Hidden Spaces

OK so being a wife and mother of 3 children, it can get pretty challenging keeping things away and in a proper place. I'm one of those people who can't stand crowded counter tops.  Growing up, our family picked up a Japanese culture in taking our shoes off once we entered the door of our home.  I have brought that habit into my own little family but as you can imagine just one pair of shoes per person can get a little out of hand.  So imagine what it looks like when we all have a pair of church shoes, couple of pair of play shoes, swim shoes and flip flops during the summer, rain boots, snow boots....well you get the point.

I decided to do something about it! Enough was enough! So i took a trip to Ikea and found these really nice wicker baskets. Each person has their own basket. no, all of the shoes can't fit in there so we only put season appropriate shoes in there.  For example, in Winter we have a pair of church shoes, school shoes and maybe a pair of boots. basically the shoes we wear most frequently.  All other shoes go in our bedroom closets.

As for my counter-tops. I am a lover of coffee (and tea from time to time). I own a Keurig (it's one of my best friends, lol).  What better way to drink tea/coffee than in a cute mug (or mugs).  Then of course you need sugar, cream, biscotti etc.  But do I want all of that on my counter-tops? nope, I sure don't!  Not to mention like most others, I have the basic flour, sugar and everything else that is usually stored in canisters on the counters.  I decided against the canisters and store my basics in our pantry with everything else which is organized in baskets.  I try my best to organize everything in a basket.  For example there is a snack basket, a pasta basket (we loooove pasta), a breakfast basket (for pop-tarts, cereal, oatmeal etc) and a basket of basics (flour, sugar etc).  I tend to take doors of their henge and replace them with something more creative (curtains, room divider).  In this case my pantry is hidden away behind this replica of Gustav Klimts 'The Kiss'.

It's light weight, artsy, and brings creativity and life to my kitchen.  Not to mention I don't have to worry about it getting stuck and I can utilize all of the space that those folding doors otherwise take up.

Voila! and Yes, it stays this neat most of the time. One of my projects is to add labels and spray paint the baskets for a pop of color. Stay tuned for those...

As for all of my coffee treats, I decided to create a special space for them.  Everything is in one place and when it's not in use all I have to do is close the cabinet door!

Keurig sits just beneath my little hidden coffee cabinet!

Stored on the very top shelf is hot chocolate (for the kiddos), a jar of individually wrapped biscotti, backup k-cups, and an opened bag of coffee stored away in another jar.  The middle shelf has one of my coffee cups, a glass jar of coffee (this one came with a chalkboard label, which is where i jot down the coffee at the moment), and a basket of my loose-leaf teas.

The bottom shelf has my sugar, reusable K-cups (for coffe grounds or loose leaf tea), a jar of sugar and a basket of a variety of tea bags.

 I even added decorative backing (for the backing I used fabric that i got on sale and simply sprayed cardboard with spray adhesive spray and Voila! 2 minutes later, cute coffee cabinet backing).

These are just a few of my little hidden spaces.  Although minor they really do make a world of difference for my peace of mind!