Upper Cabinet Organization

So a while back I did a post on cabinet organization inspiration. My cabinets are far from perfect, but I have been able to get them to a point where I can always find what I need, and they look nice when you open them – that’s the goal of all organization, right?

So I’m going to go ahead and post some pictures of the updated kitchen and how I’m keeping my upper cabinets organized. I’m going to go ahead and apologize off the bat for bad lighting – there is a lot of soft natural light and soft LED light in the kitchen but that doesn’t equal good picture-taking light.

Below is a picture of what my kitchen looks like now:

 

It’s far from perfect, but it’s come a long way since last year when we started fixing it up…

I can barely remember it, but it used to look like this:

Quite an improvement I’d say! 🙂

Below is a quick pic of where everything is at in the upper cabinets. I did it on the iPad so sorry about the handwritten words. 😉

 

From the right side (the back end towards the door) to the left (towards the fridge), here are pictures of the insides of the cabinets!

 

 

 

Here is a close-up of how I am organizing my meds in a Sterelite container. (The coral wrapping paper is from Target!).

 

I also took a few shots with the cabinet doors open to help you get a feel for where everything is really at.

So by the sink and above the dishwasher I have all my dishes, and then in the next cabinet over there are more dishes (coffee cups/mugs) and spices/other cooking pantry items.

 

 

And then above the microwave I am utilizing the small cabinet for medicine of the left, along with first aid, and then the big box on the right hand side is just all of my vitamins and Aloe Vera thrown in box covered in the same wrapping paper I used to decorate the medicine drawers.

 

 

Past that is the baking cabinet and the pasta cabinet to finish it off. So far I have really been liking this set-up! Things like pots/pans/canned goods/plastic baggies/etc are in cabinets below, and I have more cabinets past the fridge that are used for the real “pantry”, full of snacks and cereal.

 

So that’s my kitchen organization in a nutshell, along with an overall kitchen update! Woop woop! Also, we just did our first coat of primer in my garage! It looks awesome and thanks to everyone who came out to help us get it done!

~bride

 

Naruto Tattoo

The fiancé got a Naruto inspired tattoo today and I thought I would do a quick share!

In this pic it’s still taped up, so once it’s healed a bit I’ll post an update.

The tattoo is a combination of Saske’s curse/seal, with a special ops anbu symbol (like Kakashi’s) on his arm.
Nerdy but totally fierce too. I can’t deny my inherent attraction to men with tattoos, & this one hits the nail on the head.  😉

List Lovin’

Hey all, Bride here.

I know, I’m awful at updating this blog, but I am so busy lately it really falls behind. On top of work and summer classes, we have decided to host our wedding reception in our pole barn, which means we have a lot to clean-up to do before next May. We also got a puppy, Logan, a month or so ago, and he of course takes up a lot of our free time!

 

Isn’t he just the cutest! That was taken when he was around 11 weeks old. He’s closer to 14 or 15 weeks now, but I’m not in the mood to take the time to count and find out exactly how old he is! Maybe next post! 😉

Anyway, with all of the stuff we need to get done around the house, I have decided to make a list for everything. Things we need to get done before the wedding, things we need to get done before the end of this summer, things we need to get done by July 25th when people come over to help us get other things on our lists done… (We are having people come over that Friday and Saturday to help, and rewarding hard work with pizza, beer, and margaritas – whoop whoop!)

So today I am going to post my list of things I want to get done before everyone comes over. It’s a fairly simple list, but it keeps me sane. Later on I hope to post my other lists and then some overall house updates.

To-Do List (Before Guests Come Over)

Great Room

-clean up media center

-move empty cardboard boxes to craft room in garage

-rug doctor the carpet

-rug doctor the couch

-clean off the top of the bookshelf

-organize cords, video games, etc

-find a basket or trunk to put blankets in

Dining Room

-clear of table

-fix broken chair legs?

-move laundry basket into bathroom

Kitchen

-finish sanding cabinet doors

-paint cabinet doors

-install cabinet doors

-mop floor

-clear off counters and wipe them down

-get caught up on dishes

-clean sink

Half-Bath

-sweep floor

-scrub floor

Full Bath

-clean shower

-sweep floor and shake out rugs

Bedroom

-clean room

-wash sheets/comforter

-move picture frame to garage

 

So that’s everything I want to get done before company comes over to help with the big stuff, like painting the garage, removing shrubs, and power washing the deck. Hopefully I can get all those little things done in time and the house looks “great” for people coming over!

~bride

 

Kitchen Organization Planning [Free Kitchen Subway Art Print]

Hey all, Bride here. 🙂

If you haven’t noticed, Kaylie (Poor Chick) doesn’t much post on this anymore (not that I do a lot either, but hey, I post here and there :P). Anyway, she’s off on her adventurous journey of having a real job as a hair stylist and also she’s back to college this semester as well. Needless to say, we’re both pretty busy and blogging isn’t our number one priority most of the time.

Still, I do like to document my house journey on here, and so here is the latest update…

Upper cabinets for the kitchen are finally painted! I’m not going to post pictures just yet, though. (I’ll wait until they are hung, my wonderful dad is helping do that tomorrow). Needless to say, this is a very exciting time for me… I’ve been manically plotting carefully planning out how to organize everything. Here’s a basic layout of where I want everything to go:

As you can tell, it’s a very detailed sketch. Yes, I’m kidding. (Notice the “non” missing in front of the word “perishables”. And the arrow marking the switch of the baking cabinet and the food cabinet. Yep. Super professional!)

I have been once again scouring Pinterest for ideas on how to organize everything. I’ve decided to go with a magnetic spice rack inside one of the doors to the food cabinets, using tins from World Market. On the other door will be all of my measuring spoons and cups, and possibly a conversion chart. I plan on using an upside-down wire shelf to hold/organize my canned goods as well. Below are my inspiration pictures. (I’ll be sure to post what my final results look like when I’m all done!)

Source: A Lo and Behold Life

I ordered the same tins online from World Market, but they only offer the silver tins. You have to go in-store to purchase the blue ones.

Source: Inffarantly Creative

Source: FamilyHandyman.com

And with all of the cabinet planning, I have also realized that my kitchen space is about to change again. Right now we have a huge industrial shelf in the corner, with lots of cooking/baking/etc items on it. When the cabinets go up, all of those items will be moved and the shelf will be taken out to the garage to be used for more storage. That will leave a nice empty corner (until we buy more cabinets for the “L” where we will be putting in a breakfast bar later on). I think I may move my baker’s rack over there (right now it sits against the wall in between the hallway and the dining/great room. My plans for that wall were originally to put in a nice china cabinet or hutch, but I’m thinking of using some shelving to make a banquette there instead. That will leave a large space on the wall above. What could possibly fill it?

At first I thought – giant chalkboard, duh! But the giant chalkboard Kaylie and I made at the apartment will soon be getting framed and put up in the great room. I don’t want two giant chalkboards in such close proximity. So I Google’d “kitchen wall decor” and saw some awesome kitchen subway art prints. I love subway art, and loved these, but I knew they weren’t going to be big enough to fill the space. The wall is almost 8 feet long, and the shelving I have in my head would be at least 4 feet wide in the middle of the wall.

My next thought was an engineer print. These are all the rage on Pinterest. You take your file on a usb drive into any office store (Office Depot, Office Max, Staples, etc) and ask for an engineer print. You get a black and white giant photo on paper, which you can later frame or attach to foam board/plywood. I then set out on making my own kitchen-themed subway art on Ribbet.com (the site that replaced Picnic) that would be a big file size to keep it crisp when enlarged. This is my final result:

Kitchen Subway Art

It only took me an hour or two to make. Oh well, I say it was time well worth it. I can’t wait to get it enlarged and put up on my wall!

By the way… feel free to save and use for yourself! KitchenSubwayArt8.5×11.pdf

Let me know if you like/use it, I’d love to get some feedback since this is the first subway art I’ve made.

Alright. This post has gone on what feels like long enough. I will be posting more updates soon about all the fun kitchen decor and cabinetry organization!

~bride

Bridesmaids, Bridesmaids, Bridesmaids…

First of all, Happy New Year! I have got to say that all of this 2014 stuff has made me get really serious about my wedding… again! I am looking forward to everything that comes my way this year, and I hope you are too!

Today, I had some fun Facebook stuff going on, and the subject of bridesmaid dresses really hit me. I have a few people I know will be in my bridal party, and a bunch more that I would like to include but probably will not be able to. Richard doesn’t want a big bridal party, or at least doesn’t have a lot of guys to fill up his side. But I have Cheyenne & Kaylie, and Richard’s two sisters at the very least. So we will see where that goes.

Anyways, as I am slowly inching my way closer and closer (only 514 days to go!), I know I have a lot of details planned and a lot more that need decisions made. With me being a busy bee at school and work, I need as many decisions out of the way as soon as possible, so that I can relax a little now and then. My next choice is Bridesmaid Dresses.

Most of my inner circle groupies already know my wedding colors – pink, lime green, and navy (and white by default). I don’t really want one shade of pink though! Begonia, fuchsia, light pink, baby pink, who knows where the fun can go? You may have already seen that I want multiple shades of pink on my wedding cake in my previous post, here.

I want all the girls to wear their dresses with navy converse. I also want the dresses to be knee length. Other than that, I don’t care what the shape and style are for each girl. Here are some inspirational pictures I have found around the interwebz…

Me and my girls need to make a final decision on the shades. Here are my options:

1) My MOH, Cheyenne, wears dark pink and everyone else light pink

2) My MOH, Cheyenne, wears light pink and everyone else dark pink

3) Everyone wears the same or extremely similar shade (Cheye will have a different bouquet)

4) Everyone wears a completely different shade (no matching at all!)

Different hair colors and skin colors can be taken into consideration…

Kaylie is tan with usually dirty blonde hair.

Cheye is pale with medium brown hair. She sometimes can get tan. Sometimes.

Whisper is usually tan with medium brown hair.

And Treasure is fair with very light blonde hair.

Please post comments to decide this once and for all!

Oh… and one last picture, juts for fun… 😉

Happy 2014!

~ bride

I Can Hear Those Wedding Bells Chime…

So with everything about the house getting done, and school keeping me so busy, wedding planning has really fallen by the wayside. I still have some time, since the date is set for May 2015, but I thought I would post some of my inspirations for the big day!

Most of my wedding planning is done on Pinterest and The Knot. My Pinterest account can be found here…

http://www.pinterest.com/riahbobiah

I love Pinterest. I love, love, love it. I will never be able to express my love for Pinterest enough. I’m sure you understand.

I also love ombre. And I love cake. So let’s talk ombre wedding cakes.  Specifically pink ombre wedding cakes. 🙂

The ruffles are so feminine and delicate. So pretty. Yet interesting. With extra ombre interest. So… interest with interest on the side. And pink is one of my wedding colors. A spring wedding without pink? I don’t think so!

Okay. Now check out that one on the left. You see it? The cake with the pink ruffles down the side? Yep. That’s the one. My soul-cake. I stole this pic from this random blog. Now the problem I have with that cake is that it is circular. Boring.

So easy fix. I am going to make it square! The true test will come later… because my mother and I plan on making my cake to save some moolah. So I’m sure closer to the date there will be plenty of fun cake pictures to look at. But for now, I will have to settle with dreaming about my cake and researching tips for baking and pricing out pans and deciding on cake flavors. Right now the fiance and I are leaning towards chocolate on bottom, white/vanilla in the middle, and lemon on top. Ooh-la-la, right? I don’t care as long as I get lemon. I love lemon desserts! Did I mention I say I love things a lot?

Anyways… that is my wedding cake. Well, that is what it looks like in my head. Hopefully I was clear enough with how it will look. I’m so excited for my wedding! Ah!

So my bed is calling to me, and I’m about to sign off. This has been the first official wedding post on bride and a poor chick. Huh. You’d think it would’ve come sooner. Meh.

~ bride out!

Kitchen Updates

After a long, long time…. Here is another house update. We have a very livable house now. No, I’m not kidding! And it’s still nowhere near done, but compared to other pictures on my blog… it looks fantastic!

So I have recently been painting my kitchen! We went with a gray beige from Menard’s, and I love it! I told the fiancé I wanted a griege, and he found one! Literally – the name of the color is simply “Greige”. We have all but one wall in the kitchen done, but I am waiting to do the one that stretches into the hallway until we patch up the drywall in the hall.

Below you can see the wall color compared to the white inside the window.

And next is the kitchen! Paint, counters, appliances, cabinets, & all!

Our appliances are Kenmore stainless steel. The countertop is from Lowe’s, and almost everything else construction wise is from Menard’s. We live just down the road from one, so it is hard not to shop there!

The next order of business is to finish painting. After that we need to sand the rest of the upper cabinets, then prime, paint, and install! After that, my open storage shelving will leave and take up residence in the garage to make room for more cabinets!

My living is also in the middle of a facelift! Eventually I want it to be yellow, white, and gray. Until I can finish a slip cover for the couches, it’s hard to move on from the stained wood to white paint. But I’ve been able to bring in my yellow! Here is my Christmas mantle with yellow walls around it!

Okay, well I think that is about all for now! Off to work more on some secret projects! 😉

~poor chick

More House Progress… Office Painted!

Doesn’t that color just brighten your day? 🙂
My day is brighter just thinking of all the lovely things in my new house! You can see in the office picture above that we have paint on some walls and have lights and ceiling fans installed. We also have the master bedroom painted and I’m working on the other bedroom!
The bathroom just has Killz primer on it, but soon we will buy paint for it!

That was the master, office, and a sneak peak of the bedroom that belongs to Cheyenne (my best friend who is living with me until she gets deployed)! Grey walls and an orange ceiling!

In the meantime, Cheyenne and I have been working on cleaning the floors. There is both tile and wood floors that need cleaned at this point.

We Have Walls!

Its getting down to the nitty gritty here! Move out day for the apartment is this coming Wednesday, summer session of classes is down to two weeks left, and the new house is almost liveable! 🙂 The last electrical inspection will be today. So now for some pictures that are pretty awesome if I do say so myself! I present to you… walls!

And I also present… electricity!

And you can also see me brand new kitchen window in the above picture! The view of the backyard is fabulous! I love my window so much I get giddy just thinking about it! 🙂

The bathroom is also much less dirty, along with the great room…

The craziest part of all this, you ask? Well these pictures are a week or two late! We have ceilings and paint and much more soon to come! I do happy dances just thinking about it! 🙂
~bride