Cardboard Box Kitchen Makeover!

Today was a pretty darn good day. You wouldn't believe it if you had been around my children all day--they were both sort of  "off" today, and both whined and cried most of the time we were running errands, plus they had late naps and Lia didn't get a long enough nap so dinnertime was super rough. Still, I felt better today than I have in probably weeks.

Why?

Because of cardboard, of course! 

I found an article a while ago that lists 31 creative uses for cereal boxes, and numbers 2 and 6 especially intrigued me. Dustin and I have always had a problem with junk piling up on our countertop and I thought if I could get some of the junk OFF the counter and somewhat organized, it would make life easier. I've been saving my cardboard boxes, and today while Eleanor napped I finally got the project done!

This was the problem area before the makeover. Overflowing basket that I can never find anything in, overflowing "bill organizer," papers shoved behind the basket, microwave taking up space, messy counter. Yuck. Needs help!

The Solution! Just cereal boxes (and other cardboard boxes) cut up and covered with scrapbook paper. I mounted them with Command Strips and tacks. Simple! Lia even got to help by spreading the glue on the boxes for the scrapbook paper.

Even after the boxes were up, there was still a significant amount of junk in left in the basket. I need a way to section off areas of the basket to keep things grouped together, so what did I use? You guessed it! Cardboard boxes! Here's the before and after:

Just looking at it makes me feel awesome.

Another problem area in the kitchen was the wall with the phone jack. Look at the "before" picture. Worst place ever for a phone jack! Far away from the outlet AND the living room where all the things that use that phone jack reside. Okay, maybe once upon a time when people had land lines you wouldn't need the phone jack to be near the TV in the middle of the living room. But these apartments aren't THAT old, and that is ALSO a terrible place for a land line! Just terrible. After a visit to the good old Deseret Industries today, I found this ugly little shelf that works perfectly to keep our internet box off the floor (where Eleanor liked to stomp on it.) SCORE!!

Okay, so the shelf isn't made of a cardboard box. And frankly, it still looks awkward. But it is so much better than before!

To finish off the kitchen makeover, I switched the places of the microwave and the stand mixer, and put new batteries in an old clock and put it up, since now I can't see the microwave clock from the living room. Finished project:

The only things allowed on the counter now are phones, wallets, keys, Eleanor's hearing aid case, and Dustin's work tag. Just the things we need to be able to locate quickly every day. I will probably eventually need a better place for that stuff too, but for now it'll have to do. Also, please ignore the dirty dishes in the sink. Today I decided finishing a project was more important than clean pots and plates!

Maybe you couldn't tell, but I am SUPER PROUD of myself for accomplishing this. I keep asking Dustin to tell me how good it looks! (Fishing for compliments? Yes. No shame.) I  know, I am a nerd, but seriously I NEVER do projects or crafts. 

I'm going to admit something here. It's been a while since I've attacked any kind of project. I've just been caught up in the day-to-day, mundane, mind-numbing tasks of raising a family of four. Important work, no doubt, but not exactly stimulating. I had forgotten how AMAZING you can feel once you accomplish something new and worthwhile. Lately, all of my accomplishments have been along the lines of "Yay, I didn't have to clean up poop today!" or "Yay, we actually made it outside!" or "Yay, I made dinner on time!" Like I said, these are important things, but I was really getting worn out. Turns out, all I needed was a little feel-good energy to get me back on track. I needed to remind myself that I CAN do awesome things. I CAN be creative and resourceful, and help out my family in the process. I  may not be able to re-upholster a couch or turn an old entertainment center into a play kitchen, but dang, give me some cardboard boxes and I'm practically a miracle worker! And it feels pretty darn good.