TGIF, my friends! I can’t believe it’s Friday already. Where has this week gone?? Today I want to share with you a few of my favorite storage solutions that help me stay organized. Or, at least as much as I CAN be!
I admit I am not very naturally organized, so I must work hard at it. So, anything that can help me, I welcome with open arms! Take for instance our Butler’s Pantry. My husband and I recently gave this room a huge makeover with paint, lighting, etc. To read more about this see here: Butler’s Pantry Reveal! In order to better utilize the space in the new pantry, we took an old broom closet shown below…..
And added pull-out shelves! I mean, who wants to waste such valuable storage space on brooms? We installed 5 pull-out shelves, but in reality, we could have added at least one or two more. But, we have lots of space now!
Initially my husband, Brad and I, went to Lowe’s to order the drawers and hardware but they were SO expensive! They were going to charge us over $100 for each of the drawer glides and $125 for each of the drawers. Yikes! So Brad ended up finding them online for significantly less. They were custom made in Hickory, NC and took about 6 weeks to arrive, so that slowed us down a bit. But, once they arrived, Brad installed them starting from the bottom and working up. I am LOVING this newly organized space! Now everything is within easy reach. And all of the canned items are neatly arranged so I can find what I’m looking for at a glance, or know when something is running low, and add it to my grocery list.
Vertical storage is a GOOD thing, especially for kitchen tools such as cutting boards and cookie sheets. These dividers attach to the bottom of the cabinet and offer perfect housing for these awkward items. It’s so much easier to find what you are looking for when stored this way. And less noisy.
In our last house we had a pull out spice drawer, which was located in the lower cabinet adjacent to the stove. It was handy, but I had to squat down to see the spices. And, I’m not as young as I used to be, so in this house, we have a spice drawer! There is a plastic insert that holds the spices on angled shelves so you can see them all at a glance. We keep our most frequently used spices in this drawer. One day I will get around to switching out the spices to all one brand and shape bottles. (Why does this bug me that they don’t match? #ocd) Then maybe I will alphabetize them too! Not.
One of the kitchen drawers holds a built-in metal silverware caddy. Each compartment separately corrals knives, forks, spoons, etc. making it quick and easy to put away clean dishes or grab what you need. (Pay no attention to the hodgepodge of corn diggers, spreaders, oyster shuckers, etc. They need to go somewhere!)
With no upper cabinetry in the kitchen, we had to think strategically where and how we store everything kitchen related. And it’s worked out great! A bank of large pull-out drawers house all of our dishes and cookware. We tweaked a few things after we moved in, but now we are accustomed to the layout and it’s fun cooking and dining in this space! This is the view of the kitchen from the great room. I’m kind of glad we don’t have upper cabinets. It might look cluttered with them, don’t you think?
I”m so thankful my husband is so handy and is able to install things like pull-out drawers, etc. But, you can also have it done professionally through companies like Shelf-Genie or California Closets. Do you have any storage tricks that you’d like to share? Do tell! I feel like the summer is slipping by so quickly! I’ve been working on a few more DIY projects that I”ll share soon. Meanwhile, I hope you have a FABULOUS weekend, sweet friends! Thank you for stopping by and be sure to check out my Instagram @dellsdailydish. xoxo Dell
