Conquer Kitchen Clutter

Longing for a tidy, organized kitchen where everything is right where you need it? Read on for eight great kitchen organizing tips.

Sort and toss - Chances are much of your clutter is composed of stuff that isn't really essential to the day-to-day functioning of your kitchen. Start the cleaning process by purging your cabinets and drawers of gadgets you hardly ever use. Donate the things you don't need, and place rarely-used items in storage.

Get closer - Once you've pared your inventory down to essentials, put them in places that make the most sense. Keep glassware and cups near the refrigerator or sink; utensils, spices and plates near the cooking area; mugs near the coffeemaker.

Divide and conquer. - Adding vertical dividers in cabinetry makes it easy to stack cookie sheets and cake pans. For lower cabinets, a simple spin of a lazy susan puts everything within reach so you'll never have to empty them to see what's on hand. Small, inexpensive shelves can double your storage, allowing you to neatly organize the pantry. An under-the-sink caddy stores all your cleaning sprays and wipes.

Use "hidden" space. - Free up valuable cabinet and drawer space by installing hooks for coffee mugs and utensils under cabinets. Hang pots from an attractive rack on the ceiling. Make use of blank wall space or a backsplash by adding a utensil rack. Nest and stack pots, bowls and pans to maximize your storage space.

Abolish the junk drawer. - There's no need for a "junk drawer" if every item has a designated place. Use small dividers to stop pencils, coupons and gadgets from jumbling together. Keep plastic grocery bags tidy by stuffing them into a dispenser.

Paper trail. - If you can't seem to eliminate the piles of takeout menus, recipes torn out of magazines and other such paper clutter from your kitchen, at least contain them. Sort them into categories, put them into colorful file folders and stow them in magazine binders near your cookbooks.

Play favorites. - Group items by how frequently you use them. Put your favorite cookware, dishes and glassware in the front of cabinets for easy access. Store specialty cookware and less-frequently used appliances and utensils like blenders, quesadilla makers, and food processors tucked away but easy to find when you need them.

Smart appliances. - If you're considering larger changes to your kitchen, such as buying new appliances or remodeling, a little foresight could save countless hours of clutter-busting down the line. Look for refrigerators that maximize interior space through strategically placed compartments; they'll make it easy to organize leftovers, large soda bottles and produce.

Cornelia Parker

Anti-Mass 2005

I always enjoy looking at modern art because I like abstract images and unusual shapes and materials used in the art. I am often amazed by creative minds of artist. When I visited the De Young Museum, I saw an art made with charcoal and wire by Cornelia Parker. I was so impressed with the scale and unique materials used in the art, so I looked up the artist when I came home. She is an English sculptor and installation artist. She engages in intervention with site-specific work, and is best known for large-scale installations such as Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View (1991), where she had a garden shed blown up by the British Army and suspended the fragments as if suspending the explosion process in time. In the centre was a light which cast the shadows of the wood dramatically on the walls of the room. Here are few images of her work.

Closed up image of Charcoal

Neither From Nor Towards, 1992

Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View 1991

Thirty Pieces of Silver (exhaled)

De Young Museum 2

Having lunch at the café in De Young Museum was fun. The food was delicious, but I thought interior design of the café was beautiful. I love the lightings used in the ceiling and the industrial look of dining chairs in the dining room. Statues in the lawn area outside of the cafe were very creative and unique. My favorite was the cloth pin.

Statue 2 - Bean Bag

Statue 3 - Dropped Apples

Statue 4 - ??????

Statue 5 - Pokeman character?

Ceiling Lights in the cafe

Industrial chair

De Young Museum

De Young Museum in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park was founded in 1895 and re- opened in Oct. 2005. Since it’s re-opening, I’ve been wanting to visit and finally I went last week. King Tut exhibit was very interesting and educational, but most of all, I love the architecture of the building. I like the modern design and the shape of the building reminded me of Aztec pyramid of Mexico. Modern meets the ancient structures? I thought it was pretty cool. I found some images of the museum on internet and these are some of my favorites.

front of the building

metal structure of the building

staircase inside of the building

Fleur De Lis Design

I was browsing Ballard Designs online catalog and I saw several products that had Fleur De Lis design on it. Fleur means flower, and Lis means lily. Fleur De Lis is used as a decorative design or symbol associated with the French monarchy in a historical context. It is my favorite symbol and I even used in my company logo. It was neat to see my favorite desgin on practical objects. Here are some of the products that I liked.

DoorStop

Clock

Glassware

Lamp Finial

Towels

Children's Art

Jessica's art - 8 Ball


Recently, we converted our living room into a game room that has a pool table. I looked all over to find a perfect painting for the room, but I could not find anything that I liked. So, I asked my daughter, "an artist in the family", to draw a painting to hang in the game room. As always, she drew the perfect painting. While my daughter at work, my son got inspired, so he drew one for me, too. Now, we have a room where we spend a lot of time together as a family and enjoy the perfect art !

Joshua's art - dancing olive

Black and White Pillows

Replacing simple accessories is a good way to change the look of your living space without spending a lot of money. Getting new pillows for a sofa or switching off accessories can change the mood of your living room. I found some interesting pillow patterns that are black and white from IKEA.