It's getting hot in here!

One Thursday I was getting ready to mop the kitchen floor and I bent down to retrieve a magnet that had fallen on the floor.  That magnet was warm, far warmer than it should be in my air conditioned house.  I opened the broom closet next to the refrigerator and felt the wall, it too was warm.  I began to notice there was very little air flow around the refrigerator.  

Left side;

Top, excuse the dust please;

Right side;

The tape marks where the fridge meets the wall.  We were trying to determine how much room was left behind the fridge.  We worried they'd only left an inch, but we believe now there's about 7" between the back of the fridge and the wall. 

(The white mark is a post card that stuck to the fridge when I went to remove it.  I'll get some goo gone and remove it soon.)


It was a PAIN to get the fridge out!  They had it jammed in there very well.  Ever so slowly and slightly we moved the fridge back and forth to get it out.


I hired a handy man;

And he cut out part of the bottom shelf above the fridge;

Of note, if at all possible DO NOT use a power saw in the kitchen!  Saw dust was EVERYWHERE!

I removed the cabinet doors and put some vintage items on the top shelf.  Eventually I'll paint over the hinge holes.  Now air can escape from behind the fridge and no more risk of burning up my refrigerator (or worse).  If my next refrigerator is smaller, I can attach a piece of sheet metal or similar over the hole and reattach the cabinet doors.  I never used these shelves before so nothing lost.

 

April Showers Tasks part 2

Since having moved in here I've wanted to paint the lazy Susan in the kitchen.  The previous owners used it for food, but I use it to house my mixing and serving bowls. 

This cat and open doors, drawers and bags! 

 

It was kind of gross; 

 

 

My main goal in painting it was so that I'd have a surface I could wipe clean. I used the same high-gloss paint I used to paint the hallway. 

 

I didn't prime and it took three coats. I let it dry 24 hours before putting items back. It's not perfect, but really only I will see it. 

 

 

I'm so excited to have that finally done! 

April Showers Tasks part 1

April showers postponed my yard plans and so I made a list of things to tackle the last wet, gray and cold weekend in April. I accomplished several small things and three things that had been on my list for months. 

1. Bench for the utility/mud room. I've been working on this since January!

I sanded and painted a bench I had found at the Sparks and White Cloud KS Flea Market last September. 

 

Oops! I accidentally broke one of the legs on and had to glue it back together. It's not meant for anyone two legged to sit on, so I was comfortable just gluing it. 

 

Then I removed the disgusting old cover and batting. 

 

And tried out several feed sack coverings;

 

I waxed the wood, covered with new batting and feed sack and placed it in the muddy mud/utility room.

 

Check out that sunshine! It had been a couple of days since we'd enjoyed sunshine! 

 

The main purpose for this bench is to catch my purse and bags as I come in the back door. That and be a catch all for laundry, groceries and what not. I thought the cats might enjoy laying on it, but they prefer the rugs on the washer and dryer. 

Kitchen Arrangement Part 3

Last post on the kitchen rearrangement and it's loaded with pictures! 

Drawers! Before I had two utensil drawers, one on either side of the sink. I didn't have any rules about which utensils went into which drawer and often was digging through both of them to find something. I moved my towel drawer so that I could have both of my utensil drawers together one atop the other. 

 

I parted with several items I didn't use.  

 

I moved the silverware drawer over one drawer. Now it and my utensil drawers are below my plates, bowls and glasses cabinet. 

Kitchen scissors and my can opener are on the left. I washed all of my silverware and hadn't gotten it all back in the drawer for this picture. 

Lower cabinets;

This looks kind of messy, buts it just looks that way. The bottom shelf holds my plastic food containers, paper and plastic plates and plastic spoons, etc on the upper shelf with special plates, pie pans on the white shelf. 

 

The cabinet that used to hold my plates now holds pots, pans, cooling racks, colanders and cake pans. 

 

And the last lower cabinet I'll share with you. 

This little cabinet is beside the stove. 

I purchased handled plastic storage containers for it. 

 

I use one container for measuring cups and spoons. The other for timers, meat thermometer and other odds and ends. 

 

The containers on the top hold odds and ends. 

While I was rearranging, I cleaned up my spice cabinet. I don't know if I ever shared this cabinet with you, but here's a nicer picture. The upper half;

 

The lower half;

 

This cabinet is built into the studs and I love it. 

So, that's most of my kitchen. There are seven cabinets and four drawers I didn't share with you, but they didn't get reorganized.  Onto the next big project. 

 

 

 

Kitchen Arrangement Part 2

So, I shared the before and here's the after!

The cabinet that used to hold my groceries now holds my plates, bowls and cups. Of note, my cabinets and drawers are different depths, though they're all on her same wall. The upper cabinet that used to hold my bowls and cups, could not hold my large dinner plates as it wasn't deep enough. You'd think you'd notice that they're different depths, but you don't and I only figured it out while rearranging my kitchen. The lower cabinet to the left of the sink is 23" deep. The lower cabinet on the right of the sink is 19.5" deep. Weird! 

So, here's my upper cabinet with plates, bowls and cups. My dinner plates fit on this side. 

 

The cabinet that used to house my bowls, cups etc sits in the corner. I could reach items on the left, but had to use a step ladder to reach items on the right. I decided to put some groceries there, but leave it basically empty as I didn't want to go up and down a ladder for most of those items. 

 

I love those plastic handled containers. I found them at Walmart. They come in several sizes and are less than $4. The two on the bottom shelf hold jello and pudding. Those on the second shelf hold tuna and seasoning packets. 

So, where's my food? In the basement. I like my basement. It's not scary and the stairs are in good shape. I decided I'd rather run down stairs for a grocery item, then to climb a step ladder to get something out of a cabinet. So, I bought a new shelving unit and moved most of my groceries to the basement. 

 

The lidded storage containers on the bottom hold boxed items I don't want rodents getting into. I don't believe I currently have any mice in the house, but that's not always the case. 

I have a second shelf that holds a few more groceries. (I cover the shelving units with plastic table clothes from Dollar Tree to cut down on dust.) 

Stay tuned and I'll show you the rest.  

Kitchen Arrangement Part 1

I took February 14 off and started this project. It's taken me longer than expected to complete, but I'm so happy with it! I present to you the before; 

Upper cabinets;

 

 

One of the lower cabinets;

The utensil drawers;

 

 

 

 

A new kitchen gadget

I had read or seen this gadget somewhere, but no longer recall where. I looked into, but never ordered one online. I came across one at Hobby Lobby recently and used a 40% off coupon to snatch one up. 

 

 

I used it recently to pour frozen blueberries from a cookie sheet to a zip lock bag. It worked perfectly. 

 

I'm happy with it and store it flat in my ziplock bag drawer. 

 

 

A Window Dilemma

This is my kitchen window. Excuse the mess, I haven't decorated yet. 

 

Oh and excuse that hideous door bell chime box. It's on the to-do list. 

I love these windows. They face south and allow a lot of natural light into the kitchen.  Those bushes outside the windows held cardinals, mourning doves and maybe Carolina wrens nests this summer. I love washing dishes and watching the birds. 

My original plan was to make curtains out of vintage linens and hang them only on the bottom half. Similar to this;  

 

 Source: Cedar Hill Farmhouse

Cute, yes? Or how about these cute cafe curtains?

 

Source: bystephanielynn

But then I realized the neighbors second story bedroom window looks down into my kitchen. I'd probably still keep the window treatments open most of the time, but I'd like the option of having some privacy. Of note, the windows are well up off the ground. No one can see in them standing outside. 

Here are a few window possibilities. Roman shades made from mini blinds. 

 

Source: Made2Style 

 

Source: Better Homes and Gardens

Full curtains. I like these, but I wonder whether they'd be too bulky next to the shelves that are on either side of my windows. 

 

Source: Talk of the House

Roller shades. 

 

Source: Solomon Homes

 

Source: Houslovedogblog

Any favorites? Thoughts? Suggestions? I'd love to hear them!