I really like this kitchen: dark floors, white walls, tidy spaces, and lots of natural light. (Source: http://bit.ly/OxxLQA)
Earlier this week I mentioned that I’m trying to make my life less cluttered (related post here). It’s a slow process, but I’m enjoying it.
It’s very rewarding to finally focus on my home, after spending so much of my energy on finishing Abandoned Allies. I’m lucky to have a roommate that is patient with me, especially when I ignore the tidiness of my home or when I’m reorganizing like a mad woman.
Monday I rewarded myself for working on the living room. I cozied up on the couch and watched the first episode of The IT Crowd. While watching the episode, I reveled in how much I love the new living room layout. It feels cozy, well-lit, organized, and tidy. (Still dusty, though.) It was so relaxing.
Last night I worked in the kitchen.
There are messy areas in the kitchen that drive me totally nuts. Cabinets are cluttered with things that don’t belong in a kitchen. Spaces are full of stuff we never use,which constantly get in the way. I think that’s the nature of the beast, though. You have to continuously clean, organize, and purge what you own. Clutter creeps in quietly, until one day you just completely lose your shit because one Tupperware container falls to the floor.
My ultimate goal is to make this kitchen a working kitchen.
In other words, you can work in the kitchen easily because the kitchen works so well. Every tool has a home, and it’s easy to find it when you need it. There’s no clutter to get in the way when you’re reaching for a certain tool, like the cutting board or a pan. The space is enjoyable while you’re in it, and it is just as functional as it is beautiful. (All of this is in theory, of course. My roommate may come home and secretly hate me for reorganizing everything, once again.)
There was progress made in the kitchen last night. I took out a piece of furniture that’s way too big. The a stand-alone cabinet was positioned by the side entry, so it matches the kitchen cabinets. It is great for storage, but not necessarily aesthetics. It’s just too big for that space. So I took it to the garage, and will give it a new purpose.
Now that corner of the kitchen is home to a much smaller–but equally tall–shelf that was once in my office. Since it has no cabinet doors, I feel like we’d be less likely to cram as much crap in there as humanly possible. Plus, having a cabinet that’s open makes that corner of the room feel more open and tidy.
Since the “new” shelving unit has a darker finish, I put things on each shelf that are white, stainless steel, or glass (except the bottom shelf which is now home to the cook books). The things on the shelf are both aesthetically pleasing and easily accessible. One shelf, for example, holds the crock pot, a large cooking pot, a pitcher, and a flower vase that’s too tall for other cabinets.
I like looking at that shelf. It’s really pretty. One minor victory down! Several more to go.
The kitchen is always a work in progress, but I feel really great about the improvements made last night. Getting rid of so much storage means, hopefully, that we’ll have fewer things stuffed into such a small space. With fewer things in the space, hopefully, we’ll make better use of the things that are there. We don’t need a lot of things, we just need those things we own to work well.
In other words, we should be working in a working kitchen.
Feeling motivated? Here are some resources to keep you going: