I will be the first to admit that I have too much stuff – especially craft and kitchen stuff. I don’t have a lot of clothes or shoes. Once upon a time I did but now I don’t.
Jeremy and Angie had furniture in the sun room. There was a little table with two chairs, then another chair as I recall and maybe something like a love seat. I think that’s a cable connection in there so maybe there was a TV in there at one time. They had huge family dinners, especially at the holidays and I think she told me that set the sun room up for the children to eat. As it is, we have seating for 6 in the dining room, 8 if both leaves are in the table, 4 in the breakfast room, 3 at the bar so at a minimum we have room for 13 without anyone eating in the sun room. I’ll be very surprised if we ever have 13 people here to eat.
Knowing the sun room would become a dumping ground, I asked Vince if he cared if I set up some shelf units in there for kitchen overflow. He was fine with that. This is what it looked like in January, 2022 when we set the shelves up.
I kept adding and adding and adding so I asked Vince if we could get another shelf and put along another wall. That area had become a dumping ground. We got it all cleaned up, the shelf unit arrived yesterday, we put it together and I re-arranged and moved things around.
Above is the one on the left and the middle shelf. Below is the shelf on the right. There’s some empty space so I may move some of the cast iron from the ovens to the shelves.
See the big pot on the floor on the right? I do use that pot but it’s there so that I can dump things in it. If I’ve just cooked and cleaned the kitchen and I’m tired, instead of sticking something on the shelf where it doesn’t belong, just to get it out of the kitchen, I’ll drop it in that pot. Then when I go back out there and I’m not so tired, I’ll put everything from the pot where it’s supposed to be.
The empty jar boxes had been staying in the breakfast room. As I empty jars and wash them, I put them in the box and when the box gets full, the empty jars go into the garage
It was nice to get the Ziploc bags off a shelf that I could have been using and onto that top shelf that I really can’t reach without getting on a step stool. I keep one box of each size of Ziploc bags in the kitchen so I only have to climb up there and get another box when I run out in the kitchen.
I have more “S hooks” ordered. A lot of things I will hang from the edges. You can see the pots hanging on the side. Those are the pots I use any time I’m not using cast iron. The white facing just to the left of the pots is the door facing for the door leading into the breakfast room so those are within each reach.
I don’t think we’ll run out of Ziploc bags for a while.
Vince made me these two little stands to whole the jar rings. I love those! The door you almost see leads out onto the deck and the window behind the shelf is into the breakfast room.
I’m glad dinner is already cooked because I am tired!
vivoaks says
I was going to be snarky and ask if you had enough rolling pins…then it dawned on me that
I probably have close to that many, myself. Maybe I’ll just shut up…. 🙂
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Thank you, Vince . . I mean Vivian, for not asking why I have so many rolling pins! 🙂
I used to collect them and I have a lot more than that. Those are the ones I use the most.
Deb E says
You’ve come up with some really good ideas for storage – and you don’t have ‘too much’ because you actually use everything! Love the idea of putting the rings on the poles — keeps everything together with your canning supplies. I have one of those tall chrome shelving units (24″ wide by 6′ tall) in my kitchen – which holds the instant pots, crockpot, Breville, microwave and large lined baskets with potatoes in one and pastas & rices in the other. I’ve got a number of spices on magnetized shelves off the side of the unit and the other side holds cooking utensils, apron, colorful measuring cups & pot holders a friend made for me years ago. Don’t have but a fraction of what you have, but it makes me happy when I see it all organized, which I’m sure you feel about your supplies, too.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Yes! Having things organized feels good! I love your idea of the magnetized spice holders but I can’t keep any food items in the sun room. It gets SO hot in there. There’s almost a place, especially if I had a longer/narrow table instead of a square table. Since all our food is stored downstairs and I bring it up each day as needed, I would love to bring up the jars for the week and have that handy but . . not happening.
It makes such a difference when I can find things. Another thing, I don’t like having to dig. If what I need is buried under something else, that makes it hard to get it out and then get it put back up. Except for the cast iron that resides in the oven, I don’t keep any pots and pans or bowls in the kitchen. It’s all out on those shelves. Makes me wonder . . what the heck do I have in the kitchen cabinets?? 🙂
Deb E says
Thanks for the laugh! My days of getting under the counter to SEE what’s there are over (2 bad knees). I’m sure you have items that you need & use under there. We have a similar set up with metal wall shelving (2 sets), stacked fairly close together. My pans (including all the cast iron) are hung on “S” hooks under the shelving as well as the cooking tools & hot pads. I like your set up better but I have mine set up so everything is close (minimize steps). I don’t use my oven, I use my Breville for baking…it uses electricity which is produced by the city we live in (the cheapest in the country, last I checked). The stove/oven is gas & the company who provides that is one of the most expensive (and they are responsible for many of the fires here due to non maintenance of lines). We don’t give them a penny more than we have to because of that.
Susan Nixon says
A wonderful storage solution. I use similar shelves, only mine are black and have either food or fabric on them. Your ability to organize is terrific.
Nancy H says
You are going to need to start calling that the butler’s pantry instead of the sun room. I am so envious of your space! I know you haven’t always had that kind of space for storage. It must be really nice.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
You’re right. It doesn’t look much like a sun room now, does it? In Texas, you probably remember the size of that kitchen. All my extra stuff – pretty much everything I now have in the sun room, was across the driveway up the stairs in the hot, dusty shop. This is so much better and I’ll always appreciate the storage space in this house.