Showing posts with label My Kitchen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label My Kitchen. Show all posts

I love my glass-top stove. 
For the most part, it is extremely easy to keep clean.


For daily clean-ups, I use a mixture of vinegar and water.
But, last night I had a pan of cheesy goodness that boiled over.
And burned itself onto the stove.


They sell alot of cleaners just for glass-top stoves.
I have never found on that really works.
The best cleaner are 'brillo' pads along with vinegar and water. 


Make sure and spray the top of stove generously with your water and vinegar mixture.
Let sit for a minute or two. 


Take your brillo pad and start scrubbing the areas that need it. 
When I clean one spot on the stove - I clean all of the burners.
Make sure and test in a small spot first, to make sure it doesn't scratch your surface.


Wipe down everything really good with a dry paper towel and then spray some more of you vinegar and water mixture on it to shine it up and wipe again with a paper towel.


Look at that - a clean stove top!


BTW - My vinegar and water mixture is about 30% vinegar and the rest water, I also like to drop a little orange or lemon scented oil in there too. 

This was a short post today! Thanks so much for stopping by!





When we first moved into our house
our kitchen was 
yucky!

Way...way..way!! Out dated from the 70's
Avocado green stove and sink
Chipped up counter tops
Ugly cabinets
Paneling on the wall.

All together it was ugly.
And it needed to go.

But we didn't have the money for a complete overhaul.
So, here's what we did....
for under $700


#1 - I used found paint.
My mom had just moved into a new house that had a ton of cans of paint in the attic.
There happen to be two 3/4 full cans of this green color that I liked.
Free paint!

#2 - Peel and stick tile.
People walk into this kitchen and cannot believe that it's peel and stick.
It was so easy and cost $95 for the whole floor.

#3 - Cheap trim.
Instead of going for the upgraded trim, I went for the cheap stuff.
I trimmed this whole room for $25.


#4 - We painted the cabinets.
A borrowed paint sprayer and 1 gallon of semi-gloss off white paint.
$25

#5 - Cheap counter top.
At Home Depot, we just gave them the measurements and they delivered.
We saved even more by having a very handy neighbor help us install it.
$175 for counter top
$25 for a pizza dinner for the neighbors family





#6 - I reused everything I could.
Why buy new drawer pulls and turny-things for the cabinets?
I just bought a can of silverish spray paint and took them outside.
$6


#7 - We bought appliances off Craigslist.
The stove was $75
The microwave was $75
We did end up buying the dishwasher new, it was $125.


#8 - Don't forget the details.
The curtains? 
No...they're cloth napkins that I found on clearance at Target.
Held together by safety pins.
$4


#9 - The artwork?
Made it.
Found canvas' at a garage sale, mod podge and scrapbooking paper
That and a can of black spray paint can go along way.
$10



That's it. 
My whole kitchen remodel for about $640.
We were extremely happy with how it turned out.
Nobody can believe we spent less then $1,000 considering what our kitchen looked like when we first moved in.

I'll have to see if I can dig up some old pictures
so you can see how bad it really was.

That's it from me today - have a happy Monday!
Sam













I do not like to clean. 

Really...who does?
I'm not a naturally clean person, so it's especially hard for me sometimes.

I was raised by a mother who kept a spotless house, even though she worked 50+ hours a week. 
I'm a stay at home mom and it's hard. 

It also doesn't help that I get distracted easily.
I really need structure when it comes to cleaning. 
And, I just am not the kind of person that "cleans as I go". I wish I was. 
But I'm just not!

In the past few years, I've developed a system that works for me. 
I call it the "15 Minute Clean-Up"
Simple enough, huh?

Basically, I give myself exactly 15 minutes to clean each room. 
That's it. 
Simple. Easy. Just the way I like it. 

Today, I'm going to show you my method of the daily cleaning to my kitchen.
Once a month, I will deep clean the kitchen - if you keep up with the daily cleaning, once a month deep cleaning is really all that's needed.

Here's how it goes:


This is the mess left over from breakfast, making sack lunches and the few dinner dishes that wouldn't fit in the dishwasher. 

First, set your timer...


#1 - I take a plastic grocery sack and walk around picking up all the trash I see. Set the bag in the corner out of the way when you're done.
#2 - Get all the paper clutter out of the way. This counter top is where the mail gets put down. Throw away all junk mail and quickly put any bills in your bill collector.
#3 - Put all food items away. Any small appliances that don't belong on the counter top also need to be put away.


#4 You should have clear counter tops now. Get your cleaner out and spray them down. Don't wipe yet.
#5 - Empty the dishwasher and put the dirty dishes back in. Once your done with the dishwasher, then give all the counter tops a good wipe clean. 

#6 - I love a clean sink. Squirt some dish soap in the sink.
#7 - I keep a brush under the sink to give the sink a quick scrub.
#8 - Clean all the soap out of the sink. Your sink should look shiny now. =)


#9 - Spray around your sink with cleaner. 
#10 - Take your same rag and wipe the sink down. Make sure and get anything that might have gotten behind the faucet.
#11 - You're done! Spray off the kitchen table and wipe it off. Make sure your chairs are pushed in.

That's it!
I only sweep once a week or as needed and I either mop once a week or use my rag to spot mop throughout the week. 

Here are my results....




Cleaning my house this way saves my sanity!

I use 15 minute clean-ups for every room in my house. 
On the weekends when everyone is home - we will do a whole house 15 minute clean-up. 
Everyone knows their areas to clean.
This is so very important to help keep our house from not looking like a tornado hit is by Sunday afternoon. 

I will say that my kitchen is small compared to others, so your kitchen might need a 20 or 30 minute clean up each day - find a time frame that works best for you. 

What methods do you use to clean that help save you time and energy?

Thanks so much for stopping by!




I have a series coming up with my kitchen make-over. But, until I'm ready to show it off completely, I was spending time today looking at one my favorite websites - Pottery Barn - and trying to see if I can find a style that I like for my kitchen accessories. 

Here's what I found, it's call the Cucina Collection!













What I like about each of this, is it's something I think I could easily reproduce! I can already see each of these items in my kitchen! I also like the simplicity of each of these items...my kitchen is not very big, so I'm really wanting to become a minimalist with this makeover. 

I'll be posting pictures of my kitchen next week, so come back to check it out!
Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend!


Overall, I like my kitchen. Since we moved in 5 years ago - we've painted cabinets, installed new countertops, and replaced the appliances. But, we still really lack on space. Food storage is a problem for me. I'm not a naturally organized person - so by the end of the week, my cabinet ends up looking like this:



These two cabinets are the only space for food. I do keep the kids cereal in the lower cabinets for easy access for them. And I have a small pantry in the basement, but for on hand storage - these two cabinets are it. 

I see all over the place the new cool storage ideas - I love the OXO Good Grips  storage containers, but they are out of my budget. So, I decided to come up with my own storage containers - I needed to find something that would keep the food fresh and would be budget friendly. Ends up, I already had some great storage pieces right in my refrigerator! 


I love this idea - because it was cheap! Just cleaning out old jars!


I even have a few old peanut butter and jelly jars that I'm using too - I've been saving everything!

After a bit of organization, here's my cabinets now: 



It's not a huge improvement, I know - but at least I have more room for groceries this week! I can't wait to find more jars - I'd love to store my almonds in there, and the black beans too. 

I'm going to be working over the next several weeks to reorganize my kitchen, I'd love to hear any tips or tricks that you could share!

Like my labels? They are chalkboard labels from Bright Star Kids. I am completely in love with them and am always finding new uses for them! 

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