Works For Me Wednesday- Spice Organization

Everytime I went to grab a spice from my cabinet it was a disaster. Half the time I couldn't find the spice I was needing. This prompted a trip to the store for that spice, only to find later 3 jars of the same kind buried in the back of my cabinet. Other times I tried to quickly grab the spice jar only to have 10 other spices come tumbling out. I think WB got tired of me yelling, "Honey, where is the cumin!!" So he designed a nifty and attractive spice board for me.

He went to Home Depot and bought a thin sheet of metal. He proceded to cut it into a small square to fit the inside of our kitchen cabinet door. With small screws he placed it on the inside of the door. He bought these cute red containers at World Market. They have pour spouts and magnetic backs. We used our label maker to label all the little jars.

Here is the finished product:

I love just opening my cabinet and quickly grabbing the spice I need. It's also helpful because I can see right away what spice is low and replace it before I need it again!

And while I was waiting on my second spice cabinet to go up I decided to stick the jars to my fridge. Friends saw this and thought this would be great for them. The jars are pretty enough to have out and they would be easy to grab as you were cooking. Oh, just keep them up high if you have little hands around the house. Otherwise, you might find yourself cleaning cumin seeds out of the couch, and hallway, and bathroom, and bookcase. Those seeds go a long ways!!

That's my WFMW . For more great tips head over here!

Works For Me Wednesday- Updating Kitchen and Bathroom Hardware Cheaply!

Last week I mentioned removing my the door to my kitchen cabinets and it isn't because I have pretty, matching glasses and plates that I was just dying to show off. If I did I would probably leave the doors off because it does seem to make things easier. But no, the reason is because I had to take the doors off so I could replace the hardware. The knobs and hinges we have now are a very date glossy brass, yuck. The knobs and hinges that I have drooled over at the hardware stores are pretty pricey, like I'd spend hundred of dollars just on knobs and hinges...um, no. So I've decided to paint the ones I have.

First I went to Lowe's and purchased some textured spray paint. I like the hammered effect myself. (not pictured is the silver)

Then WB helped me do a few sample colors to see which we liked best.

WB stuck them on wooden skewers to spray easily (so handy isn't he?).

So here are our choices: the top left looks almost like hammered iron, the brass is the old, the bottom left is a hammered silver (appliances are stainless) and the bottom right is a sort of bronze color. We've eliminated the silver so it's between the iron and bronze...what do you think?

The good news is that this little project will only cost us a few dollars for the paint and it will really spruce up the kitchen. Oh, and WB really got into this and spray painted all the hardware in our guest bath. The toilet paper holder, toilet handle, robe hanger, switch plates, and towel hanger in the hammered iron. It was amazing the difference it made!!

For more great tips head over to Shannon's!

Barn Raising

This month we will celebrate 2 years here at Cotton-Top Hills. We didn't actually move in until December of 06, but the work began on fixing things up the minute we closed on the house. So I've decided to devote a series of posts to the remodeling, revamping... whatever you want to call it of the old homestead.

One of the first projects we deemed necessary was a storage building to store all the boxes we would soon be moving. We also needed a place for WB's tools and such, because in our old house we had sacrificed part of the garage for this and we (I) didn't want to do that again.

The storage building we picked out was shaped like a barn, which is why we refer to it as the "Red Barn". Whenever I refer to it as the red barn to acquaintances, dear WB always feels the need to explain, "Well, it's actually our storage shed." I guess he doesn't want to offend the people out there who have actual barns:

Anyway, we started this project when the fall weather was beginning to get unpredictable. So for one weekend it was so cold and the guys were so bundled all I could see was their eyes peeking out from under their caps. And the weekend we estimated it would take to raise this barn, stretched into a month of weekends.During my marriage to WB I have become very familiar with chalk lines and the "staking of future projects". Here one of WB's coworkers and friends helps to lay out just where the concrete will be poured for the foundation. We decided on a sort of pier and beam approach, I believe.
That red thing is called an auger and it drills down into the soil. In this case it took two men to handle it, which was entertaining to watch. This was used to make holes to pour our concrete into for beams. See, I've learned so much...

Then the floor was laid. I believe this was done in one weekend. Two of Scott's coworkers came this weekend to help us out. Thank Goodness!! Did I mention I was pregnant during this time, so I was on kitchen duty.

Then we got real and realized if we were going to get this thing built we needed more help! So one weekend a team of young engineers that WB works with came to help. They were lively and questioned every board that went up. Made sure things were level, boards were straight etc. There was a lot of talk on just how things should progress, you know the usual engineer behavior.

There's WB in his tool belt, wears it well doesn't he...Okay, working a whole day, a team of six engineers managed to get the frame up. Now, I might have been setting my sights a little high, but I expected some walls to be up at least after all that work.

That evening our next door neighbor came over to give some help. It was just him and WB and they worked maybe an hour or two. I'm sorry to say this to all those engineers, but in two hours they accomplished more than the engineers did. Don't worry I still love you guys. You worked hard, you ate my food enthusiastically, and were very sweet! And no our neighbor is not in construction, he's a CSI Detective, go figure!And finally a couple more weekends and waa laa it was finished! It made me feel all warm and fuzzy knowing so many people helped to raise the walls on our little red barn. And remember I was pregnant so I might have even shed a tear or two.