A Kitchen Tour + Weekend Things
That’s Coco’s “please don’t leave me” face. It cuts like a knife, straight through my heart.
We took her to the park on Saturday to stretch her legs and get some fresh air. She’s never been one to play fetch but she loves to run {for short periods of time} so we did a few sprints in the grass together.
She beat me the first few runs and then tired out. I tried to explain to her that she just needs to pace herself better next time but I’m not sure if it got through.
After that we took her to the farmers market and I picked up an orchid for our new place.
Conveniently located right behind the farmers market is our favorite juice and smoothie spot, Juice & Java Express.
I ordered a blueberry/orange/apple juice for me and a mango/pineapple smoothie for him. His turned out to be better and I might’ve “accidentally” drank half of it. Woops.
So the real highlight of the weekend was finally finishing unpacking and setting up the kitchen!
I know it looks spacious but it’s actually a good deal smaller than our last kitchen because it doesn’t have a pantry. Finding a home for everything was a little challenging but with a few improvements, it worked out great.
Thanks to my incessant blog reading, I remembered Emily’s creative use of the IKEA Grundtal shelves and bought some for the back wall of our kitchen, next to the sign from our wedding cake table.
I’m so excited because it allows me to easily access our most commonly used bulk items: legumes, grains, nuts, and seeds, and also see when we’re running low on certain things.
I used most of the larger 1/2 gallon jars for dry beans which I’m hoping will help steer me away from buying them canned.
For the spices I found magnetic knife racks at IKEA to hang herb jars that I bought from The Container Store.
I also got some helpful little labels in case I forget what’s inside.
Then I found more space for our breakfast staples on top of the oven: oats, granola, Brandon’s motor oil {aka coffee}, hemp seeds and chia seeds.
For the utensils I used bamboo drawer organizers that we brought with us from our old house.
Those are also from The Container Store and they’re not only durable but also really easy to clean, so I picked up a few more to fit some of the produce on top of the refrigerator.
I used the largest cabinet in place of the pantry, storing the more commonly used things like oil, vinegar, and nut butter at the bottom and baking items at the top.
And of course the pantry wouldn’t be complete without Justin’s vanilla crack butter almond butter.
Those bamboo shelves {another Container Store find} really help to create more space and make things easily accessible.
The Tupperware, however, is another story. I have to stand on my tippy toes to get anything down from that shelf. It’s a good thing I’m tall!
One benefit of this kitchen is the large amount counter space so I have plenty of room to display things like the beautiful cutting board that my dear friend Stacey got us as a wedding gift.
It matches the kitchen perfectly!
I also have the new food processor Brandon randomly surprised me with last week.
It’s my most used appliance and the old one I had was super small and made an ear-piercing noise so I was long overdue for a replacement. The funny thing is that he originally bought me the enormous 16-cup Proline Kitchen Aid Food Processor and when I came home and saw it on the counter, I instantly freaked out and told him we had to return it. It was huge!! He wasn’t too happy that I ruined the surprise {he says I’m the worst gift-receiver ever} but this one is a 9 cup and it suits my needs perfectly.
One last thing I want to show you is our entry way:
I bought the dry erase calendar from Pottery Barn a few years ago and recently bought the matching coat hanger and key ring holder thingy. Having that much organization in my home makes me so unbelievably happy, I can’t even begin to explain.
Next to the entry is a console table that I got from Target. I set up the pretty orchid from the farmers market so that we can see it from all points of the room.
The woman selling them said not to water it but instead to soak it in water for three hours, every two weeks. Wish me luck that I don’t kill it!
It feels so good to have everything finished! I have a few final touches to make to our bedroom and then I should be completely done.
Are you an organization freak like me?
What’s your most used appliance?
total organization freak here, too!!
the kitchen looks great & i love the beautiful wood cutting board.
Love your kitchen, especially those shelves. So cute!
Coco’s face kills me. Bella’s also perfected the “don’t leave me” face, very hard to resist!
Awww the don’t leave me face is the worst!!! Loving the new kitchen!
What a little cutie Coco is! I would be sad to leave that face too! :)
I am definitely an organized person and love anything that helps me to be even more organized. I am obsessed with our dry erase board + coat hanger and your spice rack. Love your kitchen girl!
Oh my gosh, your kitchen is perfect! I love it! Also… a 16 cup food processor?! Wowza!
Love the spice rack alternative!!! Will have to pick one up.
Most used appliances would be the vitamix which is used 3+ times a day! *phew*
Beautiful kitchen! Cant wait to see all the lovley creations to come
Thanks Stephanie! I’m jealous of your Vitamix! That’s been on my wish list for a while now.
I’m SO jealous of your kitchen! I am such an organization freak but I have no space to organize at the moment :( I cannot wait to move and have space (c’mon May!) to have my favorite appliance, my KitchenAid Mixer, out and displayed to the world!
everything looks great Sarah! :) I love the organization although I’ll be the first to admit that it is not my strongpoint in life :$ *sigh* I’ll have to keep your lovely home in mind when I start one of my own. ;) Thanks for sharing!
Everything looks wonderful! I’m definitely very organized and clean, and I have to be when living in a tiny city apartment. I covet your large kitchen. Great work!
GAH you’re so organized! And I’m so jealous! Your kitchen is gorgeous – what a pleasant place to cook! So glad you had a fun weekend :)
Awww, my pup has one of those faces too! And also not a fan of playing fetch, but does love to have races instead in the park :)
The new kitchen looks great – you are so organised! The best way to be in the kicthen :)
I’m obsessed with your new kitchen!! Everything looks so chic and organized! Can you please come over and organize my kitchen for me?! Seriously, after looking at your pics I feel the urge to clean the kitchen and organize all my spices, tupperware, and dishes! We have a pretty small kitchen so it can be hard to find a place for everything. My most used cooking appliance is probably my blender and unfortunately the only place I could find for it is in a cabinet behind a huge mixer that I have to move every time I need to use it.
Awww, that don’t leave me face is so sad! Cheeto always starts attacking me when I’m about to leave and he doesn’t want me to, which incidentally makes me want to leave more and not feel as bad!
Ummm I WISH I was an organization freak! I’ll be moving soon so if you want to organize my kitchen for me that would be wonnnnnderful :) My new kitchen is going to be much smaller than my current one, so I may have to steal some of your organization ideas–thanks!
haha I am definitely an organization freak too! I like everything in it’s place and put away! I need to get some larger jars to store some of my dry pantry staples … I’ve been meaning to do that forever now.
And Coco – that face. Emma gives me that look too – and usually she wins :)
I would love to see your kitchen. I’m sure it’s immaculate!
Even reading about all your organizing makes me super happy, so yeah — I think it’s safe to say that I’m kind of an organization freak :P Really love everything you’ve done with your place!
Oh my goodness when are you going to be in a magazine or on tv? You kitchen is so gorgeous, and it makes my organizational-loving heart so incredibly happy. I am def an organization freak like you, and I wouldn’t have it any other way! Most used appliance- blender! Love my smoothies xx
I’m so jealous of how organized you are! We try, but pretty much just fail before we even begin to try. Good luck with the orchid — I love them, but they apparently just can’t commit to a life in my house because they die pretty quick.
I’m hoping her directions will yield success. I was also told that after they lose all of their petals to keep up with them the same and then they will eventually come back to life. Apparently they go through cycles or something?
Everything looks fabulous! I love your nook with the magnetic spice racks and the sign from your wedding — so cute.
I’m a little embarrassed to say we’ve been in our new house almost a month and things are still, um, in a state of disarray in the kitchen . . . mostly because our pantry was wrecked by the previous owners, and we haven’t gotten around to installing new shelving and cleaning that bad boy up. Everything that will eventually go in the pantry is being stored in the kitchen cabinets for now, meaning all my lesser-used stuff (read: most if it) is in boxes. All over the house.
You’ve inspired me — need to make it a priority to get the pantry fixed up by next weekend!
I’m sure if I had a construction project standing in my way then mine wouldn’t have been completed in a few weeks. That sounds like a lot of work!
Hopefully you can knock it out and be done with it soon!
Your kitchen is gorgeous! I want to recreate that spice rack in my kitchen- its SO cute!! I’m also getting the urge to go home right away (well, once work is over) and reorganize my kitchen (err, entire apartment). actually this post may have inspired a whole weekend project :)
Your apt is looking super cute! I love the organization. To say that I’m an organization freak would be to understate what I really am, which is a freak in general. I can’t function and occasionally even have a meltdown if everything isn’t properly in its place, every corner is neatly rounded, and every jar is perfectly lined up. It’s a disease. ;)
I’m the same way! If something is out of place, it drives me nuts. It really is a disease. ;)
Brandon’s motor oil ahahahah You’re funny! My house is small compared to yours… I have nothing to organize, I just just have to refrain from buying stuff otherwise I can step into it :). You’ve done a great job, really.
I buy him extra dark roast and then he brews it with barely any water so that it tastes very, very strong. Almost like motor oil! Blech. ;)
Love how you’ve organized everything! I’m all about some mason jars…they are so handy, and still look cute!
Everything is so beautiful and organized! You can come organize my kitchen/install some shelves whenever you have a spare minute :) Good luck with the orchid… I cannot figure out how to keep one of those things alive! Glad to see you’re all settled in your new space – such a good feeling :)
okay, even if you’re new kitchen is smaller, I love it! I’m dying to move and can’t wait for a kitchen upgrade.
So funny Brandon bought you the 16 cup processor. That is so big! haha. I would have returned it too.
My most used kitchen appliance is the vitamix (i’ve used it every day since June 9th!) and also my food processor.
Everything looks FABULOUS Sarah! From all of your wedding planning and home decorating, I can tell that you pay a lot of attention to detail, and I love that! Looking for a gig as a decorator by any chance? :)
It’s funny that you mention watering your orchid, because my mom and I just had this conversation the other day. I’ve had a beautiful orchid plant for a few months, and I just throw a couple of ice cubes in it probably once a week. It can’t get much easier than that. You should consider doing it that way!
Drooling over your kitchen organization! I keep my dry goods in mason jars as well, but I don’t have any exposed shelves to keep them on so I can see them. Do they get warm when you turn the oven on? I would put them there, but mine gets pretty hot and will melt a candle if I have it on the stove when the oven is on!
omg. That face!!! Adorable pup!
I’m with you on organizing! I live in a small home, so it’s important, otherwise it looks like chaos. Best of luck with the organization and the orchid! ;)
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