Last week I mentioned that I ordered this Hemnes Glass-Door Cabinet from Ikea.
It was delivered Friday and I had it assembled Saturday morning.
Then I started moving in.
All the blogging and photography dishes that were crammed into other cabinets in my kitchen, in random spaces and places, stacked dangerously high, and just wedged in anywhere I could find a spot are now all in one place.
And boy, does it feel good because I can see the forest from the trees.
Clutter makes me nervous, I hate it, I can’t function when things are cluttered or visually in a messy state. Yes, my kitchen and house are always clean and neat, not just staged for photos.
I made piles and stacks. I love piles and stacks and organization.
Enter a stack of blue plates.
Rather than wondering where exactly in my over-run mess of kitchen cabinets the small turquoise saucer with the ruffled edge is hiding, now I know exactly where to find it.
And the woods.
And underneath that is the antique silverware in a basket.
In addition to getting all the dishes in one place, my actual kitchen cabinet space freed up and I moved things around within my cupboards, which is a project I had been wanting to do since we moved in a mere 14 months ago.
Now flour, sugars, vanilla, and everyday baking items are all within arm’s reach of where I stand and cook, which will make life easier and more efficient. When I moved in, I tried to guess where I wanted to store things but until you really live in a house and use it, you’re only guessing at the “perfect” spot for a certain item.
Scott said he thought the cabinet was classy, looked great, and “enhances the room”.
Any man who tells me that my girlie blogging dishes enhance the primary portion of our living space is a man I will love forever.
The best part of the Hemnes cabinet is that I have not maxed it out and have room to grow.
The top and bottom shelves are empty and there are ways I can easily re-stack and re-order the existing items to make more room.
Because there’s always more shopping to do.
Have you done any home re-organization projects lately?
This one was on my list for the past 6 to 12 months but in the recent past it just became a necessity.
I was running out of places to put dry goods and sugar because there were blue plates in the way. The horrors.
Certain projects that seem small to others can feel great to the person who completed it and making things more organized and freeing up space in my kitchen and is just the best feeling.
Do you have any projects on your to-do list?
The next one that I should tackle but don’t have immediate plans to actually do it, is a bookshelf or bookshelf system.
I have a fairly sizable collection of cookbooks, not to mention old magazines (food, lifestyle, yoga) that I want to hang onto, and of course non-cookbook books. Right now the majority of books and magazines are in boxes in my closet. Books are so heavy and I don’t want to move them over and over within the house, up and down stairs, until I figure out exactly where I want them but it’s a bigger project than I want to tackle right now.
If you have any household projects you’ve completed, home organization pieces of furniture or items that have really helped you stay clutter-free and organized around your house, link it up.
The cabinet looks great! I’m still totally jealous of your kitchen ;)
Love your plate collection and I adore the glass doors so that you can see all the pretty things inside! I display mine similarly (though it could use a serious clean out these days!)
And keep me posted if you end up making any more C. Tosi recipes. Random comment reply but I know you have the book and always curious about others’ results.
The cabinet looks great! I actually just started organizing my health shelf in my kitchen. I have one shelf that has all of my healthy things- dried fruit, raw nuts, powders, sweetners, etc. For a while I was just throwing things up on the shelf and then when I needed them had a difficult time finding it. Yesterday I grouped like items on the shelf in a way that I could see everything. Now I have extra space!
I need to do that with my shelves. They start out with a “system” when I move into a place and then time passes and it becomes a hodge-podge!
That’s a great storage unit and you have adorable plates!
We went to Target recently and bought white square “cubbies” for our hallway with brightly colored baskets. We are very soon adding a fourth person to this tiny 2BR, 1 BA house, and it turns out…babies come with a lot of stuff. Also, my husband is taking this weird cutout in our hallway that the previous owner used as a place for her cat little box into a real closet with a door, shelves, and lighting.
isn’t it crazy how a 7 lb person has 700 lbs of GEAR and stuff! Good luck!
I love it! I am on a mission to de-clutter this summer. We were so busy this spring, that things got out of control. I am with you, clutter makes me nervous. That’s why I don’t collect anything.
I LOVE how your new cabinet lets the colors of your dishes pop. And, I’m jealous of your dish collection! It always feels sooo good to be organized! Right now I’m in an online organizing project-I moved from wordpress to a “.com” so it’s taking a lot of my time. I’m having fun trying to learn more about websites though! Cheers to organization!
good call on making that blog transition…it’s a total PITA but worth it in the end!
I love how it looks in your living room! I also love how pristinely clean and organized your house is. I am also extremely neat and organized, but since I opened my business in January, I have a few projects that have piled up and I need to get them under control: the garage needs to be organized and cardboard boxes taken to recycling, my freezer needs to be cleaned out, my dining room cabinets need to be cleaned with soap and water and all dishes placed back in, neat and tidy like!
That does not include the daily responsibilities of life (which I love) but crowd out time for other projects, too. All in good time…:-)
We don’t even have a garage…we have 1 parking space. So yeah, we have to be uber-careful or our small urban pad could become over-run in about 2 days! Good luck with your projects!
I really need a cabinet for my blogging dishes. It would be perfect on so many levels. (1) I could finally have things organized (2) I could probably buy more because I would realize I don’t actually have that many (3) Maybe I will feel more calm with more organization?
P.S. I’m really jealous of your clean and organized home. Can you send me some of those cleaning/organizing vibes?
you know what’s funny…I was just oogling over Deborah/Tasteandtell’s pin of one of your goodies..and BAM you are here. All 3 points of what you mentioned, YES! And mine was to the point things were stacked, wedged, and seriously…in fear of breaking things!
I’m kind of obsessed with this post. I am the exact same way about organization and cleanliness. Drives me insane when everything isn’t in its proper place. The new cabinet looks fantastic, I would literally be giddy and deliriously happy after finishing a project like that! Congrats!
I AM giddy and deliriously happy – seriously so much, over just this cabinet, but I am!
I totally need a cabinet like that for my plates and other dishes! My collection is getting quite large (although not as large as yours!)
Want to steal your props…really. X0 Liz
LOL. It’s a never-ending thing…I love it and have to restrain myself from prop shopping!
Looks really cool, love this cabinet! Hehe, I did a huge re-organization about 3 weeks ago, I didn’t even blog for a few days. It wasn’t planned, I just wanted my new vase to look better on the fireplace mantel and ended up painting the mantel, re-organizing closets, teenager’s room, and leaving room. as you know, we have one more year left here and I am keeping it low, I mean we don’t buy much, only what we really need and food. I am the same: clutter makes me uncomfortable, not that I ever had it in my home, but when I see it in someone’s home, I come back home and clean my already clean house five days on a row… :) My husband always makes a joke about it, telling me that I clean a wrong house. :)
cleaning the wrong house…love it! LOL
Your cabinet looks great! I need to invest in a cabinet!!
Love your new cabinet–it looks great in your living room too! My last re-organization project involved dishes and my recipe binder. I also got rid of old utensils and useless items that were just taking up space in the drawers. Our next big project involves painting the exterior of the house this fall….so I am thinking about color schemes.
painting the house…now THAT is a project. Good luck!
i love your color-order! What a lovely way to display your collection AND organize…I totally get what you mean about the chaos of clutter!
my closet is color-organized, too. what can I say…ha!