Major Kitchen Organization Overhaul Update 6: Paneling Sneak Peek!

Just a quick little update to show you some major awesome: 
The laundry room paneling has begun!

Getting My Brain Straight: What I Want Out of the Laundry Room

The laundry room project is on like donkey kong; I am conquering my fear and tackling it! As I was determining the levelness of the walls and marking out lines in 4-inch increments, I realized I needed one last soul-searching, inspiration list for exactly what I want out of this laundry room. Once the paneling and painting are done, I need to get going on the details that will make this room worth all the work that is going into it!

What do we use it for?

• Laundry (duh)
• Our washer and dryer
• Ironing board
• Laundry baskets
• Laundry soaps, etc.
• Clothes that need to hang dry
• Cleaning products
• Household product storage
• Light bulbs
• Paper towels
• Batteries
• Extra Soap
• Recycling
• Plastic
• Paper
• Aluminum
• Plastic bags
• Dog stuff
• Dog food container
• Dog bowls
• Miscellaneous dog accouterments
• Informal entryway (it opens to the garage, which is where we always come into and leave the house)
• Keys
• Sunglasses
• Spare change
• Purse/Bags
• Coats (in the winter)
• Shoes (I shouldn't keep my shoes here, but sometimes I just can't help kicking them off as soon as I walk in...)

This is not a large room we're talking about. We're lucky in that it's not a tiny closet, but it's pretty small and it wears a lot of hats. So I really want to maximize space and  squeeze every last inch out of the room. Oh, and I want it to be pretty. :-)

Here are some inspirational ways to deal with the above requirements: 

Ana White Homemaker

This takes care of both the washer/dryer issue and the laundry baskets. Bam!

Trends and Traditions

I love the idea of using an old dresser and turning the top into an ironing board. I'd have to find one that fit in the space next to our dryer pretty snugly, or think of a really good way to use the gap space. 

Piccsy

If we go with the ironing dresser route, I'd like to do something like this with the bottom drawer (but with three food bowls, instead of one food and one water bowl). 

Martha Stewart

Super easy solution for clothes that can't go in the dryer. I'll hang this below the small, high cabinets above the ironing board space (see current pics here). 

Martha Stewart

I don't really want to make this recycling center in the laundry room, but I think it would be perfect right outside the door on the garage wall. 

Martha Stewart

Love this simple idea for organizing coats and accessories. Smaller baskets would be great for sunglasses and other smallish things like hats, mittens, and purses. 

Martha Stewart

What about an ironing table instead of an ironing dresser? I'd be giving up storage space in the drawers, but I love the shoe tray underneath the table. Hmmm...


Gotta get the paneling and painting done, then I can get to this fun stuff! Ok, I'm going, I'm going...

Nothing to Fear But...Uneven Paneling?

I've been struggling a lot lately with my major kitchen/laundry room makeover and I had a bit of an epiphany yesterday that I thought was worthy of a post: I am scared of this project. I mean, terrified. I know it's an emotion that many - if not all - DIYers feel, especially when they're just starting out. But it doesn't seem to be discussed often. I guess because we all like to hide our fear and act like we're cooler than the other side of pillow. The fake-it-til-you-make-it method can be a really good one; we're all capable of more than we know. But I just need to put it out there that I'm scared, and it's slowing me down.

What am I scared of? Well, the project has reached a point where we have some major stuff to do; mainly, adding paneling to the walls of the laundry room. I know that this is actually not a major a project in the grand scheme of home improvement (and most people say it's kind of easy), but it feels monumental. Everything is a question for me. Where do we start (top row or bottom row)? What if the walls aren't level? If the walls aren't level, do you align the panels with the walls or with the actual correct definition of level? How do you put the chair rail on? How do you put the crown molding on? Do you have to remove the door moldings first? How do you remove the door moldings? How do you put them back on over the paneling? What if, even after several days of acclimating to the room, the paneling shifts this winter because the humidity in the house changes with the seasons? 

These are the thoughts and worries that are floating around inside my head. I know the only way to deal with them is to just do it. If we make mistakes, we'll learn from them. But mistakes scare me! I have a perfectionist inside of me that has a tendency just not to try new stuff rather than fail at it. No more! I have to get past this


So, Big Tex and I are on vacation next week and we're tackling the paneling. I'm not saying we're going to finish it (mainly because I don't want us to feel rushed; that is a sure-fire way to make dumb mistakes). But we're gonna tackle it and we're gonna get a good start. Our first package is "acclimating" in the laundry room as I write. Just buying it was a big first step. I sure am proud of myself :-)

What's Cookin', Good Lookin'?

Over the last couple of months, I've been really trying hard to cook at least two meals per week (sadly, the cold cereal industry has taken a hit because of this decision). Getting this done has been a challenge for three reasons: 

1. I'm not crazy about cooking.

2. Big Tex has the pallet of a 4-year old child (I'm not exaggerating; he doesn't like yogurt, squash, avocado, or pudding because they have textures that are "gross.")...but I love him lots and lots!

3. Big Tex and I both work full-time an hour away from our house; we're out the door by 6:45 am and never get home before 6 pm, so preparing a big meal after work is just not happening. 

Therefore, I've relied a lot on my crock pot and/or meals that can be prepped and ready to just throw on the grill when we get home. They also have to be pretty small-child friendly so that my almost 40-year old husband will eat them.


Partly so that I don't lose track of the recipes, and partly to share their greatness for you, I'm posting a few of the best I've discovered so far. Some of them are so easy, they'll make you cry with joy. None of them are difficult because, well, I just don't usually do difficult when it comes to food. I'm kind of lazy.

Hawaiian Chicken Kabobs
I added red bell peppers and served with rice. Yum!

Chicken Taco Filling
Use this easy-peasy homemade taco seasoning instead of store-bought


Taco Meat 
I made it with venison hamburger and it was the bomb


Guinness and Venison Stew
Too heavy for a hot Texas summer, but so nice for a cold winter's evening


Zesty Slow Cooker Barbecue Chicken 
Serve on slider buns and you will die of the deliciousness


Bonus: Overnight Oats
This is not a dinner recipe, nor will Big Tex even try it (it has yogurt and pumpkin in it. The horror!), but it's kind of changed my life and I just had to share it. Don't let the weirdness of cold oatmeal or the way it looks prevent you from trying it. It's super grab-and-goable, and it's loaded with nutrition. The "add-ins" I use are packed with fiber and deliciousness:

• 2 tablespoons Grapenuts
• 2 packets of stevia
• 1/4 cup canned pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling, just real pumpkin)

I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as we have! Let me know what you think :-)

What's Cookin', Good Lookin'?

I swear, I'm still here! Projects are coming along slow as molasses in January, so I haven't had too much to report on. But I did make this delish meal the other night and wanted to share!

Venison French Dip in the Crock Pot

I got the inspiration and majority of this recipe from one of my favorite go-to websites, All-Recipes (check out the original recipe here). I'm really trying to minimize the amount of meat I buy in the grocery store, so I decided to alter the recipe to incorporate the venison meat that we have in our freezer. We currently only have back strap, steaks, and hamburger meat, so I chose to the use the steaks. 

Ingredients

2 pounds venison steak (thawed or fresh)

1 can beef broth

1 can Campbell's French Onion Soup (condensed)

12 ounces stout beer (like Guinness)

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon onion powder

A few shakes of salt and pepper

1 loaf of French bread

Sliced Provolone cheese

Directions

*Place steaks in crock pot, pouring broth, soup, beer, and Worcestershire sauce over them. 

*Add garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. 

*Set crock pot to cook on low for 7 hours.

*When the meat is done cooking, remove it from the au jus and slice it up, then put it back into the au jus.

*Meanwhile, cut up the bread (cut the loaf in half long ways, then cut up each half into sandwich-sized pieces).

*Place one slice of Provolone on half of the pieces of bread.

*Place in the broiler for 1-3 minutes, keeping a constant eye on the bread. I AM SO NOT KIDDING ABOUT THIS - I left mine in for 4 minutes and burnt it to death. 

*Make sandwich with the sliced meat between one cheeseless slice of bread and one cheesed slice. 

*Serve with a ramekin 0f au just for dipping (and Zapp's crawdad potato chips ;-))

Enjoy!

Major Kitchen Organization Overhaul Update 5: Drawer Liner

Number five on The List is "Install pretty drawer liner." I crossed it off, but I have to warn you: I'm using the word pretty extremely liberally. Let's take a moment to talk about Contact paper. You can buy very pretty drawer liner online or even at Target. But it's expensive! So I went to Wal-Mart (I know, I know...). It was there that I learned that someone is still living in the late 90s; I'm guessing it's their drawer liner buyer. She needs a ride in a time machine stat. Of all the choices, this was the best I could find:

Yes, it's pebbly

So, after spending 30 minutes in the aisle, hemming and hawing over 4 ugly options, I chose the blue pebbles. I just bit the bullet and reminded myself that this is d r a w e r  l i n e r. No matter how ugly, everything's gonna be ok. 

Silverware drawer with the "pretty" drawer liner

It's in all of my kitchen drawers now and the world hasn't ended...yet. Once I put it in, I actually kind of liked it. Shhhhh....

What do you think?

~Liz

Major Kitchen Organization Overhaul Update 4: Design Boards

Creating design boards was item four on The List. Until two nights ago, I had never made a design board. Now I'm an addict! They are so fun!! I made one for the laundry room and one for the kitchen. The laundry room design board was more fun because we're actually making some big visual changes in there. Most of the changes in the kitchen are happening behind the cabinet doors. 

Laundry Room Design Board

1. The Aesthetic Writer 2. The Quaint Cottage 3. Things That Inspire 4. Lowe's
5. Anthropologie 6. Southern Living 7. Sweet Pickins and Ana White Homemaker

Kitchen Design Board

1. Storage Glee 2. Family Handyman 3. Ask Anna... 4. Remodelaholic.com 5. Real Simple 6. Good Housekeeping
7. I Heart Organizing 8. Breakfast for Dinner 9. Coupon Connections 10. Pinterest :-/ 11. Delightful Order

I'm sorry about the couple of photos that don't have great sources. Lesson learned from this exercise: make sure there's an actual, clickable source associated with a pin before using a pic in a design board. Duly noted.

~Liz