Tag: interiors

I actually like having a small kitchen. Everything is RIGHT THERE, when you need it. The only real downside is that you have to clean up as you cook, unless you want to be buried under an avalanche of dirty dishes. But the upside of that is that it takes about 10 minutes to clean the whole thing from top to bottom.

Since I was stuck at home today, waiting for maintenance to come inspect my fire extinguisher, I put some of my time to good use, cleaning the kitchen. I even took the rug outside and gave it a good shaking, before vacuuming it.

I finished flipping the living room around this morning. It feels twice as big now, with the bookshelves up off the floor.

Next weekend, I plan on (finally!) tackling the studio. It’s an unholy mess in there now, because I dumped a bunch of stuff from the living room in there.

And this afternoon, if I can find the motivation, I’m going to make ginger molasses cookies. I have no idea why, because I don’t like ginger or molasses, but I’ve been craving them for weeks—badly enough that I made a second trip to the grocery store to get molasses, after I’d forgotten it the first time.

There was a recent thread at Shakesville asking everyone what they do when they’re in a funk. I clean. Not that you’d know it by looking at my apartment on any given day, but that’s what I do. Right now, I’m not so much in a funk as I am anxious for spring to get here. I’m tired of never seeing the sun. Hopefully, by the time Mr. Sun comes back, my apartment will be in good enough shape that I won’t feel guilty about spending time in the “garden.” (Maybe it’ll actually become a real garden, without scare quotes, this year?)

So, Project Pantry is pretty much finished. There is a shelf at the top that isn’t pictured. On it is a stack of mixing bowls and colanders and my food dehydrator. And, as you can tell by the second shelf below, I drink a lot of tea. The sad part is that I found two more containers of coffee (one caf, one decaf) and three more containers of tea, after I’d taken this photo. Alsotoo, please ignore the fact that my cat eats crap-in-a-can and crap-in-a-bag food. I periodically try to coax her to eat something better, but she refuses. She’s 20+ years old, so she’s allowed to be picky, even if it’s not in her best interests.

I found shelves at Target that are a perfect fit for my pantry. I win! And there were two sets left in chrome, so I win even betterer. Each shelving unit can break down into two separate sections, so I ended up using three of them in the pantry. The leftover section is on top of the fridge, which was just dead space. Now my boxes of food wrap, sandwich baggies, trash bags, etc. are corralled.

I also got the kiddie wardrobe moved into the kitchen and the microwave moved to the top of the wardrobe. Still no knobs on the wardrobe, though. I don’t know if I’m going to paint the ones it came with or get new ones. Cobalt blue glass knobs are cheap and would look really cute with that willowy green, I think.

After the counter was cleared, I put a hunk of marble I got from my mom on it. The marble came from one of the buildings at Ball State, so when she said she was getting rid of it, I asked her to hold onto it for me. I got it from her last summer, and it’s sat inside my front door ever since. (This is what I mean when I say I need to start pretending I live here, instead of treating it like a campsite.)

And lastly, I put a plate glass mirror I got from Ms. Lea behind the sink, to tart up the back splash area. My kitchen is tiny, and this opened it up a lot.

Phase 1 is complete!

Up next:

1. Clean out the living room closet, so that I can put the newly evicted vacuum cleaner away. I’m not even sure what’s in there. I stuffed it full of crap when I moved in, and I haven’t looked at it since.

2. Take the stack of boxes that’s hiding behind the couch to my storage unit.

3. Figure out how I want my office/studio arranged, and where in that room I’m going to put the utility shelves I evicted from the kitchen.

4. Freecycle the table, games, magazines, and assorted crap that’s now in my way.

5. Repaint my dresser.

6. Get rid of the mattress that’s leaning against the wall in my bedroom (campsite!).

7. Generate a big ol’ piece o’ art for the now naked wall in the kitchen, where the tall utility shelves used to be.

8. Find a solution to the ugly floor problem in the kitchen. I hate carpet, and I especially hate it in the kitchen, but a large area rug might be a good solution. The lino that’s in there is just plain horrible, and it needs to be disguised somehow. Too bad that carpet sample squares now have those stupid metal grommets in them, because a little patchwork rug made of carpet squares would be Teh Kyoote.

9. Tidy up cookbook shelf above sink. It needs dusting, and there is crap shoved up there that has no business even being in the kitchen.

10. Paint dining room chairs (more willow green) and recover with denim.

That’s ten, which I think is quite enough for now. Any more than that and I’m going to get depressed.

Shelves

They are ugly, and they are plastered down one side with fruit stickers, but they are shelves, and they are up. More importantly, The Pile o’ Basquills that has been living in the middle of my studio floor for the past six months now has a home.

That may be it for me tonight. I’m going to watch TV and contemplate area rugs and alternative floor covering options. Joyce left a link to bamboo rugs in comments, which is funny, because I’d been remembering the rice mat carpet that some family friends had when I was a kid. Bamboo looks to be similar (better, actually, because it is more durable and comes in bright colors!). It’s also relatively cheap, so a definite option. I’m also thinking about one of those ubiquitous faux Oriental rugs. They’re kind of tacky, but might be fun and unexpected in a kitchen. If I can find one cheap enough, I won’t be too worried about spilling stuff on it, and any stains I create would be well hidden by the pattern.

Just on a whim, I looked at rag rugs and dhurrie rugs, and was surprised at how expensive they are for larger sizes. Not huge, mind you. My kitchen floor is about 5 x 7 feet. Rugs that size are not cheap!

I haven’t gotten anything accomplished this weekend, though I have been busy. I managed to put three coats of paint on an old child’s wardrobe I got from my mom, and it could probably stand a fourth, but that might be beyond my endurance. I’ve got another dresser that I’m going to paint the same color, as well as the dining room chairs. The chairs will also get new denim covers on their seats. The master plan is to put the wardrobe in the kitchen, so that I can put the microwave on it and free up some counter space. I also need to get some shelves that will fit in the kitchen closet, so that I can turn it into a real, live pantry. Right now, I’ve got open utility shelves–ass ugly ones, at that–in the kitchen, and I’m tired of looking at all my crap.

Between putting the aforementioned crap away and getting all the ugly furniture painted in similar colors (or just painted at all), I’m hoping it’ll start looking like I live here, instead of like I’m just here for an extended visit.

And now, I need to go fold laundry. I meant to wash the dog this weekend, but I don’t think that’s going to get done.