I have an issue with our kitchen. I knew it going in, but I am seriously not sure what this builder was thinking when our cabinets were designed.

We have three drawers.

Three. itty. bitty. drawers.

To make matters worse, the widest of the three was even too narrow to fit our wooden silverware tray. I think I measured the drawer being about 9 inches wide.

One of the drawers is on the far wall with the fridge and the family command center where I attempt to corral all the paper that manages to constantly slither its way into the house and then multiply.  That leaves me with TWO drawers on the sink side for silverware and utensils.

You might not have ever thought of it, but there are a LOT of things in the kitchen that just fit better in a drawer! Dish towels, dish rags, potholders, plastic bags and wrap, foil, etc… not to mention the very necessary “miscellaneous” or, ahem, the junk drawer!

We talked about getting an Ikea island with some pretty rad storage drawers, but it totalled $600+! Oh, but those drawers were organizational heaven! We really were considering it, but at the last minute, I reconsidered when I thought about how an island would really break up the flow in the kitchen and make it seem MUCH smaller.

We decided instead to do a long dresser turned buffet that would give us that much needed drawer space. We are waiting to spend that money until we get a renter in the old house. Wah, wah, wah, right?

In the meantime, school ended {woot!} and I brought my little turquoise desk home.

Do you remember that dark and dreary thrift store find that I transformed to bright and cheery?

One day while Chris was at work and I was busy decorating and putting things away, I put the little desk on the landing outside our room and liked it! I was already deciding what decor to put on it, when all of a sudden inspiration struck, and I realized I could put my beloved desk in the kitchen!

I hoisted that baby up and huffed my way down the steps and to the kitchen with no injury to myself OR the desk, believe it or not.

I love it when things actually work out like I see them in my head.

I didn’t have a chair to put under it, but I remembered seeing a desk of Laine’s with a basket underneath instead of a chair and I loved it too! My big white basket was also a thrift store find, woot!

I loaded up the drawers with all our precious necessities and breathed a sigh of relief that all our junk drawer boxes did not have to stay on the kitchen floor until we could afford a dresser.

Do you want to peek in my drawers??  :)

I put all the dish towels, cleaning rags, and pot holders in the big drawer at the bottom.

The next drawer up holds our ridiculous supply of batteries, glue/tape, another ridiculous amount of chapstick, and a random container of various treasures.

Part of being junk drawers is that they are a place for all that random stuff to go, right? It really helps keep things from getting out of control by having things in small containers inside the drawer. That way you are not just looking at three drawers filled with things that were just thrown in anywhere.

And those containers DON’T have to be the fabulous matching kind to really work for you either. Most of mine were a mismash of containers I had… including the disposable rubbermaid containers that come with lids. I just don’t use the lids.

I was able to put a silverware tray in here which also helps define a spot for the randomness.

I love how it looks in the kitchen.

It is definitely a cheery spot with its bright turquoise color. I can’t wait to show you the whole kitchen soon. It has come SUCH a long, long way from the blue cabinets!

This kitchen is so much brighter with its 5 windows… I love it, love it, love it!

As far as the rest of the house goes, we are settling in little by little, though at almost one month in we still have things in boxes or piled in corners. One thing I liked about our not monitored security system that came with the house was that the doors chimed whenever you opened them. This was VERY helpful information when I was upstairs and my precious wild boys were trying to sneak into the front yard.

Recently, the chimes on the door just stopped chiming. It was so odd. And very inconvenient, as I was lying in bed one morning and heard the sound of the front screen door opening the other day. I came downstairs to find Davis coming INSIDE the front door. I said, “Where’s Wade?”

He answered matter of factly and happily, “Outside!”

Wade’s answer was, “Oh, yeeeeah, I forgot you said not to go outside without permission.”

Chris decided to try to mess with the direction-less keypad and see if he could figure out how to get the chimes back.

Well.

SOMEHOW, he actually managed to accidentally TURN THE SYSTEM ON.

Yes, he did activate the security system for which we had no directions or NO CODE.

All of a sudden it flashed… “System Armed.”

And then of course, seconds later when he moved in front of the motion detector the insanely loud wailing commenced.

It’s hard to think clearly about how to problem solve when your brains are turning to mush via an incessant alarm.

Chris googled the name on the box and called them for help. They said they couldn’t send a technician out because we were not paying for the monitoring service! She did give him some vague instructions on finding certain boxes and battery backups that could be hidden anywhere… in closets or under cabinets, etc. and cutting the wires.

We also have friends who knew the sellers, so I texted them and they tried calling the sellers but got their voicemail.

Finally, TWENTY-FIVE or so minutes later, Chris {aka Macguyver} managed to find all the hidden boxes and cut the unmarked wires to make the crazy stop.

And then of course, we later got the follow up text back saying “The code is xxxx.”

Life is always exciting in this house.

But at least now we have a place for our junk drawers. It’s all about perspective, you know.

linking up to…  Weekend Bloggy Link up, House of Hepworths, and The Frugal Homemaker.