You know how some days your plans don’t quite happen the way you expect them to? That’s exactly what happened in our home yesterday. My plans included some schoolwork, some kitchen work, and some rhubarb harvesting… but, as I began the kitchen work, I got a little side-tracked. Here is what happened.

BEFORE:

Our home was built in the early 1970s in central IL. We have redone much of the kitchen because it was made wheelchair accessible originally, which meant my then 1 year old could turn the stove on… however, having redone part of the kitchen, we left the center island cabinetry and pantry. One side houses our food, the other side our china-ware.

This upper cabinet (above photo) has always been a mystery to me. I tend to lose things back far into its’ depths… no matter how I organize. But, I keep searching for the secret! You will see we are no purists here in these photos. We have snack foods, too! Everything isn’t homemade.

AFTER:

As with many projects, I didn’t know it was before until I had not taken a photo. Ha! So, what you don’t see in these below cabinets are the swing away centers my oldest son took out for me. At the time, I’m sure they were state of the art- perfect for cans! We do not eat much from cans so they don’t quite work in our pantry. But, with those out, we can see right into the back shelving and grab what we need. I even added labels!

One side is as it has been for over a year: glass jars we store our grains, beans, and popcorn in. The other side is for our convenience foods like pasta and peanut butter. The molasses and honey can get super sticky, so I added a paper bowl underneath them to help with mess.

BEFORE:

This area is our baking cabinet mostly, though the top is used for crackers and nuts. You can see the messy desk in the background… catch all… it is next on the list!

AFTER:

It may not look as nice to you, but to me… it is definitely much better! I do not currently have a good solution for potatoes, so they fall here.

BEFORE:

Ah, the fridge and freezer… this, I have found out, when clean, is my Sweet Husbands’ delight. A clean fridge is better for him that many other areas of the house.

AFTER:

Take no note of the dirty rug… it is getting washed too. This weekend, we hope to get more raw milk so things will shift a bit yet again. And, as we go through the week, our leftover containers ebb and flow. The drawers were not bad and so left alone. The main issues with the freezer were the 1) three cooked chicken carcasses waiting to be made into broth and 2) bulk frozen fruit longing to be turned into jam. I moved them to our deep freezer until such a time presents itself.

I wasn’t able to load the photos of messy sink and then clean sink… but you can view them on our Facebook page!

What are you organizing this spring?

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