And not just because I haven't wiped the counters down lately (we'll play along with the illusion that all that's messy is some crumbs). We've been in the townhouse for six months now, which - yay for not moving for six months, that's cool - but it's also long enough to figure out what elements of my slap-dash organization are not working.
Like...most of it.
Redoing the whole thing top to bottom the way I want because of the whole finishing-a-book-about-someone-with-a-more-organized-kitchen thing.
Here are the things I know I need to do:
1. Make sure everything earns its place.
I'm not a minimalist. It's not inherently a bad thing - and often very useful - but it does mean there's a lot of stuff to find homes for. This kitchen is about 2/3 the size of our last one, so it takes a bit of doing.
Wedding china? Not using it much, and it's in some prime real estate.
And in my specialty baking supplies that I don't use most nights? In my one deep drawer. Considering that the dishtowels, the clean ones, live in a Nordstrom Rack back on my dining room floor, I'm thinking there's some shifting to be done.
2. Make sure we can see the stuff that needs to be seen.
My flour and sugar canisters live on the kitchen island. Nothing good would come from the sugar being put away (see: Danny's sweetened coffee habit), so they stay - but the canisters could use some paint. Also, butter. Butter is good. Butter is life. Butter needs to be out.
3. Reclaim vertical space.
You know, when you're tall and you have nine-foot ceilings, there's no reason not to. So maybe the dishtowels will live in a wall-mounted basket. I'd be good with that.
4. Create a landing place for things that tend to float.
Salt. Pepper. Teapots. Juicers. I did create a breakfast drawer, with my oatmeal toppings, so that's kept my sundry oatmeal supplies from taking up residence on the island.
5. Make it pretty. I really like our place, but my biggest issue is that the kitchen is in the direct sight-line from the door - it's a straight line from the entryway to the kitchen sink. And making a functional kitchen sink area pretty is...not easy. So soon, there will be a curtain. And maybe something pretty and non-functional on the windowsill.
And, like I mentioned, there's going to be some painting of the glass flour and sugar canisters. I planned to etch them, originally, but now I'm thinking of giving them a brightly colored dose of paint.
Those are my plans for my kitchen - what are yours? And if your kitchen is well-settled, how did it get there?
Want to see before and after photos of the canisters :). This is good, my kitchen could use a re-organization as well.
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