Category Archives: Kitchen

Organize Fruit with a Plant Stand

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Design Build Love

To fuel our healthy living, we’ve been buying tons and tons of fruit. The reality is that when you buy lots of fruit, a regular ol’ fruit bowl just won’t suffice- no one wants to have to take out all of the bananas and apples to get to the cuties at the bottom of the bowl. Ridiculous, right? On top of that, our fruit bowl was simply not our style. It is fine for an occasional serving dish, but it lacked the beauty required to be a real “display” piece in our kitchen. Now, in truth, I’ve been looking for the “right” fruit display for at least six months, with no luck. I wanted simple, but fun, and modern, but with a bit of vintage inspiration. That’s not too specific, is it? I don’t know… maybe I’m hard to please. This is what I was working with: I know, it wasn’t that bad, but the organization was what really bothered me! Digging for fruit is not exactly what I call fun and you run the risk of beating up your fruit before you get the chance to eat it. Double bad. So, I was determined to find a solution. The solution came when my friend and I were perusing our local Ross store. In the plant section, I found this three-tiered stand, and at a mere $12, I couldn’t pass it up! Not only was it modern, but it was simple and the three tiers offered the perfect amount of space and division to accommodate our fruit habit! Now, did I give you enough pictures of fruit? Guess I really like the new display! WHAT’S THE CRAZIEST THING YOU’VE ORGANIZED LATELY? Blog this! Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin Share on netvibes share via … Continue reading

Posted in Food, Get Organized, Kitchen, Shopping | 3 Comments

GIVEAWAY: Sol Boards Custom Wood Cutting Boards

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Design Build Love

Up for grabs today, the winner receives a completely unique, LARGE (10.5″ x 16″) handmade wood cutting board by Sol Boards Custom Handmade Wood Products, brought to you by Doug and Tana Tolson! They are an amazing husband and wife team, and you might have seen them on DIY Network’s House Crashers, Bath Crashers, Turf Wars, The Ultimate Crash, and more! Yes, they’re that amazing!!! They are two of my favorite people in the whole world and you will LOVE their products!!! Without further ado… here is what you can win! Can’t get enough… You can see a video of how these amazing products are made here: Like I’ve said before, we own our very own Sol Board and we’ve bought several as gifts, and they always get rave reviews! People are usually afraid to cut on them and just want to display them for their beauty! And don’t forget… they also make long-board skateboards! Sol Boards product description: Sol Boards cutting boards are handcrafted with hardwoods from around the world. The colors you are experiencing are the natural woods; there are no stains involved. Sol Boards only uses food grade wood glue and a pure mineral oil finish. Care is as simple as hand-washing with warm water and soap, and re-seasoning your board with mineral oil (found for less than $2 at all major retailers). Giveaway details: Giveaway is for a one-of-a-kind, custom, hand-made Sol Boards cutting board measuring 10.5″ x 16″ Giveaway is open to the contiguous US only Giveaway is open from Monday, December 5th through midnight on Friday, December 9th, and the winner will be announced right here on Monday, December 12th! One winner will be selected using random.org. Please ensure I have your blog or email address so I have a way to contact you … Continue reading

Posted in Contests, Giveaways, Home Accessories, House Crashers, Kitchen | 65 Comments

Pantry Overhaul Without Spending a Dime

Posted on October 11, 2011 by Design Build Love

Have you ever completed a project that you were literally so excited about and pleased with the results that it simply seems surreal? I know this sounds completely ridiculous, but this is the only way I can describe my pantry overhaul… SURREAL! We went from cluttered, clustered, and crazy TO orderly, organized, and efficient. I literally have been dying/planning to reorganize our pantry since we moved into our home almost two years ago. Unfortunately, I just never really set aside the proper time for the project and really didn’t know how long I could expect this seemingly impossible/overwhelming task to take. So, guess what happened… you guessed it… it got put on the back burner, while we tackled other projects. Now, you ask, what was the turning point in getting this project done? Having four parties in one summer and realizing how inefficiently set up our pantry was, as well as a few other cabinets in our kitchen. Also, I finally found a day where I could set aside a large chunk of time to tackle the project without interruption. To accomplish this huge task, I formulated a quick plan and got started! Here is what I did: 1- Empty ever single thing out of the pantry. 2- Wash and dry all of the shelves in the pantry (and walls and floor). 3- Sort all emptied items into their respective “categories”: (1) appliances; (2) food; (3) drinks (mixes, teas, etc); (4) alcohol; (5) “does not belong in pantry”; (6) donation pile of items no longer needed/wanted; and (7) garbage pile. 4- Evaluate items with the following criteria: (1) amount of items in category; (2) frequency of use; and (3) type of use. 5- After analyzing the items, I pulled together all of the containers that were in the pantry before … Continue reading

Posted in DIY, Get Organized, Kitchen | 17 Comments

No Purchase Necessary Junk Drawer Organization

Posted on September 29, 2011 by Design Build Love

Everyone’s got one (or more), but no one likes to share it! Well, I’m going to! Part of my commitment to change is organization, and our two kitchen junk drawers are my number one offenders at the moment! So, I did the most logical thing and dumped both of them out on our family room floor and decided to just start from scratch! After dumping it all out, I categorized all the contents and separate them into separate piles. This gave me a clear idea of the contents that were actually forming all this clutter… After I paired items down, put misplaced items in their proper home (in other rooms- mainly the office and garage), and just flat-out got rid of trash, I was able to refill the empty drawers. But before I could do that, I knew I had to come up with an organization solution, and I didn’t want to have to run to the store or spend money… so this is what I came up with! Items Needed: Extra rubberized carpet pad (top left corner of the picture above) Miscellaneous small tupperware Rubberbands How I used it all: Cut carpet pad to size of each tupperware bottom Place tupperware in drawers Fill tupperware with appropriately-sized items (keys, batteries, tape, etc) Arrange remaining area with larger items, placing carpet pad cut to size beneath to prevent sliding when drawer is opened and shut Here’s the final product! Do you notice what happened here??? No? Well… let me tell you! We paired down, threw away, and put away… and in the end, TWO junk drawers became only ONE highly organized, effective go-to drawer! I honestly had been delaying this project because I thought I needed some fancy drawer organizer to be effective, but in the end, it turned out … Continue reading

Posted in Get Organized, Kitchen | 11 Comments

A Kitchen For Cooks

Posted on May 9, 2011 by Design Build Love

Yup, it’s true, both the hubby and I L-O-V-E to cook! The other half is… we also LOVE to eat! Good thing, otherwise we’d have a whole bunch’o food a-wasting in the fridge. My whole family totally teases me about how much I like to eat. In fact, they say it might even rival the home project passion! Scary, I know. Anyways, all that said, I figured it was about time to share my kitchen with the world, since we haven’t really yet (except for some poor pictures on our Whole Home Tour. Well, our kitchen had fairly decent bones when we moved in – lots of cabinets, roomy/open layout, granite slab countertops, stainless steel appliances, and a gigantic pantry. All that together = a very functional kitchen. The biggest endeavor when we moved in was cleaning everything because it was NOT clean! In fact, the cabinets were so dirty by my standards that I even hired someone to come in and clean them first, before I would even take a crack at them… who lives like that?!?!?!? Anyways, after a good cleansing… the kitchen was ready for action! We painted all of the walls Wise Owl- by Kelly Moore (the neutral tan that you find throughout many of the common spaces in our house), put all of our “stuff” away, and then added a few key accessories. The kitchen still is crying out for some splashes of color, but due to focusing on other rooms, it just hasn’t gotten it yet. Sorry kitchen, my apologies. Despite this, we still love our kitchen very much. It’s totally conducive to two cooks in the kitchen and has a great high breakfast bar which translates into a great buffet counter for parties! So, here are the pictures. Tell us what … Continue reading

Posted in Kitchen | 27 Comments

Updated Whole House Tour

Posted on May 3, 2011 by Design Build Love

Hey guys. I feel very fortunate to be participating in a wonderful linky party over at A Bowl Full of Lemons – The Parade of Homes. If you haven’t already checked out Toni’s blog, you should! It’s full of tons of fun challenges that are worth a gander, and the linky party is full of amazing inspiration! To celebrate this wonderful linky party and amazing blog, I’ve officially updated a long-overdue home tour. Feel free to check out the updated tour below. After this, I promise to try and keep the Home Tour tab updated as best I can as we go… so check back for updates when you can! The “stats” on our Home! Track Home Built in 2003 2300 sq. ft., single story! 4 Bedrooms, 2 Bathrooms VERY Open Floorplan Disclaimer (LOL): The following “before” pictures are just that… very “before,” taken when we first bought the house. As mentioned in our About Us, the house was a short sale that needed a ton of TLC, but it had the bones/floorplan we wanted, so we bought it anyways, figuring we could do most of the work ourselves and get it all up to our standards!!! We’ve now been in our house about a year and a half, which sounds like a long time, but when you are DIYing almost everything, progress is not always speedy! As such, “progress” pictures are simply posted as we go, but you can check out our “goals” for our home at the bottom of the About Us page if you want an idea of where we’re going with it all. Front of the house: Before Backyard: Before Sideyard: Before Entryway: Before Progress Dining Room: Before Progress Living Room: Before Progress Kitchen: Before Progress Family Room: Before Progress (bad cell picture… sorry! new … Continue reading