home goals: january

not a lot got done in the kitchen in january, but eventually i will get it done.
i started out by doing a little bit of clutter control.  we have open shelves attached to our cabinets.  i hate it.  when we moved in it had some additional shelves that were glass and glass sliding doors on each side.  the whole thing looked like a curio cabinet used to house chotzky so i removed all of the glass.   we ended up storing things worse than chotzky.  clutter.  everything ended up on these shelves- jay grew accustomed to storing his wallet, sunglasses, and whatever else he had in his hand when he walked through the door coming home from work.  the kids would put toys, and whatever other knick knacks they didn't feel like carrying back to their rooms.  i am not completely innocent myself.  i stored medicine and papers there as well.  i don't have a before photo but believe me, it was a mess. i had some baskets from target already and put them to use. and this is what it looks like today.  my medicine, jay's wallet, and a few other things found a home in a basket.

if i had my way, i'd remove these shelves because i can't really see or talk to the people on the other side without ducking.

 unfortunately, the cabinet and he shelves are all one piece.  poo.  so now i have been trying convince hubby that we need to get rid of it.  he told me he'd think about it if i could prove we didn't need the storage.  well, see the two cabinet doors?  there is nothing behind them and there hasn't been for months.  my spices and baking materials used to be in there but i moved them to a more convenient place.   once those are gone, i plan to put these on the wall

until then, i gues i have to duck and talk to the kids this way

look at the shelf i got from ikea for the brick wall

a place to put a few of my cookbooks and cooking mags (yes we realize there are gaps between the oven and the brick- working on it ;) )

so that's it.  not proud that i haven't done more, but i'm still trying to figure out what i want to do- don't want to do anything hastily because i usually regret it.
i talked to my handyman yesterday and he said he would install the solar tube for me!  that said, i have decided to wait on him to install it before i make a painting decision since the lighting will be totally affected. 
now for the dining room...