My IKEA Kitchen

When I moved into my apartment (7 years ago!), I immediately got to work on kitchen solutions.  I knew I needed to make the most of my wall space because, frankly, that's all this eat-in kitchen had other than 3 upper and lower cabinets plus one drawer.  So I went to IKEA and bought myself a kitchen.  

Fortunately, they had a plethora of wall storage.  (Plethora- fun word, right?)  I grabbed a couple of these rods with these hooks and this basket.  And I really liked this spice rack, too.

I added a few other pieces like a hanging produce basket and a butcher's block where I keep my 'garage bin', a cloth basket full of tools, batteries, flashlights and other miscellaneous items.  All in all, I'm pretty happy with my kitchen space; it's functional and organized.  Just how I like it.

Tell me, Appleshiners, what tricks do you have for an organized kitchen?

Also, remember this loft kitchen that I unpacked and Appleshined?  I had cabinet envy soooo bad; look how well it turned out.

Save Money with your Lettuce

Oh, my goodness, it's going to be beautiful outside today!  Makes me wanna grab a book and blanket and spend the afternoon in the park.  Maybe I will...but before then, I've gotta pack a quick lunch.  Lemme check my fridge: some fruit, a yogurt, a bottle of water and a light salad should do the trick.  (Ooo, how 'bout a salad in a mason jar?)

Here's a little storage tip for you: when you grab a bunch of greens from the grocery, bring them home, wash 'em up and place them in this nifty contraption:

The plastic bowl is specially designed with ridges along the bottom to let the water drip down, allowing the lettuce to stay crisper longer.  And like other storage containers, it'll help save your time and money.

Living an organized lifestyle is about clearing out clutter in ALL areas of your life.  Learning how to create a healthy lifestyle affects what goes in your body as well as what surrounds it.  I like how this bowl saves money by keeping my lettuce fresher longer.  And it makes lunch easier, healthier and faster to prepare.  Appleshine success!

I'm off to enjoy the day.  Have a lovely afternoon and I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend, too!


Tell me, Appleshiners, what other kitchen tools help you live a more organized lifestyle?

Organization and Etiquette

Happy Monday Friends!  I hope you had a lovely weekend, full of family, friends and happy memories.  I certainly had a busy one.  I had dinner with a grade school friend on Friday, joined my brother for a Ghost Tour of Greenwich Village on Saturday and had Easter brunch with friends on Sunday.  Such a wonderful time with wonderful people.

My dear friend was so gracious to host us as it was her first big dinner party since she married her sweetheart.  And with it came a few lessons in hostess etiquette.  She joked about proper place settings and which serving utensils should she use for the lasagna rather than salad but really, modern day etiquette is not as apparent in the ways it used to be.

(Emily Post)

Emily Post's "Etiquette" is the quintessential book for any hostess-to-be looking to learn the ropes.  With organization comes invitations to let others into your organized lifestyle.  When you have an organized space, you'll want to share it with others.  Even if this guide may be a tad traditional for your taste, there are still beneficial hosting perks to pair with your clean and organized space.  Inviting others into your living space, whether it be at home or the office, tells them that you're not only proud of who you are and what you do but how you get around to doing it.  And an organizing lifestyle makes that nothing but easier to do.

Tell me, Appleshiners, how do you feel about hosting in your organized space?

How to Organize a Refrigerator

(Keeping Home in the City)

Happy Monday!  It's a new week with a new list of things to do...like spring cleaning.  Growing up, my mom always enlisted my brother and me to help with the cleaning.  And keeping us occupied long enough for her to scrub down the fridge was probably one of many perks to family cleaning. 

Mom kept a clean and organized fridge.  And I've kept those traits alive from my first mini-fridge in college to my fridge-for-one on the Upper East Side.  Wiping it down every few months seems worth it; it just makes sense to keep your food in a clean space.  My flair for organizing the items within might be a little much, though.  My friend once asked, 'why do you keep the food stocked like it's at a grocery store?'  I guess I kinda view it that way: labels out, produce in the drawers, condiments in the side, butter up top.  Makes me feel like opening the fridge is a little grocery run.

(Organize.com)

Shopping in bulk is cost effective, especially for a family, but often times loose food gets lost at the back of the fridge.  These containers allow you to keep like with like, as well as adding an extra drawer element, enabling you to see what's shoved away.

(Clean & Scentsible)

I like this idea of labeling the drawers and shelves.  In a way, it guides you to what you're looking for, or should be looking for, when you take a sneak peak for a snack.  Often times, I open the fridge without much thought for what I'm looking for.  I think labels would direct me to healthy energy options and keep me away from the easy carb choices.

(The Container Store)

My biggest organizing tip for a refrigerator is utilizing the given compartments for their intended use: produce in the bottom drawers, condiments on the door shelves, butter in the top, protein and cheese in the small, mid-section drawer and sodas in the hanging rack.  The structure of the fridge already lends itself to organization if following properly.  But if you need some more ideas, or extra receptacles, check out this list of tips and ideas.

And if you're prepared for a full fridge makeover, follow this step-by-step How To on cleaning your fridge before you attempt to get organized.

Tell me, Appleshiners, how do you keep your fridge organized?

Shoe Hangers Without Shoes

When organizing, I always talk about grouping 'like with like'.  Using bins, baskets, drawers or other receptacles are a great way to contain your materials but sometime it helps to be a bit more creative.

Here are a few ways to use shoe hangers for organizing things other than, well, shoes:

(bhg.com)

(iheartorganizing.blogspot.com)

(icanteachmychild.com)

(Heather Weston)

And look at this great idea to use a shoe hanger as a planter.

Tell me, Appleshiners, how would you use a shoe hanger for something else?

Appleshine: Moving to DC

Happy Monday, friends!  I hope your weekend was fabulous and full of springtime activities.  I had a great couple of days with friends, food, run club, a birthday party, a movie (can you guess which one??) and a season premiere party.  I guess that's what happens when the weather warms up- my weekend fills up, too!

However, before the fun began, I helped a client pack up his apartment and prepare for a move to Washington, DC.  Needless to say, he had a ton of things to take care of.  While he was out running errands, I helped sort, organize and pack his belongings.  All that remained were pieces too large for me to handle on my own so I left them for the movers.

When my client got the call from DC, he had literally just moved into a new apartment.  By the time he moved out on Sunday, he had lived there for 23 days.  There wasn't much need for him to unpack; yet he hadn't found a sense of organization in his new space either.

To start the packing process, I gathered all like items together and kept them in a logical location (clothes in the bedroom, electronics by the desk, towels in the bathroom, etc).

Then I assessed the need for boxes- what size and how many?  Wardrobe boxes are great (at least 2 per full closet), always use small boxes for heavy items (like books), grab a few large ones to pack odd-shaped items and count on medium size boxes to contain most everything else. 

Resist the urge to throw things into a box and be done with it.  Packing a mess is much easier than unpacking a mess.  Take the time to label boxes with room + contents and wrap padding around delicate items.  You don't have to fold every shirt as it goes in the box, just make sure all the shirts are in the same box.  When you get to your new home, you'll find it much less stressful to deal with well packed boxes.

Tell me, Appleshiners, do you have any packing tips?

PS- Here's a look at the kitchen I unpacked.  Even though I hadn't packed the boxes, they were well organized and made it easy to put everything in it's place, like this!

Organization Inspiration

Being from the South, I have a deep rooted love of glass jars.  My grandma used to can veggies and preserves from her garden and I remember the endless shelves of Mason jars in her basement.  Nowadays, in an effort to repurpose old materials, glass jars can reinvent themselves into useful ways to stay organized.  Take a look:

A salad in a jar! Pour in the dressing and shake...so easy.  You can use the jars for other kinds of snacks, too.  It's great for a picnic or packing a lunch.

Create more storage space by clearing off your counter top.  Mount a magnetic strip underneath your cabinets to hold smaller, matching jars for your spices.

Glass jars shouldn't be limited to just your spices (or canned preserves).  This Appleshine client used glass jars for all her pantry staples.

Oooh, look-y here, crafters!  Keep your yarn bottled up and manageable by poking a hole in the tops of the jars.  This could work for wrapping ribbons, twine or other spools of materials.

Use chalkboard labels to keep your desk, playroom or kitchen closet organized and all the items in their place.

Haha!  These photo frames made me smile.  You could also stand the jar upright and fill it with olive oil to give your picture a sepia effect like this.

Oh, so many ways for glass jars to help organize your lifestyle.  And if those weren't enough, check out these other fun ideas, too.

Tell me, Appleshiners, how do you repurpose old jars for new organization?

Grab a Towel

Making messes is a part of life.  So grab a towel, wipe it up and keep on moving.

My friend, Landis, has accomplished the ginormous task of living this past year entirely without paper towels.  She used a variety of dish towels to wipe up her small messes; this and this were her favorite and most effective towels.  Check out her great tips on how she made it work.

I, on the other hand, while not completely banishing Bounty from my life, have made an effort to cut back on the paper products.  I don't have a washer/dryer in my small, pre-war apartment so keeping up with the wash is a little difficult.  Instead, I limit my paper towel use to cleaning dirt or sticky messes and use the washable towels for spills that can easily be wiped up.

I'm not sure I could quit 'cold turkey' for a whole year but I'll admit- no more paper towels would, in turn, eliminate some paper waste.  And I'm all about cutting down on waste.

Tell me, Appleshiners, could you make it a whole year without paper towels?

Good Finds

Oh, the weather in NYC is just gorgeous!!  I've been soaking up some springtime sun this week with a few afternoon walks.  Yesterday, I wandered into Gracious Home, a New-Yorker's staple for home furnishings.  I did some snooping for good Appleshine recommendations and here are a few products I really liked:

A folding colander from Joseph Joseph.  It deconstructs to lie flat while stored in a cabinet.  The entire line features ergonomic designs; helpful space savers for apartment living.  I like this cutting board and salad bowl (with serving utensils build into the bowl!)

I was just wishing for these!  Shelf dividers are great for adding more structure to cabinet shelves, especially when you're renting and can't make permanent changes.  You can find them here since they aren't listed on the website.

Why don't you toss your old stand-up towel holder and use this one instead?  Hanging your towels from underneath your cabinet saves counter space.

It was a fun little outing...warm weather, sunshine and organizing.  If only I could find a way to do all that at the beach, it'd be my nirvana ;)  

Tell me, Appleshiners, what good finds have you seen lately?

Appleshine: Unpacking a Kitchen (Part 2)

In yesterday's post, I started unpacking my client's kitchen.  She'd just moved from her small apartment to a more spacious loft and had no idea how to layout her kitchen.  

I unpacked all her boxes, displaying her belongings on the floor so I could see all that I had to work with.  Taking into consideration the design of the kitchen, I approached the storage with a logical and realistic sense of efficiency.  Take a look at the before/after pictures:

While it was tempting to put food in the cabinet closest to the fridge, I appreciated the simplicity of being able to unload the dishwasher and put the dishware directly in the cabinets above.  If the plates had been over the sink instead (note the Before photo), it would've required reaching around an open cabinet door in order to put a clean dish away.  Eliminating extra steps like that keep a kitchen running efficiently.

Many of her appliances and gadgets were a bright cherry red.  Instead of hiding them in cabinets, I chose the most suitable ones to display on her countertop.  When placing such items, keep the paper towels close to the sink (preferably on the right side as most are right-handed), the cooking utensils by the stove and larger electrical items accessible to an outlet.

These are 4 of her...wait for it...8 drawers!!  I know that may not seem so impressive to anyone outside of NYC but most of us deal with only one kitchen drawer.  (I wish I were exaggerating but I swear I'm not!)  I'd already filled her 4 stacked drawers with utensils, gadgets, tupperware and linens (respectively).  And since these were on the extended side of her prep area, I used them for extra smaller items, keeping like with like.

While it would've been more logical to keep pots and pans in the inner cabinet, closer to the stove, the design didn't lend itself to that idea.  The inner cabinet had a deep pocket, causing the top shelf to cut back.  So I kept more of her prep items (strainers, mixing bowls, measuring cups) there instead.  Notice that when storing the pots and pans, I kept the lids on top.  Sometimes it helps save space if you turn the lids upside down, creating a smooth surface to stack other items on.  However, unless you have a lid rack in your kitchen, it always saves time having the matching lid at hand rather than searching through loose ones.

It was a long day but in the end, I had a LOT of fun unpacking this kitchen. Starting from scratch with any organization project is a great time to implement good systems that work with the design of the space as well as the functioning needs.

Tell me, Appleshiners, what tips do you have on determining a layout for your kitchen supplies?

PS- Here are some great kitchen organizing tips from real cooks- twitter style.

Appleshine: Unpacking a Kitchen (Part 1)

Last week, I helped a client unpack her kitchen.  Their move from a small apartment to a loft brought more cabinet space.  But thanks to their innovative storage in their previous apartment (she kept her baking supplies in the hall closet and the ice cream maker under their bed), they had more than enough cookware to fill it. 

The first step was to unpack everything.  Laying it all out in the open allowed me a visual survey of what I'd have work with.  

They'd already unpacked some of the basics (since they moved in a few days ago) yet had no ideas on where to place them.  

I peeked in all the cabinets, drawers and checked out the counter space, considering the most logical and efficient arrangement for their belongings.  They had a wide array of cookware, servingware, daily dishes, fine china, drinking glasses, wine glasses, linens- a full hostess' kitchen.

It was a long day of Appleshining but if you check back tomorrow, I'll show you how it ended up!


Tell me, Appleshiners, do you have any tips for unpacking a kitchen?

Appleshine: Nashville Pantry

Most southern kitchens have the luxury of cabinets, drawers and closets- all hard to come by in a small NYC apartment (like mine!)  True to it's intention, this Nashville pantry should only hold food and drink items (with the occasional servingware exception).

First, I removed materials that were meant to live outside the pantry (charcoal to the garage, deep fryer in the cabinet, etc).  Then I took all the items off the shelves and grouped them into categories.  When putting them back up, keep like items together (condiments, dressing+marinades, canned goods, baking supplies and so on).  Place the categories according to frequency of use.  Your everyday goods like canned veggies and soups should be at eye-level while larger, less-frequently used items like flour and sugar should be down low.  Save the higher shelves for special occasion items and servingware.

Tell me, Appleshiners, how do you organize your pantry?


PS- A great cheat sheet on how to keep your pantry clean and functional for your family.

A list of 10 must-have pantry staples.

Know the life of a spice.

Pantry art- I love this one (but not this one because I hate, hate, hate pickles!  I'd write 'cherry pie' instead.)

Recipe Boxes

As soon as I'm done Appleshining for the day, I'm scootin' home for a dinner date.  The weather's still cozy enough for lasagna and I found a great recipe from Southern Living last month.  (You can take the girl out of the South but you can't take her SL mag away.)

I like tearing out recipes from magazines or finding them online.  Once I've prepared the dish and determined if it's a keeper, I'll write it by hand to put in my recipe box.  There's something so comforting about handwritten recipes.  I remember watching my mom and grandma pull out their recipe boxes every holiday; kinda makes me feel like I'm passing along an heirloom.

There are a few different ways to categorize your recipes.  When in book form, it's best to sort by course.  Although, with loose recipes, I like to sort them alphabetically by the title/main ingredient (put chicken dishes together, lasagna recipes under 'L', etc.)  This helps avoid confusion when searching for recipes. 

If you're looking to get a new recipe box, here are a few to pick from:

A bamboo twist on the classic wooden version that I grew up with.

Cutesy saying on a marigold colored box.  (Wonder if it says, 'good lookin' on the backside?)

A vintage tin box from eBay.

Look at all the bright, preppy colors the Jack and Lulu boxes come in.  I like the yellow honeycomb print.

Tell me, Appleshiners, how do you sort your recipes?

PS- Here are some gorgeous letterpress recipe cards and dividers!