Our Un-Pinnable Dining Room

If you're looking for a room reveal, you've come to the wrong blog, sister.

This post is about this poor room.

It's having an identity crisis.

It doesn't know if it's a Music Room, Dining Room, or Office.

It hasn't figured out how we use it yet.

Do we eat here? 

Not yet.

But we want to have Sunday dinners (or any day, really)

and we see lots of folks seated around the table.

Do we play music here? 

More than anything else, so far.

When Miss S (our older daughter, classical pianist) plays for us

between classes and working

and when we crank up the new old record player.

Do we work here?

I have set up my laptop on the table and am calling this my future office.

(I also sewed a button on my daughter's khaki pants here today.)

I will be working on selling the pile of things to left of the piano,

things that we brought along with us during the move thinking we may use 

or need them (we don't) on eBay.

I've started covering the blood red walls with

Sherwin Williams Silvermist, and it's a magical color that

looks gray in the morning and evening and blue in the afternoon.

It's quite calming and a perfect color for the room-in-the-middle-of-the-house.

There's a pile under the light switch of other things I'm listing on Craigslist.

We've decided that this room needs to serve all three purposes:

Music Room

Dining Room

Office

Figuring that out has become quite a challenge.

But we're aiming for something like this.

via

Plus this.

via

And a little of this.

via

And if the room is confused now,

it will really be befuddled by the time we're done!

In the meantime, I will continue to work to make this house our home,

to make spaces in it where we can dream and sing and dance,

to create a haven for those who need a respite within its walls

whether friend or foe,

to daily remember that this home is not ours, but belongs to the Lord.

And with those things in mind,

we'll make a million tiny decisions so we can glorify God with our belongings.

September's Organize It "Link Party"

Welcome to the September Organize It! linky party hosted by the Top Organizing Bloggers! 

Do you have a room or project you've been working on organizing? 

We'd love to have you share it here! 

Check out the categories below and link up in the appropriate space. 

We can't wait to see what you've been up to! 

Our favorites throughout the month will be pinned to our Organize It! Pinterest board.

1. Must be organizing related. 2. Must have the button or a text link, linked back to one of our 8 blogs. 3. Must be a new link up each month (No duplicates). 4. A maximum of 2 posts may be linked up each month. 5. Please link to the correct category. 6. The link up must be your own work. *We have the right to delete any link ups that do not follow the rules.
 The event will last all of September. You can link up on the first day, the last or any day in between. Make sure you only link up a maximum of 2 organizing posts per month. We will share our favorite linked up blog posts on "Organize It!", our Pinterest page. Have fun, get lots of inspiration and share the party with the world!

{right click on the button above and save to your computer to upload to your post}

A Bit of (re)Organizing in the Kitchen

I know you're probably wondering where the afters of my pantry are.

The pantry is almost finished, we're just waiting on the caulk and paint to dry

and a few other details.

Come next week, it should be done!

In the meantime, the kitchen was driving us crazy.

When we unpacked last month, we simply put our kitchen gadgets and serving things away

with no real rhyme or reason to their placement.

In fact, it has taken us a few weeks to understand the "flow" of this home:

the way we fetch meals and serve them and our schedules for shopping and putting away food.

Our (now both of them) live-at-home college girls are out the door in the morning,

(as of this past week)

and looking for coffee or tea and some breakfast before they go.

My hubby loves the cereal I make and has that every morning.

The chaos was that the mugs/glasses were on one side of the kitchen,

the plates/bowls on another, and the utensils on yet another side.

(Oh! And the napkins in a totally different room!)

Talk about a morning traffic jam!

Now that we have some semblance of a routine,

I was able to create work/eat zones in our kitchen.

It is not finished yet...this is just part one of several changes we're going to make.

Here's what the kitchen looked like yesterday when I started.

This side of the kitchen held the baking/cooking items

but we found ourselves here making toast and sandwiches and placing the dinner buffet instead.

The less frequently used items were on the most frequently used side of the room.

And the niche above the counter and between the cabinets was calling out to me saying,

"Make me into a coffee breakfast bar area!!"

 This side of the kitchen looked like this.

And we have TOO much cabinet space!

The dishwasher is below this cabinet instead of near the sink

(old house = weird placement of newer technology),

and the countertop is butcher block, and perfect for making and baking on.

Another odd placement of newer technology is the microwave over the window.

Behind the window, is the added on in the 50s back entryway.

It has three glorious windows in it and so this ledge gets lots of lovely light.

This area was calling out to me saying,

"Make me into a potted herb garden!"

(Yes, these really are all the cookbooks I own, Pinterest is where I store most of my recipes.)

I knew when we first walked through this house

that I wanted to make open cabinetry in here to expand the space visually.

I just didn't know which side of the room it would be.

It'll be this side!

This is during the moving around process.

You gotta make a mess sometimes to create order.

See the pantry to the right above?

This is our Breakfast room off the kitchen.

After a bit more tweaking (and purging) and moving dishes in 

from the Breakfast Room next door, we have this.

(Nothing is arranged yet, I'll be painting the cabinets and backs of the cabinets

this weekend and then re-placing everything.)

It's a good start, handy for us and guests.

Every dish or canister was found at Goodwill or a yard sale.

The cooking baking side of the kitchen is now here.

My cooking and baking spices were once separated, but now they

are reunited (and it feels so good) once again.

(The colander goes above the glass bowls--it's dirty and in the sink.)

Behind the window and out on the back entryway 

are all the things that used to be in our garage which is why you see

orange wire and debris out the window.

Our basement needs to be sealed and dried and then those things will be stored there.

This baking corner is perfect because it's near the sink.

And now each shelf has a purpose.

It's a good start.

(I'll keep you updated as we make changes.)

We'll now be in testing phase of this re-organization.

Is there an area of your kitchen that's making you crazy?

Change it!

I have some awesome news!

Starting Sunday, and all through the month of September,

I and my other Organizing Blogger girlfriends,

are taking turns through next year hosting an:

Make sure to pin this page and come back by for the next few weeks and share

your organization-related post with us! 

We will be pinning our favorites to our Organize It! Pin Board.

Have a beautiful day making your home!

Our Craftsman Pantry :: Before

After finally finishing the painting of the living room,

I am ready to tackle this kitchen's pantry.

About time too, because we closed on this house a few weeks ago,

and the pantry has pretty much looked like this ever since.

It hasn't inspired me to cook very often.

And I'm thinking that my family is getting tired of PB&Js, cereal, and pizza.

(And eating out is getting expensive.)

It's a nice little space and I am oh, so grateful for it.

It measures 4 feet deep by 4 1/2 feet wide by 9 feet tall.

A green flyswatter isn't an appetizing feature, either, I'm guessing.

Our last pantry had wire shelving, so we were elated that this space has real wood shelving!

Against the wall behind the door, is this wooden storage thing.

The last owner had her canned goods in it, and it seems to be perfect for that.

I may or may not keep it in this spot, I may move it on the wall where the dustpan is

since we're going to be keeping the cleaning products/helpers out in the laundry/mud room.

Then again, I may remove it altogether.

This is behind the door (and extremely hard to photograph).

It's an original window and screen of some sort.

There is framing for the laundry room behind the window.

What did people do in 1938 that they needed a hinged screen and latched window

off the kitchen onto the porch?

Does anyone have a clue?

I've gathered some supplies:

8 baskets (already had these)

 6 IKEA Variera shelf liners ($3.99 a roll)

4 IKEA Variera shelf storage risers ($4.99 each)

Quart of Clark+Kensington paint, color: "Home Song" (free last Saturday at Ace Hardware)

2 four-pack Martha Stewart chalk tags ($3.99 each at Staples)

I'm going in...

and I may emerge in a few days.

As a professional organizer, I've had some experience with a walk-in pantry 

or two. Click HERE to see one of the largest and well-laid out pantries

I've had the pleasure of organizing.

Please have a wonderful day and, as I told my FaceBook peeps recently:

Let's focus today, not on our "have-nots" and wants, 

but rather on our "haves" and present blessings. 
Why not take a moment right now to pause and thank God 

for the place He's given you to live?
Accept your home and be content in it. 

Offer it to the Lord today to do with as He pleases and ask Him 

to send His creativity through your home as you use it 

to serve your family and all those He will send your way.
Don't be ashamed of your things, for in them lie possibilities.
Remember what Jesus was able to do with water (turn into wine) 

and a few fish and a few loaves of bread (fed a tiny city)-- 

He is able to do anything with what you bring to Him in faith.

UPDATE!

It's finished and you can see it HERE.