kitchen clutter update

Let's just call it... Less disorganized. 

OK, seriously, though.... A week or so ago, we (well, mostly I, but Aaron came along) tackled the kitchen organization tasks, courtesy of our last Target gift cards. Yes, it has taken us this long to spend down the wedding stash. We think that's a good thing! Rather than have a massive shopping spree, we've used them to buy lots of great things we needed for the house. 

In no particular order, here are some updated pics:

We happened upon the clearance pet supply section and found a food container for half price (good bye giant dog food bag in the middle of the floor!) and a pet placemat for our messy eater. (That's Comet. Not me.) It's dishwasher safe! (The placemat, not the dog.)

Two new things in here. 1: Basket for dog supplies on top of the microwave, thus keeping them together and freeing up the counter space next to the KitchenAid; 2: Basket for bills and other mail moved to the wall, rather than sitting on the table.  

And yet another dog-related item... An inexpensive (and on sale!) fabric bin to contain all the dog toys.  OK, technically this picture is in the living room, not the kitchen. Whatever.

This is one of my favorite improvements: a shelf to allow for two layers of produce storage. (Yes, I know, the only produce you can see is the white bowl full of tomatoes, but usually we have produce in all of those bowls. Really.) In case you couldn't tell, we have very little counter space in our kitchen, so every little bit helps!

This is another great one. We had a canister set that was Aaron's before we were married, so we didn't register for a new one since his was still perfectly good. But with the aforementioned lack of counter space, we never really found a great place to keep the set, and if we put it on top of the fridge, the tallest ones blocked the cabinet doors. So we got these awesome containers at Target instead. Sweet!

These are the all-purpose hooks right by the door. (I am married to a trumpet player, remember?) Before, they had waaay too much stuff on them. So I threw some things away and relocated a few other things. The biggest change was that I moved all of the pot holders to two command hooks near the stove. I love command hooks.

See? Command hooks are clearly awesome.

I love bins. This particular one holds mittens, gloves, hats, and other such winter-y items so that they are near our coats when we need them. Ta da!

You may notice the lack of any kitchen table pictures. It's a lot better right now, but it will definitely not stay that way. Alainna left a comment on my previous post with a great suggestion - baskets on the table for Aaron and I to keep our stuff in. I am really thinking about trying it! The reality is that we will both continue to use the table as a place to keep stuff, but it would be great to have it a little more contained. It would also solve the "I moved that pile of stuff somewhere else when company was coming over but now I have no idea where that was" problem. 

While I was at it, I also reorganized the clutter (if that's possible!) on the fridge. So it's still covered in awesomeness, but now we can find important things when we need them. 

So that's where things are in the kitchen. I could definitely more if I chose to - really dig into the cupboards, etc. - but my focus is on getting ready for school and getting the house functional, so I'm pretty satisfied with the project as it sits. On to the next room!