January Home Projects

January is the month of resolutions. Mine? To deliver blog post on time 😂 I clearly make no promises. While I am not super huge on New Year’s resolutions per se (you should better your self all year), I do see January as a reset and a fresh start. It’s why, despite my love of Christmas, the decor/tree come down on Dec 26th. It’s because I like to enter the year with a clean house and a fresh start. Although, it’s impossible to see that clean house and not feel like something is missing after 3 months of decor (Halloween, thanksgiving, Christmas).

In comes the project season. I inevitably cannot sit still and my insane type A personality must always be doing something. With the drastic slow down from the holidays I end up with so much free time and a nice clean slate to work with, so I fill it with projects. This January I tackled our pantry/fridge and our bathroom.

Pantry project

I love my Ryan to the end of this universe and while I’ll never complain of this directly to him (it’s really small potatoes) it drives me bonkers…. You guess it! The typical boyfriend/husband thing. They’re always in a rush and they don’t close lids, seal bags, and they put things away empty! I wanted a system so simple that it was boyfriend/9year old proof and would stay tidy. The first thing I’ll talk about is this AMAZING spice rack.

Those little spice organizers that spin are cute and all… but I don’t have that kind of counter space. We live in a city condo, and I hate clutter so those are not an option. Another down side to those is that if you have anything in an unusual shape or size it doesn’t fit. And let’s be honest, anyone who actually uses their kitchen would need like 3 of those things.

This spice rack has it all. It’s 6 tiers and the bottom three are wider than the top three for larger items. There is definitely some assembly required but it was super simple and easy. You can also choose the order of the tiers and arrange the larger ones on top of you prefer (you’re a monster if you do this though). My only complaint is that the rack makes noise when opening or closing the door now. It comes with a way to secure the rack directly to the door or wall, but we rent so I’m not doing that. Overall, I am satisfied because we were able to free up a whole shelf of our pantry!

The can rack on the top right

Do you see my can rack? It’s on the top right hand side. We don’t have many cans on it right now but this little rack holds them at an angle to they drop down to the front and can fit three rows of cans across and 5-6 back

For the pantry I wanted the lower shelves to be primarily a self serve station so that Theresa can reach her favorite snacks and get them herself. It also makes packing her lunch a breeze because I can just quickly grab everything I need. While the canvas bins are prettier, I felt clear was best for food. With clear bins we can easily see if something is running low or going bad. Also, if we can’t see it, we don’t eat it and it gets wasted. Out of sight out of mind! The open bins are great for awkward items like juice boxes, fruit snack, pop tarts and other individually packaged items.

These tall-short standing jars keep food airtight and fresh. When you bring home chips you just empty them into one of these jars and 👏no. More. Bag. Clips👏 I bought three kinds at different price points to review. I went with plastic for all three because I wanted light weight (we have metal shelves) I am also known to be accident prone and break anything glass. I’m a bull in a china cabinet.

• $40: The best value is from Amazon. For just $40 you get a complete set of 3 large, 3 medium large, 3 medium small, and 3 small. That’s 12!!! My only complaint is the super tall ones knock over easily, especially when empty. The Amazon set is also the ONLY set that came with a set of labels and a marker
• $$20 (was25): This Target set is actually not as great a deal as the Amazon set. This set only comes with 5 jars, so per jar comes to about 5 per jar vs 3 with the Amazon set
• $$$112.00 OXO set from Bed, Bath, and Beyond averages about $12 per jar. These are by far the nicest. They are are a thicker plastic that is far more clear/Glass like. They seal well and come with a easy open pop top lid. This is the brand I went with for the cereal containers. I would say they ARE worth the splurge IF you can afford it. If not, the Amazon ones really are a spectacular deal.

For the fridge (sorry, this photo is not the greatest example 😅) I used more of the same clear bins used in the pantry self serve.

The Garden Bathtub Project

This bath caddy from Amazon is luxury at its finest. This is living folks and you NEED this. It has a spot for everything. Tablet, wine, towel, bath products and it adjust to fit any tub! Even in my tub it still has room to extend further. You can be a princess and watch princess diaries in the tub like me lol

Products featured on Caddy. Bubble bar and moisturizer jars are LUSH and the bath bombs are LaVonBlu. Check out the LUSH store in uptown or head down to my personal favorite LaVonBlu located right here in Nob Hill. LaVonBlu has everything from lip balm, bath salts, bath bombs, soaps, everything! Not to mention you’ll see her adorable fluffy puppies while you’re there and you’ll be supporting a local ABQ business. Check out her website here https://www.lavonblu.com