Gitter Done ~ Volume 3

Hi friends, I am back. Did you miss me? I missed you!!! This week was one of those weeks that totally blind sighted me. Some things in  my non-blog life needed some attention (well actually a lot of attention) and my blog fell by the wayside. I guess you have all been there at times.

So what have you all been up to while I was trying to write grant proposals in my big girl job? Did you do anything fun? Got anything done and off the dreaded to-do list?

Well I am very happy to report that before Monday hit me with a ton of bricks I played in my kitchen all Sunday and I am very proud to show you the result of my renewed and improved kitchen closet/pantry.

TADA!!!!

I did some shopping in my own house, I went to Ikea and I did some major purging, and now everything I wanted to fit in this closet found a proper home.

Of course when I envisioned using the insides of the doors I hadn’t taken into account that those doors are not solid but rather hollow inside. So before I could attach anything to it, let allone something heavy, I had to come up with a way to reinforce my hanging system.

Well some leftover scraps of wood, strong as an elephant glue and some extra screws, did the trick.

When I am ready to start painting the woodwork in here, I’ll paint right over those wooden bits and they will blend in just fine. But for now it works rather well too.

I love having the kitchen aid thingie off my counter top and in its proper place WITH all the little do-dats right there with it – no more hunting all over the house for that missing mixer bit –.

And the jumbled mess of kitchen rolls and baking paper and sandwich bags, I had in one of my drawers is fixed too. I had bought these paper holders some time ago, they didn’t fit where I had planned them, but here in my kitchen closet they work perfectly.

And sometimes the littlest things make the biggest impact. On the cement floor of this closet was some very old linoleum. Very dingy. I replaced it with a small scrap of brand-new vinyl and the difference is amazing.

It lights up the whole closet.

But the thing that makes me the happiest is that after seven years in this house and numerous efforts to come up with a system that would work in my kitchen, my herbs and spices finally have a place where they belong.

I was already using these pots, but they didn’t quite fit into the drawer as I had planned. But on these Ikea shelves they are so easy to find. These Ikea spice racks are meant to be mounted on a rail, but we just drilled some holes in them and hung them with screws.

I can not begin to tell you how happy I am to have this job of my list. Not only was it on the list for as long as we have lived in this house, but the end result makes me happy on a daily basis. Now that so many little nuisances and annoyances in my kitchen have been fixed I don’t even mind anymore that my kitchen is so small. I always thought I’d need a bigger kitchen to feel happy about it, as it turned out I just needed to use my space better.

Thank you all for your encouragement this January Gitter Done! project is already on my list of favorite projects for 2011!!

Speaking about Gitter Done!

Gitter Done! is for all of us and I’d love to know how you think we should continue. I know January is usually the month we all get gung-ho on reorganizing and decluttering, but maybe you don’t feel that need in February anymore. So let’s hear it:

How do you feel about it? Did you think it is fun? Did it help you to get things done? Shall we continue as we are? Or is a weekly party a bit too much? Would biweeklky or monthly work better for you? Or are you not into these kind of projects and blogposts at all, and do you only want to see pretty things here, and on other blogs?

Ok then, can’t wait to read the comments. Of course last weeks Gitter Done! linkup was not something to miss. Did you check out the projects that were Gittered Done?

Here are my favorites:

Polly from Make Mine Beautiful finished a project several years in the making. Look how she turned a vintage tablecloth that was beyond rescue into a gorgeous lampshade. It looks even better in the dark and with the light turned on, but you’ll have to go to her post for the full effect.

Vicki from The Blest Nest shared a bit of what goes on behind closed doors. She has this enormous closet with lots of storage space inside. Well we all know what can happen if we have too much storage space, we accumulate junk. Well no more in Vicki’s house. She cleaned up, she prettied up and she even made herself a darling little crafting station. Wonderful job!

Last week was the week of finishing long overdue makeover projects. The next one caught my eye immediately. Must be the polkadots.

Molly from Toile in the Family turned a thrifted cakestand into this fun beauty. Doesn’t it just scream party at you.

Ok let’s see if there are any other ladies who have kicked some junk to the curb, got long forgotten projects out of the dark corner and put big red strikes on their to-do list. Let’s Gitter Done!

First the rules:

6. Linkup will be active for the weekend so check back often! If your link was removed, please reread the rules and try again. Sorry, no blog home page links (must be linked to the permalink of your post)  nor general linkups for this one.