A Little Cupboard Love.

I needed a new storage solution for the overflowing herb and spice area in my kitchen.  I also keep random bits that I empty from the boys pockets before washing them.  The stones, bits of metal that they’ve dug up, shells from the beach and precious sticks call to mind their carefree days of digging and playing outdoors and one day I’ll do something creative with them.  At the moment they are gathering in a large mason jar in my kitchen alongside the bulk bought herbs and spices that don’t fit in the spice racks.  I don’t mind things that we use being on show in the home.  We are a real family who use stuff and need practical things to hand, I don’t feel the need to hide it all away, we live in a home not a show house.  Having said that there is a limit to the amount of clutter you want around you, energy flows through a house so much better when it’s clean and tidy.  I thought it was about time that some of our Kitchen clutter and stuff was Unseen.

I like to use second hand things when I can, it’s greener and cheaper so I went to our local landfill site where they have a ‘Reuse Shop’ and found a bathroom cabinet.  It was pine with a mirror on the front and one shelf inside.

I mixed some old paint from the garage with some acrylic paint to create a colour that I like and painted the unit with a couple of coats.

I didn’t want a mirror in the door so I covered it with some patterned card and also lined the cupboard with patterned papers.

I made the extra shelf from cardboard.  I cut several layers from a grocery box using the original shelf as a guide and glued them together.  Masking tape is really handy to hold stuff together while it dries. I then covered the shelf in brown paper and a coating of PVA glue which dries nice and hard.  I might paint it one day but was itching to get my new cupboard in place so it’s left as it is for now.

I keep all sorts of random screws and fixings in the garage from old furniture and I managed to find some extra shelf fittings so that I could use the extra holes that were intended to make the one original shelf adjustable, to fit my new shelf.

I’m really pleased with how it turned out.

There’s still a bit of clutter but a more acceptable level now.

Wising you joy and satisfaction in reusing, recycling and re-loving.

Namaste x