Ah, you guys. I am so, so happy to report on the state of my kitchen today. Even though we knew that having a working kitchen would be nice for our family, other things, like clearing pathways through the boxes, interfered. We did unpack, early and often, in here, but it was clear immediately that our first set up wasn't going to do it. That would be this one.

That little pantry nook had us in an excited little tizzy when we moved in; neither of us remembered it from when we viewed the place, and it looked like such awesome storage! And a great place to reuse my pretty, labeled, glass containers, like a good blogger should.

But it quickly became apparent that these shelves were too deep and too narrow to provide much useful food storage. Can you see how it's sort of a hot mess in there? And getting anything out would require a lot of shuffling around, which is a recipe for disaster. It was a bit of a trip, to think that these shelves, which initially appeared so roomy, were providing less optimal space than our tiny "pantry" in the old place.

Oh, and what's that giant mumble of stuff on the floor there? That's my stash of organizing gear. Yes. The irony is killing me, too. Of course it takes a while to get to the stage where you're really organizing things, as opposed to stuffing them in closets. And it didn't make any sense to throw anything until I knew what was obsolete and what I wanted to keep. That organizing stuff is expensive!

But did I need to keep that giant hoard in front of the poorly stocked food in the middle of our kitchen? Um, no. It was time to get things under control in here. So, I did.

Ahhhh. Is that as good for you as it is for me? Probably not, because I am so happy over here. And lest you think I just shoved stuff into another room, let me assure you that I only partly did that. I really organized in here, and my soul is calmer because of it. Can I interest you in some organized drawer and cabinet photos?

The dishes make so much more sense here. I know some are wary of keeping dishes on open shelving because of the grease and dust factor, but a) I don't really have a choice, and b) this is our every day stuff, so I don't think it'll have much of a chance to become gross. In the meantime, we moved the food into the cabinet space, where it is much better suited.

And then we sorted out the rest of our kitchen gear, some of it into the dresser-turned-island you can sneak peaks of here in the first "after" photo, above. I'll share the outside of the dresser when I fully complete it. For now, the inside is looking good.

Yeah, I'm pretty happy over here. It hasn't been that long, but it feels really good to have a kitchen that's fully, actually, finally, organized. And the best part is the next part: making it pretty.

Thanks for reading, and I'll see ya tomorrow.