On the plus side, I did complete the rest of my list minus the 'determine cleaning schedule for kitchen and bathroom to maintain cleanliness.' The aforementioned schedule is something that needs to wait a few more days anyway so I can see how long the cleaning I did on Friday wears over one week's time. Back on topic, though.
Today, I began with the shelf in our dining room.
The counter space our kitchen has is excellent, but there just isn't that much of it. So when my husband found this set of shelves sitting out by our dumpster, he brought them in thinking we could use them to store some of the things that would otherwise end up on the counter or in the cupboards. However, not knowing exactly how we were going to use it right away meant it was the designated 'toss-me-here' holder - a mishmash of unsorted/unfiled mail, empty dry-goods containers, old cookie decorations, uneaten cupcakes my sister brought up for a going away party this past week (in my mother's cake container), etc. Sounds like a fun shelf to tackle, huh?
Well, I'm pleased to say it wasn't as bad as initially anticipated once I actually got going. And here is the end result:
Then I did the bathroom shelves. You won't notice much of a difference because I mostly cleaned out one of my bins. It had some junk in it that would never be used, so that stuff got tossed. That was about a 5 minute project. Not even. But I will take this time to say that I wasn't sure about having these shelves in our bathroom initially. It's an awfully tall unit, and as you can see by the 'before' photo from the shelves in the kitchen, shelves like this tend to be a 'catch-all' for moi. Unlike the shelves in the kitchen, though, we organized this set from the get-go and knew precisely how we wanted it to function from the beginning. Since we were so intentional about those shelves, neither of us has had any trouble keeping them organized. It also helps that we purchased the colored bins - my husband's idea, because he hates looking at all my hair tools and products. The bins mean we can toss stuff around in there and no else has to know! Brilliant, if you ask me. You can find these colored bins at Target.
Finally, I tackled the top of the refrigerator and the spices. The fridge was not a big task, but the spices were. For our wedding, my mother in-law got us a really nice set of Tupperware spice containers. We haven't had the chance to use them until now since we've been traveling for the past year. Anyway...I have many, many more spices than there were containers for, which meant deciding which spices were worthy of containers. And then making labels and transferring the spices to their permanent storage bins. I'm very glad that task is done, however, it made me realize we need some miniature shelves for organizing the interior of that cupboard. One thing at a time, though, right?
On Saturday, I went to the Farmer's Market with my sister in-law where I picked up these lilies for our dining room table and bookshelf in the living room. They're absolutely gorgeous and smell amazing! Fresh flowers always spruce up a room.
Oh, I should mention that I told Husband about this blog and its purpose on Saturday. Do you know how excited he was? There truly are no words to describe the look of utter disbelief combined with sheer delight that transformed his face with the words 'clean and organize our home to be magazine snapshot worthy.' Do I know my husband or what? He thinks this project is absolutely amazing, so he of course wanted to check out the site immediately. The first thing he commented on? My 'About Me' section. Why? Because it's so darn true! He nearly went so far as to say had he known my true identity (aka: not an organized neat-freak), we probably wouldn't be married today, but thankfully those words never actually came out of his mouth. We simply have a mutual understanding they're there. So here's to rediscovering the neat-freak buried somewhere deep inside of me.
~Ms. S
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