The Great Kitchen Clean Up

I feel like I don't post about my kitchen much on here, but that is probably because I rarely do anything blog-worthy in the kitchen. In case you do not know, I do have a small, but very nice kitchen, which works very well for reheating pizza and keeping my beer cold :). And it deserves a little moment in the sun because it is currently cleaner than it has been for a very long time.

This weekend's task was to clean the kitchen from top to bottom and I got down to work. I cleared out all the cupboards and threw out a good-sized bag of expired food and extra packaging. I hate wasting food, but sometimes one person just cannot get through an entire bottle of soy sauce or box of cous cous that got jammed to the back of the cupboard! While the cupboards and fridge were empty I gave everything a scrub. I seriously don't think I ever want to clean a full-sized kitchen...this little one kept me busy enough for awhile.

Anyway, it is all pretty right now so I thought I would share how I manage to get organized in my tiny kitchen. Oh- also found out I have quite the collection of frozen bananas. I think some baking is in order this week!

Don't judge my lack of food- I hadn't got grocery shopping in awhile. Plus it is a LARGE fridge for one person! Only so many perishables a person can eat before they start to go bad.

Rast Dresser to Bookshelf!

I am so excited to share a project I did this weekend! Now, if you remember, I used to have a yellow dresser in my front hall that was used to store shoes and boots.

However, this fall I replaced it with a table because the drawers of this dresser were rather useless. I found them stiff and too shallow for my giant shoes (I wear a size 9.5!). I did not get rid of the dresser, but instead moved it to another wall in the front hall. And there it has sat for the past couple of months while I figured out what to do with it. I liked the yellow and I still needed storage in this area.

I finally decided- this thing needs to become a bookshelf to store items in! The only issue I had was that the shelves would need to be 11" deep and 23" long- not exactly a standard shelf size and I have no means of getting or cutting wood. So the project sat.

But then one day I decided to google 11"x23" shelves and I found some. At SEARS of all places!!! And for only $8 each! So I ordered those suckers and they came within just a few days- super duper awesome!!

This weekend I got to work pulling out all the pieces I did not need (backing, drawers, and a brace piece).

I then got down to the task of filling all those holes with spackle and sanding it out. I actually got a little Black and Decker Mouse Sander for Christmas and it was SO handy. Sanding with this thing was a breeze.

After this was completed I painted the inside of the dresser yellow to match the outside. Once that was all dry I got to work installing the shelves. They were horrible to install. At first I thought this would be easy because they were well suited to my project as they come with a small brace for each side and then the shelf slides in, so it is floating.

However the shelves ended up being a tiny bit too wide (ahem, not 23"!) so it was very tough to slide them onto the brackets! Literally I would throw my whole weight on them and they would move an inch, Plus you need to make sure your two brackets are perfectly level and let's face it- my measuring skills are not the best. Also the dresser the dresser is cheap and the wood is not at all even. I did find that detaching the side of the dresser helped give the shelves a bit of breather room to slide in. Finally I got all three shelves in and the dresser sides reattached.

After that I attached some fabric to the back to finish it off! I chose this one because I thought it helped tie in the yellow bookshelf with white shelves (I didn't want to paint the shelves as the finish it came with is better for cleaning, however I was worried yellow + white would look too eggy on its own). I didn't have a big enough piece to cover the whole back so I did it in strips.

Then, of course, I went ahead and styled it up a bit with stuff from around the condo! I planned to use the bottom shelf for my often-used shoes, but the other shelves may change up with the seasons.

It is certainly not perfect, but I simply LOVE it! The extra storage is great and the bookshelf is cute to boot!

January Cure Part Deux

There have been three more steps to the January cure since I last posted (you know, that far-far away time of Monday).
1. Take some time to sit and reflect in a room and imagine starting decorating/filling it from scratch
2. Set up an "outbox" and place one item in it (you don't have to actually get rid of the item, but try not living with it for a week if you are on the fence)
3. Complete one project on your to-do list

I didn't really do step one for two reasons. The first is that I sit all the time in the only room I have (not much to change in the bathroom since I just redid that room!).  The second reason is that I re-imagine decorating my place all the time- I love to mentally re-do it!

As for my "outbox", I already disclosed on Monday that I have an "out-hallway" right now. I am kind of weird because I am a totally hoarder, but a really good purger. So I end up with a lot of stuff when I decide to get rid of things!

As for the project I chose to tackle- I kept it simple and decided to clean off the top of the armoire! There were actually boxes up here that I didn't even know what was in them. Plus visual clutter can make the whole condo look messy and this was a surface area that was starting to look pretty gross!

I took everything down and laid it all out and opened up the boxes. I chose to keep the wigs up there because this is the best spot in the condo for them. I want to get rid of the red wig (in the back there), but I have no idea how to get rid of this one- can I donate it?? The dark wig I still wear on occasion.

I love how there was a shower head in one of these boxes. Why did I hold on to that?? It immediately went to my "out-hallway". The two travel-sized bags went under the sink for my next trip, and I sorted through the jewellery and headbands and only kept a few things. The rest I shall offer to friends since I rarely wear them.

I then moved the gift wrap box and a second box of miscellaneous items to the front hall closet. They may eventually come back to the armoire, but I am trying to store more stuff in the closet (I have been cleaning off the shelves in there!).

However, after all that was done, I didn't like how just the wigs on their stands were left- they were kind of creepy and staring at me. So I grabbed another box and decided to store my bathing suits in it and keep it on the armoire (they used to live in a bin under the bed). The iron also got to stay up here.

It definitely feels much more open and nice up here!

New Home Plans

I broke the news a little while ago that I am seriously considering buying a 1 bedroom condo in late 2014 (need to save up some more pennies first!). Now obviously a lot can change over the next few months so this is certainly not a set-in-stone plan, but it is a goal I am considering seriously. You can tell because my MLS searching has increased 10 fold ;).

I have begun to think over in my head how I would like to design my new condo- what will I do differently in terms of aesthetics? I know a lot of my style will probably be retained, such as my love of white furniture and a traditional style with a little modern thrown in!

Obviously the grey loveseat will stay (I still love this thing), but maybe in a larger living room it will be complemented by a larger sofa or an arm chair?

Source

And in the bedroom, I will need a dresser and side tables! I have always had a tiny crush on this one from Ikea. But will I go the traditional route and get the matching side tables or finally complete my dream of buying cute furniture I find at Home Sense? Haha...I am betting the latter.

Source

As for finishes, it will be awhile before I save up enough to actually change anything major (It seems like a lot of condos in my price range are a tad dated, but there are some nice options too! All depends on location, which I have yet to narrow down). I have a feeling I won't pick grey paint again, but something warmer and maybe even some darker colours. Here are some unique finishes that make my heart go pitter-patter:

Love those floors

The wallpaper is gorgeous!

Warm wall colours

So there you go...a few of the things I am hoping to achieve with a bigger space :) I am excited to see where I end up!!! Though I must admit, a part of my heart will be sad to leave this little condo too

The January Cure...Done Casey Style

I signed up for Apartment Therapy's January Cure this year after spending the days after the holidays purging like a crazy person and figured I could use some help. I am ready to live a bit more cleanly and minimally and I was hoping that the much-touted January Cure would help me organize my organization kick! The funny thing is that I almost stopped at step 1: Making a list of projects. I have to be in the mood to clean and I guess I wasn't any such mood that day! But this weekend I got a lot more motivated so I got down to business.

My List
Front Hall:
- Measure and decide if I should move my shoe rack to the back of the closet
- Reorganize the shelves in the closet (I already cleaned out some junk from there a few weeks ago)
- Install a broomholder in closet
- Install some hooks in closet
- Deep clean the carpet
- Build a bookshelf (out of my yellow dresser- I already ordered the shelves!!)

Kitchen:
- Install a hook for hanging cutting boards
- Buy new large cookie sheets
- Clean fridge
- Install faucet (Christmas gift!!!)
- Sharpen knives
- Clean out and reorganize food cupboard

Bathroom:
- Fix shower head (I got a new one but I wasn't able to install it as per directions so I need to get inventive) Sneak Peek over here on instagram

Dining Room:
- Clean out drawers in table (I actually already did half of them)
- Neaten up laptop and printer cables

Living Room:
- Clean out ottoman (done! See...I never follow directions well because purging isn't supposed to be done yet)
- Clean out/organize TV stand

Bedroom:
- Build headboard
- Clean out the junk on top of the armoires
- Purge clothing (also done!)

Now obviously you can already see that I got ahead of myself and already started cleaning. You know... just purging a few tiny things.

Umm...ya. I did nothing to the hall before taking this shot. Now, the dolly and luggage need to go the locker and a couple of boxes (the white one in front and the red one at the back) are not being donated- those are my new faucet and shower head, but the rest is being donated or sold online! Purging and doing all this is not on the January Cure assignment yet, but what can I say...I am an overachiever.

Also, if anyone is driving to a place where this stuff can be donated, please come pick me up first. haha. I want this junk out of my hallway!!

I am also struggling a bit this weekend because my wireless router bit the dust randomly on Saturday morning so I am blogging from my ottoman, which is super uncomfortable for my back and neck, but my Ethernet cable is only like 4 feet long :(

I need to remember to unplug this before I got to bed or late night bathroom trips could be very expensive...

In other news, I redid my mouse pad on a whim this weekend!!

The old fabric was getting dirty so I just stapled some new fabric over top. 5 minute projects rock :)

Now, onto the next January Cure Assignment.

Next I was supposed to deep clean my floors, buy flowers, and buy some green cleaning products. I am about half done this step! I cleaned all my floors except the hallway (see photo above as to why cleaning that right now is a hassle). I also already had flowers so that step was done!

All I have left to do is buy the green cleaning products (though to be really honest, I just use regular dish soap a lot. I rarely ever buy heavy duty cleaning products besides toilet bowl cleaner and I might Swiffer once in a blue moon). I wonder if they sell "green" carpet cleaner, because that is all I really need to get right now!

So yup, that was my weekend- a lot of random stuff and breaking the rules, but the condo is already starting to feel better (as long as you avoid looking at the hallway).

What did you get up to this weekend? Anyone else trying the January Cure this month?

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a fabulous New Year's Eve, whether you were out for a glamorous evening on the town, or just sleeping in bed because sleep makes you happy (either seem like a good plan to me!). I was at my friend Steph's house where we played some fun games, drank ridiculously good drinks, such as a Tequila Rose Milkshakes, and generally just had a fun evening in.

You know a drink recipe is a winner when it calls for sprinkles

The next day we slept in and I headed home in the afternoon, where I proceeded to lose all steam in starting the new year off right and did nothing for a few hours :)

After that I did take down all the Christmas decorating, which is super sad. The condo now looks sooo empty! When do you take your decorations down? I know a lot of people wait until Jan 6th for the 12 days of Christmas to end, but others get the ball rolling on Dec 26th. I think I am firmly in the New Year's Day camp. I LOVE Christmas, but on January 1st I am ready to let it go an start to year off fresh and clean!

Also last weekend I did a huge purge of stuff! I am trying to convince my condo to get a donation bin brought in, but I think my friend might just drive me and my collection of junk to Value Village next week. For now my hallway is squished full of grocery bags and I yet to conquer the locker. I really hope to pare down on the amount of junk I hold on to- I can be such a hoarder.

Happy New Year to everyone!!