Tuesday, March 24, 2009

The Storeroom Project

*disclaimer: the photos in this post are not my storeroom, nor my shelves (YET!) They belong here. These are the type of shelves I have in my storeroom, just to give you an idea of what I'm talking about. I hope my shelves will look like this gal's someday -- right now they are a little on the Mother Hubbard side, with our out-of-work budget. I will include MY "after" storeroom photos once I have the new set up in place (bare shelves and all). W :-)

food storage shelvesOne of the reasons we picked this house, was the storeroom in the basement. It has wonderful, built in, sturdy food storage shelves that line every wall -- and it's a fairly big room. It's unfinished, and it reminded me of my Omi and Opa's cold storage room, in their sweet little house.

Over the years, this room has gone more in the direction of junk room than a food storage room. (In my defense, it's the only space in the whole house that we could store the miscellany of life! We have no attic to speak of, and no unfinished areas of the house where you'd store "stuff".)

Well, all the junk is gone now and floor is open and clear -- the shelves will now get an extreme home makeover. Gone will be boxes of Mr. H's comic books and empty electronic boxes and old CD's we never listen to. Three of the walls will be dedicated to food and supplies storage. The fourth wall I'm turning into a butler's pantry.

It will hold all my extras that my tiny kitchen can't hold. The ice cream maker, the fondue set, the soup tureen, miscellaneous glassware, and (*blush*) extra sets of dishes.

Hi. My name is Wendy. I have a problem with loving pretty dishes and bringing them home.                  (...hello Wendy!)

I can't wait to have everything in apple-pie order down there. (Look at that. Isn't that wonderful? Job or not, looking at stocked shelves like that makes me feel safe and that all is well... This picture is my inspiration photo for my project...)

    food storage shelves 2

I just have one thing that might keep me from achieving my dream -- a mountain of magazines. ACK! I love having ideas at my fingertips to be inspired from, but they are out of control! Please help -- tell me how you deal with magazines at your house. How do you keep good ideas handy without them taking over? [Seriously, HELP.]

What projects are you working on?

6 comments:

Deanna said...

WOW!!! What great inspiration!!! My dad was a bishop a while back, and my mom was SOOO good at keeping the 'fruit room' stocked, that my husband and I dubbed it the 'bishop's storehouse' when we first got married!!! LOL! Good luck with your project!

My project: blackout roman shades for my boys' bedroom. I'll probably post about it when I get it done...I started them over a month ago, but have put them away for now...maybe I'll get them back out this weekend and finish! You inspire me!!!

Rebekah said...

This is such an inspiration! I want to have a room like that as well!

I am also a weakling for good ideas. First I started to cut out the page/idea/whatever and put it in a file (that I rarely look at). Now I am changing my tune.

When I need an idea, I usually just google it. Good recipes I cut and paste into a recipe book, though.

There are some on-line magazines that let you "clip and keep" articles electronically. So you login, create a folder and file articles you like into this on-line folder. I wonder if you could save the folder onto a disk...in case the Internet was down or something like that.

Just an idea! I might try this one!

Anonymous said...

Man, that store room is a store in itself! And just so you know, my own shelves are mother hubbardish too. I'm trying, but no where near the level of the pictures on this post. WOW! And don't ask me about magazines and junk. I am the queen hoarder. I think I need to join you AA meetings.

Mama Williams said...

"Hello Wendy!"
Yes, dear you need help! I too love good ideas, but all the lovely things in magazines Must be read and then recycled! Clutter is your enemy! Don't hoard, even with good intentions. I could say clip out your favorite ideas and file them in a 3 ring binder to use...but really will you use them? Judge for yourself, but save the space and declutter the magazines! Love the photos, I should post photos of my meager storage soon too. :)

Anonymous said...

I, too, recycle magazines soon after I read them, so I'm not much help there. BUT, I just read in Martha Stewart Living a suggestion that if you keep magazines, sort them by month instead of year. That way, you have all of the February issues together (with related crafts, recipes, etc.) and you don't have to go hunting through different years to find what you want. Maybe that's helpful to you.... Betsy :)

Wendy said...

Yeah, thanks Betsy! I actually started to do that, organizing by *season*. That worked out well for a while, and then....well, too many magazines, too many ideas, not enough time...

I think I'm going to get rid of everything (GASP) except my Victoria mags.

Wish me luck!