What is this {pretty, happy, funny, real} you speak of?
~ {pretty, happy, funny, real} ~
Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~
Every Thursday, here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!
I was glad to read in Rosie's quilt post that she gets the urge to start bigger projects when her baby is about Nora's age. I'm not there yet for sure!
But I'm starting to feel like maybe I'm settling into my new life here.
Two babies, a new house, and a husband in residency had me drowning for a bit there. Now I'm reveling in every tiny bit of efficiency we've worked into the house.
My ridiculous kitchen is much more usable now. The Quack and his brother-in-law hung up some pot racks for me.
They are the best! I'm sure you've all rummaged around in a cupboard for a pan while holding a baby and fending off an inquisitive toddler with–what? a shoulder? It's madness! Now I just reach up one-handed and lift one down while rocking the baby in the other hand, while the toddler watches in vain, unable to destroy anything!
Plus, they're pretty, especially when the light catches them just so.
They do seem like they're a bit high, but I can reach all of them fine, and this way the pans on the bottom rack are still well out of the reach of my little helper.
We also put these racks in the corner under the cabinets. All the things that I use fairly frequently but are a pain to have cluttering up my drawers go on here. I keep cooking utensils I reach for all the time in that green floral canister. Before we put up these hooks, the canister was overfilled and getting out a wooden spoon was a battle even with no children involved.
Really, I think we should all have everything hanging off our walls. It's so much more efficient than cupboards and drawers! I just love efficiency.
(Desmond is not efficient. But he's cute!)
The other day we were on our way to meet people and were going to arrive a bit early. Both babies were asleep, and there was a T.J. Maxx nearby. I hopped out and spent ten blissful minutes shopping by myself while the Quack drove in circles.
I got a rubber spatula (can you ever have too many? No you cannot, and now it'll fit in my canister too), a storage container, and this charming soap dispenser. That's dish soap in there–no need to tip a bottle, and it's so delightful!
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Marcia says
Yes, efficiency should be the mantra of all moms, especially those with young children 🙂
Chere Mama says
Oh, I am a TJ Maxx fan indeed!! They always have the greatest English tea cups at the one I frequent. Love the soap dispenser. Actually, my husband went in there one Christmas with me just to be nice and I found him later rummaging among the shelves with actual glee and finding magnifying glasses, wine stoppers, ship clocks, etc. This man hates to shop but he likes TJ Maxx. Love your pots in the light!
kristinab says
Your boys are so cute!
I love how your kitchen looks with everything hanging but in mine I can’t seem to keep everything clean when it’s out in the open 🙁 It just tends to get kind of dusty… maybe it’s because I live in Arizona, who knows 🙂 But cabinets it is for me, right now. I just keep breakables in high cabinets so my toddlers can’t reach them.
Suki says
Everything that I have hanging up is in pretty frequent use, so there isn’t much time to gather dust. But I’m not in Arizona! And anyway, I’m low on useful cabinet space, so there you go! We all just have to figure out our circumstances, right?
LJ says
So fun to see your little men growing!!! Hope all is well! Xoxo!
And LOVE the soap dispenser. Cute things you can use multiple times a day to replace ugly commercial bottles? WIN.
Carrie says
Your kitchen, and your boys, are lovely! I am inspired to purchase more spatulas (I only have one) and to make some quilted potholders like the ones you have hanging Usefully. Here in the UK they don’t seem to be as common; I think it would be a good portable project to make something pretty for the table.
Jill Foley says
I am much more of an aesthetic person so I value how something looks over efficiency. I think it’s so interesting how we are all wired differently. I keep almost nothing out in sight! I also laughed at your spatula comment – my mantra is one is enough. I bought a set that came with two and immediately chose one to keep and one to get rid of. I’m weird…
Your kitchen looks lovely and your kids are adorable.
Suki says
I’m all about paring down utensils in general, but I seem to always be reaching for a rubber spatula!
Teresa says
Fun post, Suki – love the new soap dispenser and the great use of your counter-corner.
Smart girl!
And, btw – this post could have been about ANYTHING because the baby and toddler cuteness stole the show.
Precious!!!!!
Suki says
Thanks, Teresa! We are very fond of them. 🙂
Paula says
I’d love to hang my pots and pans. I literally have to kneel on the floor and half-crawl in the cupboard to get some of the pots. BUT hanging things require actually having blank wall space. Not an option here 🙁
Mrs. B. says
I always joke that we should do like the Shakers, and hang even furniture on the walls… that’s how crazy toddlers can drive their parents!
TJMaxx…. you simply never know what you’re going to find each time you go in, but strongly suspect it’s going to be awesome and just what you needed!
Lovely triptych on your windowsill, and lovely boys around you!
Deirdre says
Hang the furniture?!?! I would totally do that. Never thought of it.
Katie says
Sweet post – love seeing the ‘everyday’! This *especially* cracked me up as we’re in the same stage with our 15-month-old: “while the toddler watches in vain, unable to destroy anything!”
Ruth says
I love the idea of the bar for hanging utensils on the wall. I don’t really have enough space for hanging my pots, too, but because of the way my kitchen is laid out, I have no counter space for the utensil crock. This would be a great solution for finding what I need quickly when I’m cooking!
Carrie says
Popping back to say something completed unrelated to this week’s post but felt I had to share it with the LMLD readers… I was looking through the Library posts to find reading inspiration and decided to try Elizabeth Goudge. I looked on Abebooks and read the brief description of Green Dolphin Street and discovered it’s set on Guernsey and features the Le Patourel family. My *mother* was a Guernsey Le Patourel. I am all astonishment! How have I never heard of this?? I am buying this immediately. Thank you LMLD ladies.
Leila says
Wow!!
Wow wee. Let us know if you find yourself in that book!
I suppose you have read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society? A pretty good book. Not anything as good as Green Dolphin Street, but probably of interest to you particularly!
Carrie says
Yes, I read the Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society last year. I enjoyed it but my grandfather had a small collection of books about the island during the Occupation which I was allowed to read in my late teens (his family had left the island to look for work at the beginning of the last century). Potato Peel Pie Society just didn’t ever seem ‘true’ to me, in the way I expect good fiction to be.
Cathy L. says
I had to laugh at the whole ‘digging for a pot and lid, with a baby on one hip, and fending off a toddler with the opposite shoulder’, because I’ve been at this while mothering thing for almost 11 1/2 years now, and I *still* do that. Although, not as much, because my husband and I have developed a new mantra in the last few years. It goes like this: “make a kid do it” 😉 I find myself wishing I had more wall-space in my kitchen often, because I would like to have more of my recurring use items hanging on them. And, no, you can not ever have enough rubber spatulas….or pretty canisters around the kitchen counter to place them in .
Laura says
Functional or not, I think your kitchen is beautiful!
I could not agree more about having everything hanging off the walls. My husband and I recently had that exact discussion. After an exhilarating trip to Ikea I decided that I wanted shelves and hooks (above the reach of small children of course) on basically any open wall space we can possibly find in our tiny little house. He wasn’t thrilled by the idea but I’m still hopeful! 😉
Virginia says
That’s such a great idea to hang the pots on the walls! My cabinets are so helter-skelter right now. Every time I get a casserole dish out I have to move three skillets 🙂 It’s actually kind of dangerous–especially when distractedly instructing the toddlers not to kill each during dinner prep meltdown time. Do you think those things would hold a lot of cast iron if I bolted them to the studs?
Cristina says
This is perfect timing! I was just telling my friend who also suffers from the ‘we live too close to DC to have a regular sized kitchen’ about your amazing pot racks of efficiency and I told her I’d ask you for a picture. I’m forwarding this on now. Problem solved 😊
Stephanie says
Your boys are so sweet, and your kitchen so lovely! Thanks for encouraging us by your excellent homemaking! 🙂
Part of your pretty kitchen is your windowsill! I recall a blog post that featured the “over the kitchen sink” space and making it aesthetically pleasing, so I will go consult that, but I’d also love to hear your or others’ ideas for making the kitchen sink windowsill pretty when it has a curtain drawn above it at least part of the time. I find that this really limits what I place on the sill, and I suspect there’s a better way to go about having items on the sill despite the curtain than what I’ve thought of so far!
God bless you and your family!
Katie says
We’ve had a pot rack hung up ever since we were married. It’s always been hung up… um, over a window. Where normal people probably have a shade or a valance. But no, we have pots and skillets right above the blinds. =) I love having everything within reach, and it does look classically kitchen-y, and I’m completely used to it being this way, but I suppose it must occasionally strike visitors as odd.
To Virginia above re cast iron: we cut a 2×4 to length and finished it with the same trim paint as everything else, and then bolted our pot rack to it. The 2×4 is what’s bolted to the studs. That way the rack could go just where we wanted it, without needing to line up the pot rack hardware/holes with the (un)available studs. It holds three cast iron pans plus maybe seven more, and going strong!
Suki, I appreciate your instinct (and follow-through) to hang things. At Christmas, I bought a pack of 10 medium-sized S-hooks in order to have two for hanging stockings (no mantel…alternate plan…long story…); and I thought, what on earth will I do with the others? We-e-ellll I keep thinking of things that would be nice to hang up, and voila, I keep having hooks available! Baby bathtub onto shower towel bar; blanket holder onto frame of baby swing; wind chimes onto tree branch for toddler to ring; bird feeder… I wonder if I even have any left. =) The kitchen efficiencies of wall hooks are really great… I have my brooms, mops, and aprons all hung up (with a pretty shelf above to make up for their featured presence) thanks to an old post of your mother’s asserting that brooms etc. need a place to GO more than just leaned up in a corner somewhere!
Kari says
I have been looking for s hooks and can’t find any anywhere! The few I have found are too thick but have too small of an s to fit over my bars or they’re shower curtain hooks. Where do you find these things?
Katie says
Kari, I got these on Amazon, as an add-on item with some Christmas shopping: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00DZJAP1W/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1455332407&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=Teenitor+s+hooks They are pretty slender but the S itself is fairly wide. Good luck finding what you need!
Polly says
What sweet little people!!! I see the genius in the pot racks. If I had room for that, I’d totally go for it–not only does it look downright kitchen-y, the ease of not having to bend over and clamor around in the lower cabinet would be so helpful!!
Stephanie says
Suki! Your babes are adorable. What a treat that you shared your homefront today….owl dish soap dispensers and all, thank you! God bless your sweet family.
anothermom says
Suki, Love your kitchen “hang ups”! We’ve used a poor man’s version for many years, with cup hooks screwed to the underside of cabinets and pegboard and hooks inside our broom closet. Hanging pots, pans and utensils is such a clever way to keep things in the kitchen both parent and child friendly! Your kitchen sink and windowsill are just lovely and your new soap dispenser is perfect! It’s so wonderful to see cute pics of your adorable boys!
Margo, Thrift at Home says
LOVE the way you got your 10 minutes of shopping alone! Hooray for a helpful husband who understands that even 10 minutes is lovely. Your kitchen is charming. I often wish I had a pot rack, but I do have a hanging utensil rack under my cupboard and I love that efficiency.
Nicole says
Oh, the corner hanging hooks are genius!! I have a tiny kitchen too, and we are ALL ABOUT not having ANYTHING stacked inside cupboards (eg- no pots nested in other pots/pans if we can help it). We have a pegboard, Julia Child-style, that Tom made for our first apartment and it’s still going strong, and we have open shelving with similar hanging hooks we put up on a wide, empty wall. I love efficiency too. Also I love your new soap dispenser. I was searching forever for a cute, clear glass soap dispenser, and my mom found me a Mason jar one at Home Goods. So fun!
Marie-Claire Oman says
Yes! I also have a pegboard and also always describe it as Julia Child-style! It’s really the best. Our kitchen is somewhat wider than your average hallway, so it’s really a necessity, but I really love having everything so handy.
Mary says
Love love this!!! Nothing’s more annoying than a kitchen that doesn’t function!!
Lisa G. says
Your kitchen is very pretty – is your new soap dispenser an owl? Very cute. I’m glad you got an extra (In addition to your husband) obliging man to help with the pot rack!