Isn’t this a timely post? When I was asked back in December to join this great group I was excited as I knew it would force me to organize in the new year. Nothing gets you to pull things together like others seeing your space, so I spent the last week thinking hard about how I use this -what I need it for and where I was just wasting space. I feel a lot more streamlined now and excited about this area.
I am sharing a utility room, not a pantry per se, but more a laundry, mud and all around place for everything we need to run the household. I feel fortunate to have this space and have tried to make good use of it on the remodel. It was one of my favorite parts that came with the original house. I did a previous post on the renovation of it here. Today I’ll show you what it holds and how I decided to organize it.
Previously this space was connected to the kitchen and held extra serving pieces and also dry goods. Now that the kitchen is moved to the center of the house, it freed up a lot of space. I wanted to use it wisely. My cute step stool is from Serena & Lily and we love it. Super sturdy and useful.
I have the usual laundry pullout which is the tall drawer, a cut out for our cat box and some deep drawers. I always wanted a designated wrapping spot and I love having counter (material is Vadara, a quartz,) to work on, so I stocked the deep drawer right below it with tape, pens, tags and all that. My house paper and some black wrap are all I really use and also plain bags. I did a little video about how everyone should have a house wrap on Instagram here before the holidays.
After the holidays, and a lot of wrapping, I reorganized and restocked. This drawer holds cords and ribbon, cards, tags, pens, tapes, hole punches and various scissors. A little shopping bag keeps all the ribbon I save and reuse. Everything I need is here. I love using cord and also making my own tags and this plain woven twine and black wrap is something you can get together here.
The lower deep drawer is for more house wrap and gifts. I keep a few on hand for impromptu girlfriend birthdays when I see something cute.
Above this I use the three shelves for entertaining. I do not have a china cabinet, and as I took out most of my upper cabinets in the kitchen, I needed this for things used occasionally. My holiday pieces are in the island and can be accessed behind the barstools, but these are things I use more often like tablecloths, votives and vases. I also keep extra bottles of hand soap and guest towels for when we have people over- to pretty up the bathrooms.
This basket is holding my extra textiles I use for runners and impromptu tablecloths, and also pillow covers. Some of the things are just fabric remnants I kept from my grandma’s home and others fabrics I just adore. My latest is a handmade Hawaiian sarong from my Big Island trip that I plan to use as a table covering come summer. Isn’t it cool?
I like having the vases, here not hidden under the sink and also the votives, and battery and beeswax tea lights. Everything I need to entertain is really in one place now and it simplifies it.
The laundry has some cool fabric baskets on the floating shelf, that just look great and is also where I keep some extra towel storage. Similar basket here. The little basket is for napkins and dish towels. We use cloth only, so I do a load of napkins once or twice a week. I scored with these Tommy Bahama grey baskets. They are sturdy and go with the tones in the house. I am unable to find them anywhere on the web for you all, but Homegoods has a few here and there. In the search for the cloth baskets I found a one-woman textile studio making beautiful woven basketscalled Woven Grey. Check out her Instagram too. Her things are beautiful. Her name is Kathleen and her studio is in Oakland! I think I have to order a few for the home. Made in California and I love supporting local artisans.
I am still loving my Electrolux washer and dryer two years on.
I keep this laundry basket on the counter when it’s not in use for clean, folded items.
The two drawers under the seat are for shoes. As my husband and I are the only one to use them, we have them for ourselves. The boys tend to come in the front door and their shoes go in a big basket when they can be bothered!! Baskets on the shelves hold baseball hats and gloves.
I just switched to one of my Trina Turk pillows that matched the floor tiles and the whole area. I still need hooks to hang coats and bags here.
My drawer has my most used shoes, my cross-body, umbrella, stocking cap, baseball hat and shopping bag. These are all the things I need to grab on the way out the door.
Lastly the two small drawers, above the cat box opening, hold extra keys, batteries, rubber bands, flashlights and other junk drawer usuals.
Thank you for letting me share my little space with you. I can’t wait to get some ideas on making my food pantry pretty too as it needs a reboot just about now! Pop over to these lovely blogs and see what they are doing in the new year in their pantries.
If you follow me on Instagram, I will link to all these lovely gal’s accounts there too!
Have you been tidying up in 2020? What tips do you have for keeping the clutter away ? Please share with everyone any insights below.
Thanks so much!
Kim
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How is your summer going? We were away on vacation and last week, two days after we got home, we moved into a rental house while we renovate for the next 6 months. It had been ten years since we have moved and I had forgotten how much work there is. GAH! I’m still recovering. My son Jackson and I were saying that moving should be required for everyone every decade as it really makes you evaluate what the heck you own and are living with, you know? Moving requires you to acknowledge and touch just about every darn item you possess and even those squirreled away in a closet or garage. It’s a big wake-up call. I thought I had been good about purging in the past few years, but clearly not at all. My family especially got on me about the amount of pillows and books I own. I love my books, but yes we will be cleaning out more before moving back. The days before the move we took 3 huge loads to donation. It made me really feel guilty about how much ‘stuff’ we acquired. We all vowed to have less.
