reorganization which really helped working in the space.  I ordered some new things for this.  I also repaired an appliance, and employed an antique tea canister for fun.

One of the first space organizers I purchased was an Ikea Pot Lid Organizer, to be use for baking dishes and pie pans, rather then the pot lids it was intended for:

A more recent project, I took everything out of the drawers, and reorganized them.  Here is the big drawer reorganization:

Everything from the bottom section out to sort and purge

The bottom section reorganized: baking utensils, etc.

The top section is silverware

Speaking of silverware, I bought new stainless.  This was problematic, because the bottom of the dinner fork handles are large and ornate, much wider than before, and they did not fit in our small dishwasher basket.  I liked how the dishwasher basket fit in our small-space dishwasher, and didn't want to try and find a new one that might not work anyway.  Paul suggested opening up a few of the basket sections, so they were wider:

The basket before

It just doesn't fit!

The basket after, with four of the sections in the middle widened out using a metal rasp.

Then there is small-space pan storage.  We used two separate units in one of the base cabinets, a two-level unit for pans and lids (that have to be placed with their handles just so on the adjustable rack), and another for cookie sheets and cutting boards:

Bottom pan level

Top level - lids, and the teensy-tiny frying pan

I also repaired my grain mill (the air outlet piece).  Note that my grain mill will now be used for non gluten grains such as oat groats (back on gluten-free diet).  This deformity had been here since I purchased the mill.  It didn't affect the functioning, but it bugged me, so I ordered a new part:

Finally, I needed tea storage for some little samples I had gotten.  I found this canister in an antique store - just like mother used to have!!

Darling

This is a tale of the elusive "Darling" pin.  My mother had a beautiful antique pin, inscribed with the word "Darling".  I always loved that pin, and when my mother passed, expressed a desire to keep it from my mother's belongings.

When my sisters and I began going through my mother's things after she passed, we could not find the pin in with the rest of her jewelry.  We felt really horrible.  Then, miraculously (St. Anthony had a a hand in this!) we found the pin almost by chance, after unfolding a crochet shawl my mother had made.  She had worn the Darling pin with the shawl, but had the foresight to attach it to the shawl with a vinyl (invisible) thread so it would not be lost by accident.  So I took the pin home and placed it in my jewelry box.

A few weeks ago, I was looking for the pin.  I swear I took apart my jewelry box looking for it, but it was not there.  I asked my sister Barbara if she had it by chance - she did not, but promised to say a prayer to St. Anthony, asking for his assistance.  I did so as well.  I looked in the attic, trying to find my mother's shawl.  I couldn't find that either (although I did find a shawl she had made for me).  I felt just awful, thinking it was gone for good.

Today, I set about cleaning my completely messy and disorganized house (Robert is coming here on Tuesday!!).  I have been in the process of setting up a makeup table in an antique desk in our room (more on that in a future blog post).  I decided to do a clean and purge of my jewelry box (something I had planned on doing whilst looking for the pin; there was so much in there that I no longer wanted, and it was bursting at the seams).  And what do you think happened?  I found "Darling"!!  She is now in a small box, safely in the jewelry box, so I will always know exactly where she is.

I'm so happy!

End of Season Tasks

Last week and this, Paul and I have been tidying up the garden in preparation for winter.  Paul took down our birdhouse for winter storage, we gathered up the tomato cages, and covered some of our perennials.  Paul will run the mulching lawnmower over the grass to collect up the leaves on Monday, when the weather is predicted to be "warm".  We also arranged for Sears to come do routine maintenance on our snowblower. 

Paul and I also went through our canned goods, purging any expired ones, cleaning and sorting.  This was not planned; the upper shelf of our Lazy Susan base cabinet shifted down, needing an adjustment, which Paul took care of.  But I have been meaning to go through it, so all was good.  The trick is to use up all of the duplicates I found and didn't realize I had - how much coconut milk can one person accumulate?!  I see Thai food in our future, maybe some Indian or Caribbean as well.  We are well stocked in vegetable soup for the winter.  It feels good to have that done. 

Sadly, there is a frost predicted for tonight.  So I went out and collected the last of the herbs before they are frozen.  Surprisingly, in spite of some pretty cold and awful weather in the past month, three herbs survived: rosemary, oregano, and parsley.  In keeping with my international cooking, I will also need to make some recipes that use parsley and oregano (Italian, anyone?!).  The rosemary I plan on using to make a rosemary hair rinse (link to holistichabits video/prep instructions here).  Rosemary is great for the hair, and has aromatherapy benefits as well, which apparently one will smell while prepping the hair rinse.

Left to right: rosemary, parsley, oregano

Kleen Owt!! (Healthy Start/CIRS)

Yesterday I watched a webinar (free!) presented by Dr. Axe.  I was interested in the whole "leaky gut" business because my doctor diagnosed me with Hashimoto's and CIRS (Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome) last year.  I had an understanding of how the gut plays into this, but needed reinforcement because I am easily tempted to cheat.  To my credit, I have been working assiduously for the past month to avoid it.  I'm doing very well.  The only hang up is the small amount of gluten contained in the Communion hosts each Sunday (I have read that they do make reduced gluten hosts, apparently low enough that some celiacs could potentially consider using them? But don't go by me on that!! Ask your doctor!)  My doctor felt that for me, a non-celiac, the weekly host would not be a problem.  But I may gently probe around at church, see if they do offer them.  

For those who are not familiar with CIRS, here's a nice general definition from a website:
"CIRS is the illness that occurs when someone who is genetically vulnerable to bio-toxins is exposed and reacts with chronic and systemic inflammation. It turns out 25% of the population carries the genetics responsible for this condition."

I found the webinar talk to be inspiring, just the push I needed.  I wanted to have a small renewal, have plans to make an immune-building soup, plus this yummy other soup I made previously.  But my fridge was woefully in need of a cleaning and purging.  I did this, there was some "Eeew" involved in the back of the vegetable drawer, got the shelves wiped down (need to do the door shelves still).  Here it is, emptied out, waiting for new groceries:  

Groceries are bought, waiting to be utilized.  I started today baking a large butternut squash for tonight's soup.  Tomorrow I'll do the immune-building soup.  I also want to make a soup I posted about previously (here).  It was so yummy, and made enough to freeze, which I did.  Last week I thawed it out for dinner - still yummy!!

I see my doctor at the end of the month.  I hope my month of gluten-free strictness and this new motivation to improve diet even more will pay off.  

Attic Afternoon

Yesterday we spent time putting things away in the attic.  Our attic is accessed by pull-down stairs that fold up into the ceiling.  Tyler has never been up there before.  But he was intrigued, and went up to help.  My job consisted of handing things up to Paul.  We had boxed all of the Christmas decorations, but had not gotten to storing them.  This included our tree.  We also needed to put up a small wooden hutch, part of a play set that my dad made for us when we were kids (Ty uses the little stove as his end table; I sometimes use it as an extra tray table when I have ladies over for tea.)  But the hutch is usually homed in Ty's closet, and we needed to clear a space for the "secret passageway" that will go between Ty's and Robert's (well, the guest room) closet.

It made me think about a decorative plate I have, one of a set of four that combines Victorian homes with cats!  The name of one of the scenes is "Attic Afternoon".  The four plates used to be in our old kitchen, on the wall that had weird paneling up so that upper cabinets could not be hung.  Now that the shelf is removed (and languishing in the basement), the plates are sitting in the sideboard.  I want to put the shelf up, maybe in the dining room, so I can put the plates out again.

See the plate below, although the attic pictured on the plate is so much lovelier than our rather utilitarian one.  Oh well, Ty had fun, and our house is a little more organized.

Ty and Paul, up high in the attic

"Attic Afternoon" plate

Disorganized Sewing/Robert's Room

I have two sewing projects on deck.  The trouble is that right now my home is not completely conducive to successful sewing.  Yesterday I wanted to get started tracing an Edwardian-era hobble skirt, and cutting bias strips to finally finish a quilt I started many, many years back. Step one was clearing off the dining room table - a Herculean task.  But it was done, wiped down, and worked commenced.  I was able to trace the skirt pattern yesterday.

The bias strips however, ran into a snag.  We have been, over the past, oh, six months or so, been doing some work on Robert's old room.  You see, Robert now lives in Portland, so the room is to be a guest room (and Robert's room when he comes to visit) and also a sewing room for me.  I've never had a sewing room before, and I long to have one.  But his closet was in need of repair (walls cracking, not insulated, cold), including a "secret passageway" that Tyler wants put in that leads from his closet to Robert's.  Fun, and has sort of a Narnia aspect to it (Mr. Tumnus?!).  So far the closet is insulated and has most of its wallboard.  All that remains is some electrical and the passageway door.  But we also needed to replace the ceiling in the room itself.  Right now the old ceiling is out, and 70% of the wallboard is up on the ceiling.  A paint job and new baseboards will follow (pre-stained oak this time, so all that needs to be done is the cutting and fitting).  But my sewing stuff is scattered to the four winds, including my iron.  Hence, the difficulty going forward with the bias strips.  So once I get all of my projects to the sewing stage, I will not have an optimal sewing space yet to do them.  Not really much different from when my sewing machine was in the dining room.

No one seems to know where the iron went.  To be honest, it is quite old, and I am tempted just to buy another.

My skirt project is for Book Club.  We are reading Doctor Zhivago.  I want to wear an Edwardian skirt and blouse ensemble, and I have my eye on an awesome faux fur Russian hat.  More on that in a future post.

Rocking Horse Farm #903 

Edwardian Hobble Skirt

My quilt - circa 1988

Airing The Linens (CIRS)

I spent most of yesterday doing a task that is not so much in vogue anymore: airing the linens.  I like the idea of line-dried linens, but never did more than hanging sheets to dry. Yesterday included not only the sheets, but the blanket, mattress pad, mattress base cover, and the mattress itself to be aired.

Organ Recital (feel free to skip this part): But I finally received a diagnosis from my doctor on what has likely been causing all of my vague, and not so vague symptoms these past years (asthma, migraines, fatigue, depression).  In a nutshell, I have a problem with mold.  Leaf mold had shown up as something I was allergic to long ago, but I didn't think much more about it, since mold is everywhere, and seemed to only bother me in the fall.  However, one of my symptoms, the asthma, first showed up when we were remodeling our bathroom and showering in the basement in a deck shower.  The doctor found lab markers on me that indicated chronic inflammation in my body.  After running more tests, he determined that my body cannot clear mold the way the majority of people can.  Here is an analogy: when a biotoxin (bacteria, mold, etc.) enters the body, the immune system realizes something is wrong, identifies the invader, and sends in the troops to obliterate it.  In my case, the body recognizes that there is an invader, but can't identify it.  An analogy I read was that it is like a policeman witnessing a crime, taking a photo of the perpetrator, running back to the police station to inform the rest, but the picture is blurry and the culprit unidentifiable.  So, they are all running around looking for this guy, but can't recognize him, so they run around, sort of like the Keystone Cops.  So the immune system is roaming around trying to find it, but can't, and so remains inflamed.  Hence the Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome, or CIRS (pronounce "Sirs" as in "Dear Sirs").  I am now on a medication that will help chelate the mold accumulated in my body.  

*****

We are now looking at reducing the amount of mold I come in contact with.  This is very difficult, because mold is virtually everywhere.  What we have done so far is to invest in an excellent air purifier, be more cognizant of keeping the bathroom ventilated and the towels and shower curtains frequently laundered, and started opening windows more, now that the days are warmer.  Future remedies will be fixing the portion of the basement where there is some water seepage ($$).  That's a big job, and fortunately our basement tested out "borderline" meaning I can live with it until such time as we can afford to fix the basement.  I also found a cute craft online for keeping shower curtains mold free (more on that when I get around to making it).  

Because I have read that bedding can sometimes harbor mold, yesterday's work included undressing our mattress from all of its coverings, and having it sit outside in the sunshine for several hours.  We also placed the base cover on the wash line for airing (we are not to wash that, according to the tag).  Then I washed our brand new "jelly head" as Kristin calls the puffy mattress covers, our blanket, and one set of sheets (will do the same process on the other sheets soon).  Thankfully, Robert and Paul were available to wrestle the mattress in and out of the house.  We placed an airtight, allergy-type zippered cover over it.  We also rotated the mattress when we placed it back in the room (can't flip these newer mattresses, because there is a definite top and bottom).  But the rotating was so nice!  Paul and I slept a lot better last night in our fresh, clean bed.  

The first batch: mattress base covers and the new "jelly head".

Second batch: blanket and sheets.

(P. S. Don't mind the little wood pile in the forefront!)

Organizing The Music - After

My music is now nicely organized, but I would not want to have to do that sort of project again.  I purged quite a bit.  I got somewhat stuck on the arrangement of the files. Alphabetical by composer or title?  A little of both?  What categories go in which file box?  I spent more time than I care to admit figuring this out.  I finally came up with the following categories:

• Alphabetical Harp Solos - (loose copier copies from friends' books, etc. collected over the years)
• Harp Collections and Methods - (for example, Daniel Burton's collection of Mozart Arias, and all technique books)
• Piano, Voice, Flute, and Band Music
• Harp Solos, Christmas/Church, Ensemble, and Miscellaneous - (the solos are ones purchased from publisher, alphabetical by composer, Miscellaneous are things such as harp repair, tuning, etc. books, programs from concerts I want to remember, and so forth)

I found that I had multiple copies of loose music, so I purged the extras.  I collected a pile to give to my teacher, and if she doesn't want it, it can also be recycled.  Then the "fun" began. Sorting and sorting.  Being that I have selective OCD tendencies, it was important to me that the files be arranged symmetrically.  I had five major colors of file folders.  Each color needed to be used in the same order, with the tabs fanning out uniformly across the width of the file box.  This took a lot of time, but the result was pleasing:

Everything managed to fit into the four file boxes I had designated for music.  I also condensed two broken down binders into one, containing only music that I would regularly play at church or at a cocktail hour.  The Christmas and Church music will at some point need to be subdivided somehow, but my brain was fried after this. The file boxes were then labeled, and placed on the shelves in the basement:

Paul and I moved the love seat and book shelf to the west wall, and the harp and my harp shelf to the east.  There is one pile containing music I am currently working on, the single white binder containing my "standards", and music that I am interested in working on once Easter is done.  It is so nice to be organized in this way:

Here is the new furniture arrangement, which looks so much better.  To the left of the harp, by the east window, will go my Little Oratory:

I'm so glad to have this done.  I now know where to find almost any piece of music, my harp area and sacred space are clean and organized.  The next step is the creation of the prayer table (to be constructed using vintage pew ends that someone gave Paul years ago, and he never knew quite what to do with).  My hope is to have the oratory by Easter.

Organizing The Music - Before

Back in the year 2011, five years ago, I had posted about three areas I wanted to organize: sewing stuff, long hair stuff, and music.  I completed the first two that year.  It has taken me five years to get around to organizing the music.  There was a reason for that; the music was all over the place, in large unorganized piles, and the thought of going there was completely overwhelming.  I had four file boxes that I had started organizing previously, but as I said - it was overwhelming, and so nothing was really done.

But in preparation for and during this Lenten season, I have been reading a book called The Little Oratory.  The book is about creating sacred spaces in the home, in particular a prayer table, or oratory, to be a bridge between church and home.  I loved this idea, and wanted it for my home.  But where to put it?  I considered each room of the house.  The dining room is too crowded, as is the sitting room.  The foyer is too busy of a space.  But the parlor, which is also our music room, seemed perfect: quiet, peaceful, and we even have two small stained glass windows there!  The recommendation is that, if possible, if one could be facing east when at the oratory that would be ideal.  But we had our love seat in that space:

However, I thought that if I reversed the placement of everything in the room from east to west, I could have the harp by the window on the right, and the oratory on the left.  This seemed ideal.  But then there was that pesky little problem of disorganization of the music.  I wanted the room to be worthy of a sacred space.  But this is what I saw:

And this was just the tip of the iceberg.  Besides this and the files already in boxes, I had another stack near the files in the basement, and another huge stack in a small cabinet in the dining room.  The writing was on the wall - I had a big job to do, and do it I must.  

It "helped" that right around the time I decided to do this, I had a small cut on my index finger: one of those tiny, but horridly painful cracked skin cuts from winter weather and handwashing as a nurse.  Small as a paper cut, but infinitely more deadly in pain, rendering me unable to practice harp.  So I gathered everything together: all of the music, the four file boxes, file folders, label maker (for the outside file box labels; the label tabs were done by hand or I would be working forever on this), a Sharpie marker, and a good movie to watch:

It is important to note that I did this gradually, over at least a week, because it is boring tedious work.  Plus the fact that I tried to move everything out of the way once done for the day, do we could still live in the space.  It was important to be by a TV while doing this to stave off boredom, but it was right plunk in our living space.  During, before moving out of the way (I Spy - three cats!):

Stayed tuned for the next post: After!

Organizing The Basement (Tales of the Icky)

I have a week off until I have to work a partial shift on Christmas Eve.  I have not had a chance to duff until yesterday.  Prior to that, Paul and I were madly finishing up projects before an appraiser came to our house (another attempt at refinance, let's hope it goes better than last time!).  Among the projects were:

• Stain and polyurethane to wood
• Paul finishing hanging the new front door (photos in a future post - this project was more involved than you might think)
• Finishing up kitchen woodwork (almost done!), but in order to do that, Paul needed access to his table saw, which required.....
• Cleaning and organizing the basement (the icky)

You see, we've been working so long on the kitchen, and the basement became this unorganized mess.  Prior to that it was slightly more organized, but still had lots of clutter we hadn't dealt with.  We started on Saturday; Kristin, Paul, and me.  Although I soon relegated Paul to the skilled labor needed upstairs (woodwork).  It was so bad.  We went through strata of wood, wallboard, plumbing parts, electrical supplies, and old paint.  We let go of much.  All of the stuff we put out in the backyard made our lot look like an episode of Sanford and Son.  All the keepers were sorted and put away.  The saw was extracted from the junk, and Paul was able to fashion the last door jamb, that goes near the new pantry.  We weren't able to finish all, but our house looked much better after, especially the front door and the basement.  We threw out half of the junk pile; next week we'll trash the rest.  

We're waiting to hear on the appraisal.

Before pictures - a nightmare (the table saw is in there somewhere):

Ahhhh, after pictures (table saw unburied):

Reclaiming My Harp Space (with a little tangent about water filtration)

For the past few months I have been in a harp slump.  A lot of it had to do with all of the kitchen cabinet boxes preventing me from actually getting to my harp.  But I was also in a slump in general.

A kitchen remodel is horridly stressful, my diet was terrible, we were unable to use our Reverse Osmosis water filter that I love (and I am very fussy about water - I don't like it to begin with, but having to do without the relative non-taste of RO water and instead drink bottled or tap water was very hard for me).  Incidentally, we did not get the RO filter because I am a fussy princess (!); we got it because I have a thyroid illness, and fluoride, which is in most tap water, is bad for this.  The RO is the only type that can get the fluoride out (at least, that is my understanding).  So I wasn't drinking well, and I am not sure how the exposure to fluoride affected me, if indeed it did.  The point is - my health has not been the best through this.  And when I don't feel well, or feel depressed, I don't play.  Ooo, what a tangent that was!

Anyway, as I mentioned in my previous post, I was inspired to play again by the harpist at The Drake.  But, Paul and I also finally were able to unclutter and clean our parlor, which houses my harp, making it accessible to me.  This was an icky proposition.  You see, we have three cats.  And three cats, combined with three sensitive kitty stomachs, combined with a room that humans cannot get real access to...well, you get the picture.  Vomit-palooza! We also had multitudes of storage boxes and cardboard cabinet containers to deal with. There is still a small amount of stuff to be dealt with, but it looks like a living space now, and, more importantly, a harp space.  I can finally practice comfortably and in clean surroundings.

My new music arrived, the Brahms Intermezzo.  It is a gorgeous arrangement in a Brahms collection by Daniel Burton.  I have begun working on it intently.  It is lovely.

The view from my harp:

Restoring Order From Chaos

Our kitchen project goes on, but we have definitely turned the corner.  We have cabinets, countertops, a working stove, a small but fully-functional dishwasher, an awesome fridge, and now, running water.

It is so lovely to be able to function in the kitchen.  Paul hooked up the sink late last week.  This weekend we started putting things back, as much as we are able to pending certain organizational tweaks we are doing (pot & pan organizer, lazy susan shelf trays, etc. to be shipped in the coming days).  Today I continued putting things away and organizing.  The fridge, although new, has been with us for almost a month, and needed a wipe down inside.  I also moved some of the of the food that was housed in the basement fridge upstairs.  I stopped by Mariano's and got some nice produce.  It's time to eat healthy again since the kitchen is open for business!

Two really special things that have occurred now that we are moving back into the kitchen are: 

1. Reclaiming the dining room table, where lots of kitchen stuff was sitting for months
2. Having a cup of tea!  There was really nowhere to set up my tea kettle and brewing cup.  

We have had family dinner at the dining room table the past two nights.  Our dining room was so bad, it literally looked like a hoarder's house.  It was so nice to unclutter and clean it, and use it again for its proper purpose.  This afternoon I brewed a cup of tea in the mug Aunt Martha gave me long ago.  It's battered and bruised, but it feels like home to me.

I'm so glad to be getting back to normal, but a new, delightful normal with this wonderful kitchen Paul has created for me.  More photos to follow in the upcoming weeks.  

Organizing a Child's Room

First, you may wonder where I have been.  I have been very busy with my new job, and it has been an emotional roller coaster.  But after a very sad week at work last week, I have had some time off and rested up.  Today I finished a project Paul and I started a week and a half ago: organizing Tyler's room.

His room was a *bit* of a disaster.  He had no real storage other than his closet (with no shelves) and too many toys.  There were Legos everywhere.  It got so bad I couldn't get in to vacuum.  Dusting?  Forget about it.  I will show you some Before pictures, followed by After.

Tyler, looking a little unhappy with his messy room!

More mess.

His closet, note the inadequate bookshelf (from when he was an infant), and the lack of toy storage.

So, we looked online for Lego storage solutions (the brunt of the problem).  We found a great suggestion on the website I Heart Organizing, which was to purchase some IKEA Trofast drawers (shown in photo below, note that you can get many combinations of drawer sizes and colors, most of the stock of drawers is in the IKEA warehouse rather than on the showroom floor in case you are hunting for them).  Paul assembled them (for once, an IKEA assembly that did not take hours), and he is in the process of making color labels for each drawer. Then the long, arduous process of sorting Legos into their drawers. Robert and Tyler reassembled some of the sets, which we bagged and placed in their own drawer.  Besides the colors, we also have a drawer for characters and "specials" (unusual pieces or special props).  There are some smaller storage boxes for other completed sets next to the drawers, and we used one of the old Lego plastic boxes for his "build bucket" (a bucket to put works in progress into, see link here).

Paul also got an inexpensive bookshelf from Home Depot for the closet.  We went through Tyler's toys, and fortunately he was willing to give away some of them.  The rest were went on the new bookshelf.  We used one of the now emptied baskets to make a little game storage for video games.  We also are waiting for a spinning video two-sided tower to be delivered, which will then go in a corner with all of his videos placed on it (currently they are in the hall).  I finished the final pick up and sort today, gave the room a thorough cleaning.  I cannot tell you how nice it feels to have his room clean and organized, and to know that he can now help keep it picked up.  And that he will enjoy his room so much more now.  

The Trofast storage.  Note the shocking lack of Legos on the floor!

The organized closet.  (Note the wooden stove and hutch in the back - my dad made those, and my sisters and I had years of fun with them!)

Much better.  Tyler ran around on the rug once it was mostly clear and exclaimed, "It will be so much more fun when I have playdates now.  We can run around!".