Extra Kitchen Storage

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”  -- Confucius

I've been on a tear to de-clutter our home. We have a garage that has been converted into...extra space. It's not a completely finished room, so we use it for storage. We moved into our house in October of 2005 and since that time, the converted garage has become our cluttered little secret.  Well, I guess the cat is out of the bag now. 

Anyway, the garage/conversion is my husband's pet project. In the meantime, I'm doing my annual spring cleaning in the fall. Now that we have a child, I'm on a mission to really de-clutter each room. There's something about all those toys and toy pieces that we've accumulated in just a year that has me a bit frazzled. When my house gets too much stuff, I get overwhelmed and feel almost smothered. I'm sure I get this trait from my mother. She's the kind of woman who wakes up at 6am every day to vacuum her house. 

She cleans EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. 

I'm a stay at home mom and I just can't clean every OTHER day, let alone every day. 

Anyway! 

I mentioned this canned food cabinet tutorial at Classy Clutter to  my dear husband and he really liked the idea. We have a very tiny kitchen - some might say a "one butt" kitchen. We don't have a pantry and we have very few cupboards. This cabinet would fit perfectly in the empty space right next to our fridge and utilize all that vertical real estate. 

So, when my husband's parents came to visit, I suggested this little project for he and his step-father to do together. Bonding and de-cluttering - win/win, right?

Here's some pictures of the completed project:

My son, Baby J, and our cat, Eddie, inspect the merchandise.

Exterior view.

What would we do differently? Not much. My husband stayed pretty true to the tutorial. The only thing he would like to change is the casters. Right now, they are free rolling casters that seem to have a mind of their own. He'd like to try and find static casters to keep them rolling in one direction as it can be a little tough to wrangle the cabinet back into it's cubby hole.

This was another great Pinterest find. Big props to the ladies of Classy Clutter for this awesome idea and detailed tutorial. 

Burlap Rag Wreath for Fall

"By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summer’s best of weather
And autumn’s best of cheer."
- Helen Hunt Jackson

I love the end of summer in Texas. The weather is PERFECT this time of year. As unpredictable as our climate can be, it stays pretty comfortable until late November. Instead of oppressive heat, we have beautiful, balmy, weather and delicious breezes. 

To celebrate the first day of fall, I finally completed my wreath project! It took some time for me to gather my supplies. I couldn't find orange burlap anywhere! I finally ordered some online and it got here in a couple of days.  

I'd seen this one on Pinterest a couple of months ago and just fell in love with it. So, using it as my inspiration, I set to work looking for rag wreath tutorials that were easy to follow. I finally found one at Six Sisters Stuff that fit the bill. There's no need for me to do a write-up because they did a great job! 

I vaguely followed the instructions as I didn't really take time to measure my strips of burlap. I just eyeballed them and decided on a length that looked good to me. I also used their bow tutorial as a guideline for my own bow. Just like the wreath, I didn't follow it to the "tee" but I think mine turned out pretty well. 

The hardest part was tieing all that burlap! It's a rough material and my hands do ache a bit but it was worth it! I really love my new wreath and I'm proud that I can say I made it all by myself. 

No-Sew Drapes

"A clean house is the sign of a broken computer. "

Okay, my computer isn't broken. But our home office has been neglected for FAR too long. We recently had new floors installed and that set that wheels in motion to get the rest of the house all spiffy-fied.

Our office closet

Our office closet is an eyesore. The doors were removed for reasons I do not recall. I think it had only one door? Anyway, the shelf is sagging and the two litter boxes are placed on the floor of the closet since we have no other place to put them. As you can see, we're in the process of painting the walls (finally). So, I needed an easy way to hide the ugliness within the closet and still keep it functional for our three cats.

Hey! Drapes! That'll work!

Mind you - I do not sew. I never learned. I don't know how. I'm intimated by needles, thread, patterns, and sewing machines. Someday, I may brave a sewing class or two. For now, though, I need a no sew kind of project. Enter Pinterest.

I found this awesome step by step at Kathie's blog, Krafty Kat.

The supplies are pretty simple: fabric, scissors, fuse tape, measuring tape, pins, iron, and ironing board.

I won't write up a step by step as Kathie did a great job. I will say that my husband and I used Stitch Witchery instead of the Heat n' Bond that Kathie used with her drapes. We had to use a damp cloth when ironing the drapes to get the tape to work.

My sweet husband, J, helps by ironing the fuse tape to hem the drapes.

If I had to do it all over again, I'd definitely use the Heat n' Bond. That is why I've since purchased some and have stowed it away with my other crafting supplies.

Here are the finished drapes. Please keep in mind that the room is far from finished. We still have painting left to do, shelves, a window cornice, paint the wicker shelf (where our cats dine), and other decor for the room. To be continued...