And just like that, the first week of this 31 day series has come to a close. I had the furniture and carpet cleaned, enlarged and hung a family photo, cleaned out my desk, and organized not one, but two kitchen cabinets. Make that three, because today I’m still in the kitchen. I could have devoted 31 days to the kitchen alone! A better project would have been 365 Days of William Morris because the useful, the beautiful, and the lack thereof is never ending.
I can’t overstate how much of a stretch this series has been for me. I’m a thinker and a writer, which means I’m not much of a doer. That makes me sound lazy, but those of you with similar personalities know we are not lazy. We are just as active as the person painting their kitchen in a houndstooth pattern with homemade chalk paint. The difference is that most of our activity happens in our head. I’m always thinking, always reading, always trying to learn and be better. In my home, I’m the one with the plans. I create the budget, I research the options, I layout the plan of attack. Then, the Mister comes in and does it. For me, the fun is in the research and planning. Once that’s done, I lose interest and move on to the next project. To force myself to stay present and involved from beginning to end has pushed me out of my comfort zone, and I love it.
I also love how supportive so many of you have been while I temporarily revolutionize my blog. Every time I hit publish on a post, I worry just a little bit. I don’t have scads of money to devote to elaborate befores and afters. My pragmatic, simple side forces me to eschew things like bunting on pantry shelves, an overload of seasonal decor, and, yes, houndstooth patterns. I’m practical, quirky, and prone to over thinking.
I was over thinking today when I debated doing another kitchen project. It bothers me that I am still here in the kitchen. I’m going through it one drawer and cabinet at a time, and each project leans like a domino into the next one. Once I clean that one, I need to clean this one. I can’t finish this one until I finish that one. I’m trying to be patient, reminding myself Rome wasn’t built in a day and the way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.
Screw that, I want chicken.
But I have an elephant, and her name is Kitchen. Her middle name is The Two Bottom Drawers Under My Range.
The first image is of the middle drawer, the one that sits underneath the drawer I cleaned out yesterday. It’s a mix of cake pans, one nonstick pan, and all of our lids. The lids were the ones causing all the ruckus. As you can see from the second image, which is of the bottom drawer, the pots and pans behave themselves.
Emptying the drawers and adding simple shelf liner from Target helped tremendously. I know I mentioned buying cork lining yesterday, but I changed my mind. The paper I bought today was a siren song to my practical side. It’s nonadhesive, discretely patterned, washable, and reasonably priced. Perfect.
My favorite addition, though, is the $4 tension curtain rod. I can thank a fellow 31 Day participant for this trick to containing lids in a messy drawer.
Hello! What’s that? You want a side view of awesome?
No problem.
The bottom drawer was easy. I just emptied, cleaned, and papered it before putting back the pots and pans–minus a grill and griddle pan that made their way back in when the Mister came home. Apparently he finds them useful.
I was on such a roll that I revisited yesterday’s drawer and gave it the paper treatment, too.
While I was there I put some spatulas in the donate pile to make room for my hot mitts, which I used to pull dinner out of the oven. We had chicken.
New here? For the next 31 days Im living according to the famous William Morris quote. You can learn more about the project here.
Your spatulas are like my whisks. I have like 4 or 5 and I am not giving any up. In fact, now I want a round one like you have. What is it for? Whipping maybe?
Oh and I can’t stress enough how much I like this series. There is nothing like reading a truly well written organizing post.
I will have you know, your posts have propelled me toward marking things off my own list. Yesterday, for instance, I brought in my winter clothes … which meant I needed to weed out summer … and tidy my shoes … but first vacuum. Then when I went to put the summer clothes back out in the garage, I realized it was quite dusty back there–bug carcasses and all–so I thought I might just clean out …
Needless to say, I’m right smack dab in the middle of a garage overhaul. So. Thanks for that …
Just found your blog and might I say I have never before thought of “phenomenally indecisive” as anything but my greatest weakness. You made me laugh and perhaps love myself just a bit more this morning. That’s worth a lot.
I just felt the need to comment and say that I really love your blog, but I specifically love this project. It’s inspiring and exciting (despite how unlikely it seems that drawer organizing would be exciting) and I completely identify with being a thinker and not a doer.
Best of luck with the rest; I look forward to seeing all the progress!
Over thinking.
Yes! I find myself doing the exact same thing with decluttering. You described it perfectly.
Oh good. I’d just seen that tension rod trick yesterday and I was trying to think where I’d seen it! I was going to recommend it to you when you said you were frustrated with the lids–but you found it! Good stuff.
You are doing wonderfully well! I did some organizing projects in my kitchen drawers a year ago–and things are still working. It really pays off.
The week isn’t over, though. There’s still Saturday and Sunday, you know! Love your series.
Hurrah! Good work. Looking inside other people’s drawers is actually quite fun and interesting, so fear not. I’m glad that you like papering drawers because I find it loathesome, like getting dental work done or driving on the 405.
This post… It’s an allegory of life. Going through it one drawer and cabinet at a time, wishing we could move on to the next thing already! That is exactly how my circumstances right now make me feel.
Live in the kitchen for now, Jules. Because when you finally move on to the next thing, you won’t have any regrets (“I knew I should oiled those spoons!”)
Ding, ding, ding! The people who read my blog are the smartest.
You are doing great!! And I think you are smart parting with a few more spatulas. I only own one…and if I need it before it runs through the dishwasher, well, I handwash it! Works for me.
I’m LOVING this series! You’re doing a great job. And all that activity in your head — well, it counts for a whole lot, too.
Not bored at all, in fact this is like porn for a Type A personality (like me).
Haha! Porn for type A…
That made me laugh out loud!
So true. So true.
This is a great series, and you’re doing a terrific job with it! Look how many comments your posts are getting. (I went back and your comment count has really jumped lately – that’s a sign that we’re likin’ what you’re sellin’!) You are engaging with us in a different way: Instead of the contemplative, philosophical insights, we’re having conversations about the minutiae that make up our daily routine of running a household. And who is to say that isn’t at least as important?
P.S. I’m glad you talked about how much time and effort you spend thinking, planning and researching before giving it to the Mister to execute. My own Mister doesn’t appreciate how much time I spend worriting over every decor and improvement project. It sounds like you enjoy it, but I find it to be very stressful.
Yes, they way I normally write doesn’t really lend itself to commenting. I really like the engagement in the comments! I’m having a great time.
As for researching, yes, that really is my favorite part of any project. You can bet that when I have made a decision on anything, it’s most likely the result of hours of research and analysis.
I am really enjoying your William Morris-ness, Oh to imagine William in the kitchen with the spatulas! And I LOVE your defense of the thinker/writer as a doer (intellectually active). I am going to use this, well as I am also an over thinker, i will probably first over think about the hows and whys I also am like this! The alternative of hounds tooth chalking sets up a great defense. You are a permission slip!
There is a great book I am reading right now, Sally, called Refuse to Choose. It’s all about people who love to think, analyze, and have a hard time deciding what they want to do because they love so many things. So, it’s pretty much my biography.
This sounds like me too! I need to read this. I will search for it today. Thanks
You go girl! I am hooked, and thanks for making me feel good about all the ‘thinking’ I do. Don’t despair over the spatulas, I have at least 10, all different and all very much used. The curtain rod idea in the draw is brilliant. Look forward to seeing what you tackle next.
PS: I love all the patchwork blocks that are posted by our comments they appeal as I am a quilter, along with being a big William Morris fan.
Thank you for that description of our personality type! My husband does not like me to start projects for exactly the reasons you’ve listed – hours of research, on to the next thing before the first is done, etc. I am loving this challenge, and as a dedicated pack-rat with a husband who gets rid of stuff constantly, I think I might have to jump in on this one!
Loving the posts & the comments too!
Unfortunately I am the researcher and executor in our family.
Thank God for OCD- nothing would get done!
Keep up the great work- cleaning & purging and writing about it. We love it!