Congratulations on your news!

A cousin of mine announced that he and his wife are expecting their first child! There haven't been any babies in the family for quite some time, so this news was doubly exciting. I went to see them a couple days ago and wanted to congratulate them. It's way too early to give any sort of gift for the mom-to-be or baby-to-be, so I chose to make them a card:

And we brought dessert over-- chinese custard buns. Though I didn't make them, I bought them.

From garage shelves to kitchen pantry.

I recently moved so I am still in the process of unpacking and organizing.  In the midst of unpacking all of my belongings, I had this realization that there simply wasn’t enough storage in the kitchen,  Just take a look.

I had enough space for all of the dishes, pots and pans, spices, etc. but literally had no room for food storage.  So, Austin and I embarked on an adventure, in search of a reasonably priced hutch/pantry.  I checked everywhere.  I checked Walmart, Target, furniture stores, thrift stores, and garage sales.  I couldn’t find anything.  Frustrated, I called my mom and she immediately responded with, “Oh, come over, you can use our garage shelves.”

Uh…Sure, mom.  Garage shelves?

So I was a little skeptical.  But as it turns out, mom’s do know best…

We picked up the shelves and took them home. 

The BEFORE

As you can see, the unit is very tall.  It stands about 7”.

The shelves pull out and up (very similar to a garage door).  There are 6 shelf compartments.

The first step was to paint it.  I had lots of different color ideas (purple, teal, blue, grey, white, and so on…).  I decided to go for a neutral color, so grey was the winner. 

The next step was to decide on a pattern, design or embellishment for the shelves.  So I spent a lot of time on google image searches, and found inspiration from a calendar I own.

I love poppies, so this was the winner.  And then I spent a decent amount of time trying to draw up a plan.

First, I chalked on the outline of the plan onto the shelving unit.

Then painted!

After applying a second coat of paint, I washed off the chalk and…done!

And now, my kitchen is definitely more organized…and a little happier, too.

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