Open Pantry Living

I've always had issues with decor vs utility.   Our existing kitchen reluctantly held my grandmother's behemoth hutch.  The bottom drawers were catch-alls, and the top shelves displayed dusty, unused, barware.  Cordial glasses.  Brandy glasses.  Champagne Flutes.  Port Glasses.  Glass Carafes.  Shakers.  Seriously, the most action seen by any of my six (!!) "on display" brandy glasses was when I converted two of them into terrariums.

Inspired by M moving in with me, I've started downsizing & organizing.  The kitchen hutch was one of the first to go.  In its place, I wanted to put an open pantry for our dry goods.  This not only inspires us to eat healthier, but it transforms utility into decor, which is a huge goal of mine.

Click "READ MORE" below for the Open Pantry Upcycle

Manifest Destiny

I love boho stylings: mixed fabrics, floor pillows, wall-to-wall books, plants.  To me, this style screams "lay down, take a nap, relax!"  Who doesn't like to take a nap [on the floor]?

Of course this styling also lends itself to: clutter, dust, dinginess, eventual hoarding...but I digress.

One sweet boho fantasy that I've always had was to have an indoor swing.  Two ropes.  One Plank.  Seems like a pretty easy order, but for some reason because I'm lazy, I never got around to it.

Recently I started kicking myself in the ass over the amount "ideas" I collect without any follow through.  (embarrassing confession: this may or may not have something to do with reading an excerpt from The Secret) (embarrassing confession #2: the excerpt was enough; i have no plans to read this book)  So I wrote out a list of things I wanted for myself.   Positive Thinking.  Visualization.  I see myself as a homeowner.  I see myself with Camilla Belle's eyebrows.  I see myself lounging in a bitchin' indoor swing. 

And then it happened!  Just like The Secret said!  The power of visualization worked!  Or rather, the power of going online to hammocks.com and ordering a $49.95 Brazilian chair hammock which ships incredibly fast, like Amazon Prime fast, and then going to Home Depot and purchasing an S hook and Eyelet Screw, and then leaving everything in the back of my car for three weeks, and then inexplicably leaving it in my yard for four days, and then finally bringing it inside, drilling sixteen pilot holes in the ceiling looking for the joist, screwing in the eyelet, and hanging it all up!

Behold: The Power of The Secret Online Shopping!

It's not quite the "two-ropes-and-a-plank" look I originally wanted, but you can't exactly fall asleep, nesting with a glass of wine and your TV remote, on a plank.  Ya hear?  

What did I learn from this?  Well for one: it's impossible to find a ceiling joist unless you're drilling at least 1 inch deep.  Also that an indoor hammock chair generates a lot of sex swing jokes.  And that a little daily positive thinking can go a long way towards getting things done.  [see: hammock chair; this blog; my unruly brows]

Cheers to happy thoughts.