My Slightly Organized Kitchen Drawers and Cupboards

Hi everyone! Today I am sharing my "slightly organized" kitchen drawers and cupboards. I am labeling this "slightly organized: because BOY do we have far to go. This is a starting point and I truly hope that one day my drawers and cupboards will be Home Edit worthy but for now at least we know where to find everything!

For now we just have random organizers inside the drawers but I definitely want to create a more uniform look in the future but will be buying items slowly since buying a ton of product does get super pricey. Also, I feel like we filled up this kitchen super fast! We have been in this house for one whole year at this point and when we moved here I felt like we had so much room and now I could use some more space! My mom keeps telling me that everyone feels this way about their home, that there's never enough space but I know our house is on the smaller side so we will have to figure that out one day!

Anyways, let's take a look at what's going on in those kitchen drawers and cupboards and what my plans are for this kitchen in the future.

Here are my first two kitchen drawers. These hold all of our silverware and other kitchen utensils. The silverware organizer is just a cheap one that we picked up from Target back when we first moved into our apartment years ago and it works just fine but I would love one that is lighter and brighter. Also, our silverware is only a few years old but I can see it starting to tarnish. I need to either figure out how to fix that or purchase some new silverware at some point. Anyways let's take a closer look at each of these drawers.

Keep in mind too that our dishwasher was running at this point so some items are missing. I would like to get a slim container to hold all of our chip clips which all just get placed on the side of the silverware. In the back behind the silverware we also need a small container that can hold all the random items that get shoved back there. 

This drawer is full of organizers but also full of a ton of stuff! Tim and I need to go through this drawer together and decide if there are items we can get rid of. When I went through it by myself I identified a lot of items I could get rid of but I never want to get rid of things without checking with Tim since he is the true cook of the house. 

We also have a ton of coozies but I can't bring myself to get rid of some since they came from events we went to. I definitely need to declutter though. After watching Get Organized with The Home Edit on Netflix I feel ashamed that my kitchen doesn't look as pretty as they make others look!

This is our double cabinet that holds some of our food. The rest of our food is on the back of our basement door and on the shelves at the top of our basement stairs. I purged a ton of items in this cabinet right before this picture was taken. We also needed to grocery shop so there isn't a ton in here but honestly I prefer it that way!

This is our appliance cabinet, along with our cutting boards and grilling tools. We have quite a bit and I don't love the look of appliances on the countertops so it's nice that we are able to store them down in this cabinet. 

This is our notorious junk drawer. I don't love the concept of junk drawers, but there is definitely a need to store these types of items. These containers slide around in the drawer and drive me crazy. I need to purchase some museum putty to hold them in place. Add that to the "to buy" list.

This cabinet holds all our Tupperware on the top and our bowls and plates on the bottom two shelves. I love our fiestaware dishes. This is one of the cabinets I feel pretty okay about and there's not much I can do to make it any different!

Our island has two pull out drawers which are great for our pots and pans. I like the way that the top drawer looks with our colanders, pots, and glass trays. It is definitely nice and neat which I appreciate.

The second drawer however.....I'm not sure what to do here. There isn't enough room here for any organizer and we probably have too many pans. Right now it's just a lot of stacking and unstacking items but some day I will find a solution for it!

Also in the island we have three smaller drawers. The top holds some of Sophie's items. We keep smaller treats and some other items in here. 

I am a dish towel hoarder. This drawer is full of dish towels and there are a few molds for dog treats inside there as well. I am not allowed to buy any more dish towels! I always find such cute ones and can't help myself. 

This drawer holds our cling wrap, aluminum wrap, and all our ziplock bags. Honestly we don't use these items all the time so it's nice to have them in a bottom drawer where we don't need to reach for them constantly.

Our corner cabinet holds all of our glasses and mugs. We have far too many for only two humans living in the house. The top shelf looks slightly empty but that's because we had a few in the dishwasher, it is honestly normally full. We definitely don't need anything else in this cabinet!

This next cabinet holds random dishes, measuring cups and mixing bowls. I am in and out of here whenever I'm cooking for the mixing bowls and measuring cups but I honestly don't use any of our serving dishes very often. I love the Disney dishes my college roommate Megan gave us for our wedding but we haven't had much of a chance to use them yet!

Above our microwave we have all our spices. This is fairly organized although I would love to make this look more uniform in the future. I also want to make new labels and have bigger spice jars. 

This little drawer next to our stove just holds our oven mitts. 

We have this little cupboard next to the stove with a super small cabinet door. I just keep a few appliances in here including the blender I use daily.

Above our refrigerator I keep items we don't access every day. Vases are on the left and then on the right we have a ton of water bottles and cups that we received from different events. We could probably go through this cabinet and get rid of quite a bit but that will be a future project.

Lastly, under the kitchen sink! I decluttered this area before taking this picture but I do need to order some products to make this area look a bit nicer. I also plan to put some liner down to brighten this area up. I am thinking about getting some lazy susans for the cleaning products and some containers to hold things like trash bags and sponges. 

So that's a tour of my slightly organized kitchen. I hope that some day my kitchen will be as beautiful as The Home Edit makes kitchens look! I will definitely keep you updated on any updates I make and I plan to get started soon!

Have a great day everyone!

 

One Year

Guys. It's been ONE year that we've been in our house!!! Can you believe it?! 

One year ago yesterday we started moving in but we actually reached the one year mark of owning our home on September 12th. Let's recap some of the changes that have happened in the last year of home ownership, shall we?

I shared the news that we had officially bought our house and I shared when we moved. 

Our first project (before even moving in) was painting all of the kitchen cabinets.

We brought Sophie home.

We went to Ikea and did a few small projects with Ikea organizers. and purchased some Ikea furniture. We bought some new kitchen appliances from Home Depot.

We decorated for Christmas, bought some new decor, and figured out how to deal with having no pantry.

I made extensive to-do lists for our house interior and the exterior.

I straightened up our office.

We updated our wall decor and bought some cool wall art for our kitchen. 

We installed new blinds- finally some privacy!

I organized some kitchen drawers (check back on Wednesday to see inside all our kitchen drawers and cupboards!)

Some small house updates were made, did some yard work, learned all about gardening, and Tim built a walkway all by himself!

Once that was completed I created some new front gardens. I managed to keep everything alive that I planted! I have been loving having gardens this summer and can't wait to add on next year!

Can you believe we completed all that stuff in our first year here? Tim is currently working on a project right now and I will drop a little teaser picture right here....

Any guesses what we are up to?

Cheers to another year of projects in our first home!

Fall Decorating!

Well it's officially September and you know what that means.... time for fall decorating!

This past Saturday was rainy and gross so it was the perfect day to haul my fall decor out of the basement and get it set up. I know it seems a little early but this year I was more than ready to change things up in our home since I am home pretty much 24/7 lately! Last fall was our first fall in our home and I didn't buy anything new decor-wise since I had to be so careful about what I had out with a new puppy. After I pulled out my one bin of decor I realized I had a ton of dish towels so I went through and decluttered what I didn't need anymore. Then I realized I don't really have that much decor. I know I don't have a huge space to decorate but I am going to try to start collecting some more decor. 

To see previous years fall decor:

• Fall 2018 Apartment Fall Decor
• Fall 2017 Apartment Fall Decor
• Fall 2016 Apartment Fall Decor

I unfortunately didn't do a post last year on fall decor. I think things were so hectic with moving and getting Sophie!

Here's what my decor looks like so far this year...

 

On the bathroom shelf I placed this small Hocus Pocus pumpkin which I got at The Christmas Tree Shop years ago. I didn't want to do anything too crazy in the bathroom but putting one small little pumpkin brings a tiny bit of fall to this little room.

I know I didn't use this sign last year but I thought that placing it on the kitchen counter was just too perfect. Hopefully we can keep the kitchen counter clear so this is on display all fall. Does your kitchen counter become a collection area??

These towels look SUPER wrinkled but I had just pulled them from the dryer. These are my favorite fall dish towels and I believe they came from the Target dollar spot a few years ago. I only kept a few fall dish towels because my dish towel drawer is overflowing!

The leaves candle from Bath and Body works is my absolute favorite. It smells amazing and I need to place a Bath and Body Works order to restock! I only have one back up right now and that is not enough with how much I love this candle! 

This half wall between the kitchen and the living room is both fun and challenging to decorate. I love that I can do things like this with the leaf garland but I don't always know what to do with it the rest of the year. Do you have any challenging spots to decorate in your home? 

The table by our front door always is super simple because Sophie knocks into it sometimes. I am risking my Mickey Halloween pumpkin here, fingers crossed it makes it through! This little leaf tray is something I found a few years ago (I can't remember where...) but I love little trays and having them around my home!

I placed this glass pumpkin that my mom gave me for my birthday last year (I think from HomeGoods?), more leaf garland, and my little witch on the tv stand.  

Not fall decor related but I pulled this picture of Tim and I from our wedding out of the guest room and placed it out here. Since we got married in the fall I think it is definitely appropriate and I may keep it out here full time. I am still loving my fiddle leaf fig and despite getting a bit dusty it's still going strong!

I plan on decorating outside in a few weeks once the pumpkins become available. Do you have plans for outdoor fall decorating? I am definitely grabbing some mums, I'm thinking of white and a deep wine color. I will also be grabbing a ton of white pumpkins if I can find them and then maybe some mini orange pumpkins for the walkway. I will definitely share pictures once it's completed!

Let me know what you are doing for fall decor this year and what your favorite places to shop decor are!

New Solar Lights

 You guys, I finally ordered some solar lights to light up our front walkway! OneFrugalChick on Instagram posted a deal for Amazon for these solar lights and I was able to snag them for only $13 a 6-pack! I ended up needing 18 lights total so buying three packs worked out perfectly. Although I wish they were more of a white light instead of yellow I am thrilled with how they look for such a cheap price! I had been previously looking at Walmart for clearances out lights but they still weren't getting clearanced out. I was so happy to find these because I knew I wanted to get some in the garden before summer ends. 

The other night I noticed that the lights were starting to turn on one by one at twilight (ayo Twilight fans) so I headed outside to snap some pictures. You can see that some of the lights haven't turned on yet but I love the gentle glow they give off!

Also, the walkway is looking great! A round of applause for Tim on that one!

I think at this point I was just waiting for two or three lights to turn on. They are just enough to give off light if you are coming up our walkway. I'm picturing pumpkins lining the walkway this fall, leading kids up to the door for Halloween. If there is Halloween this year, who knows at this point!

One more light to go! If you head to my instagram (balancingonmytoes) in my home story I have a little video of walking down the walkway towards the house. You can hear the nighttime sounds that we get here in Rhode Island. I love the sound of summer nights here, it's so peaceful with all the wildlife sounds. I love where I live!

When all the lights were finally on I was so happy! It just looks so nice!

These lights are plastic, not glass. I know that may make them "cheaper" but I personally like that they can get bumped around and knocked over and aren't going to shatter. Mostly I prefer things that aren't too precious.  I worry less about Sophie running around like a bull in a china shop when things aren't breakable.

Look at that precious little face in the window! Also, this just reminds me of how far we've come. There were very few gardens, no walkway, no evergreens. We've come so far in such a short time!

Just ignore my heart eyes over here. I'm a little obsessed.

The design on these lights is so pretty too. Look at the glow it sends across the walkway. 

Okay, that's all for my new solar lights! What sort of outdoor lighting do you have at your house? I would love to add some solar lights in the backyard too, but we are still working on our plans for the backyard so we will see what we end up with back there. Tim recently finished part of a project he's been working on and it looks so good, I cannot wait to share it with you all.

Also, I am going to work on my plans for this front garden for next year....and what other plants and plans I have for the yard next spring. Oh, the projects just keep on coming to me!

Our Guest Bedroom

Getting real today!

Our guest bedroom is nothing special. The furniture in it is the furniture I grew up with in my bedroom. The mattress is on the floor and it's Tim's old mattress (although super comfortable!) 

I store my vacuum fleet (yes, I have more than one vacuum and I want more...) in this room. The decor is just kind of thrown in there. 

So yes, nothing special. But to be honest we haven't ever hosted anyone in this room. This is a three bedroom house and when we turned one room into an office, we set up the second bedroom as a guest room. Eventually if we have kids I imagine this becoming a nursery. But for now it's just an extra bedroom in case someone spends the night!

When you first walk in the door you see the dresser with the tv and DVD player on top and my vacuum fleet. Also a signed Gronk picture that is making me a little sad lately.

As you can see this was just a typical day where I didn't clean up for you for pictures. #keepingitreal 

Donations and items listed on poshmark were just sitting on the bed.  

I love this ladder bookshelf but there just wasn't room for it in our living room so I stuck it in here. Maybe if we renovate someday or if we move it will fit out in our living room again. Do you keep furniture even if it doesn't work for you currently?

A look back towards the door. So, as I said at the beginning...nothing exciting! But this room is basically filled with things that didn't work elsewhere in our home. 

Do you have a guest room in your house? How often does it get used?

Our Kitchen

Hey everyone!

Today we are talking about our kitchen! If you've been reading along you might have noticed that I'm slowly sharing with you each room of our house. Our kitchen is used daily and along with the living room is the place we spend the most time.

When we first moved in we immediately painted the cabinets and then bought new appliances. Here's what it currently looks like:

Our island is where we sit to eat all of our meals. There isn't room for a kitchen table in our house currently so we spend our meals at the counter. In our apartment we sat on the couch so at least this is a step up!

Eventually we would like to replace the countertops and floors. I could see us also redoing the entire kitchen if we decide to make this our forever home. For right now it works just fine but seeing a quartz countertop would be so nice :)

I love the appliances we picked. Tim was the person who actually pointed them out. I was so set on getting stainless steel but I never thought about the black stainless and I honestly like it better. It looks so good with the white cabinets. We have loved our LG appliances so far and I would definitely pick them again in a future home!

All of our KitchenAid supplies and other teal decor is my favorite! How nice would it all look with a grayish quartz countertop on both the regular counter and the island?!

This is the main door we come in and out every day. I really love how homey it feels. As many improvements as I can come up with, I love this being our first home! I know we will probably outgrow it someday and need to make a decision whether to add on or move but I do love coming through that door into our home every day. Especially when a little furry face greets me :)

What is your kitchen like? Do you have any big plans for it?