best idea EVER

the thing i hate most about renting is that i can't redo my kitchen.

there is a whole host of things i can whine about regarding my kitchen, and i promise i will whine about every single one of them at some point. but the worst issue we have to deal with is space. i know, we live in new york. but it's a gigantic brownstone, and i had hoped for more. this is a kitchen in which you can only open the refrigerator door 60 degrees because it bumps the oven. it makes me insane, and we can't use our left veggie drawer. grrrrrr.

when we first moved in, it was an incredibly depressing room. the cabinets, of which there were (blessedly) lots, were a horrible dark cheap wood. there are no windows in the room, so it was really claustrophobic. the counters are black, and it was difficult to see inside any of the lower cabinets to get the pans we were constantly using.

that photo makes it look much nicer than it was.

the even bigger problem was that my new roommates were kindred spirits. we drool over issues of bon appetit. we just had an enormous thanksgiving feast with two roasted turkeys and about 30 side dishes for our friends because we were jealous that our families got to cook on the actual holiday. we use this kitchen constantly, and we were giving each other bruises trying to use the cabinets.

so my ingenious solution was to get the things we needed most often into a spot where we could grab them at will. for the best idea EVER (in practice, i swear it has been), i give you....

a very blurry photo of pegboard!!!

this has revolutionized the kitchen, and i did it all myself on the cheap. i got a piece of pegboard from the hardware store down the street (these dudes love my by now), a set of a bunch of hooks, and just screwed it into the wall.

however, a DIY warning!! this job took some serious help from friends, because pegboard is heavier than you expect and you need someone to hold it while you drill.

also, i screwed the board in flush with the wall and then promptly realized that it needed spacers behind it, or the hooks couldn't get in. whoops. luckily, like any normal 25 year old girl, i always have wood shims (little skinny wedges that break easily, for filling gaps and shimmying things up by degrees to the height/thickness you need them) lying around my house. you know, right next to the tv remote and the handheld jigsaw, like anyone else. (if, by some odd turn of luck, you do not have shims lying around or the $2 and inclination to buy them, you could even use some thickly folded cardboard.) anywhoodle, i grabbed a few and screwed through them, giving me enough space between the wall and the board to hang the hooks.

all said and done, i only put about 16 easily-filled screw holes in the wall (pots are heavy, so you should anchor the boards well), spent about $40, and after slapping a coat of light blue paint on the ugly peg board, we now have a kitchen that is significantly less horrible to cook in. 4 out of 4 roommates agree: best idea EVER.

how do we feel about...

...putting holes in the walls?

i myself nail stuff in all over the place. my drill is my favorite possession, by far. i know how to use spackle, and i just sort of don't care. but then again, i paint rooms navy blue. some people just don't want to get into the business of cleaning up after they leave. what kind of a renter are you?

i'd turn this into a poll, but i can't figure out how. instead, discuss amongst yourselves. while you discuss, i'll try to learn how to use a freaking blog.

do you respect your walls?

• yes. i'm too lazy to patch them up when i move.
• of course. my landlord said i had to, so i do. he has keys.
  
• no, but i swear i only use the itty bitty picture hanging stuff.
• drill, baby, drill.
  

the dirty secret: tamed

ok, so in my studio/guest room redo, it had to be first things first. i had to get a large shelf to put all my supplies on. my issues were 1) cost, 2) adjustability, and 3) placement in the room. there are a lot of weird nooks and crannies that make it sort of hard to put anything anywhere.

the futon i have in there is only the width of a double bed (54"), not even the length (75"). this is not a large room, my friends.

plus, i had the weird spot next to the door. i could either try to find shelving that was narrow and tall, meaning probably more expensive than the stuff that came standard, or i could get creative.

i decided to just get some shelving from my local hardware store, and call it a day. it was cheap, it was sturdy (we have it at work, so i knew), and it was totally adjustable.

what i got was wire shelving that fit basically where the current cart'o'junk sat, as it was the exact width of the wall to the door. it's a bit of a squeeze, to be honest. but MAN does it get the job done!


next up were a bunch of storage bins from ikea. i got two sizes, both in plastic, so i could write on them with a black crayon. i am not big on martha-style labels, simply because i am very lazy. if you're patient enough, they look bangin'. anyway, the small ones now hold my paints, and the big ones hold rags and all my 'etc.' supplies. i also got some magazine racks and this little beauty to sit on my desk and hold all my pens, mat knives, and small stuff. i am one organized puppy.

so now, depsite the shelf taking up a rather enormous amount of space in the room, i have walked in on 6 different occasions since reorganizing and put my hands on the thing i was looking for in under 30 seconds. this was WELL worth the money, and only took one night.

(p.s. that link i added of the martha organization? totally tooting my own horn. i interned at the magazine for a summer, and that's the photo from one of the shoots i worked on. it was a blast, and it looks AMAZING. go on, tell me how good i (and my bosses, i suppose) was...)

my dirty secret

the first issue i think all renters meet with is: how on earth do i store all my junk if i'm not going to stay here forever?

if you own your place, you can invest in storage options like built-ins and chests that fit just so in your living room. renters, however have to think 'oh, god. $350 for a bookcase i might never be able to use again? ...maybe this giant swaying tower of novels won't crush my cat when it falls over.' and in the meantime, the junk piles up. and up. and over. and around. and it is ugly.

i have the insane luxury, to be found only in my magically delicious brooklyn brownstone, of having an extra room in my new york apartment. there are 4 roommates (let's call them E, L, and M), 3 large bedrooms, and 2 very small rooms. one of these is occupied by L, who pays less than the rest of us, and the other is basically mine, so i pay more. i use it partly as a studio, and partly it's supposed to be a spot for guests to use the pull-out futon when they stay over. trouble is, due to storage issues, the room has been somewhat uninviting for guests.

that's not even the bad view.

so i decided that my goal was to get myself organized, buy some inexpensive shelving and storage bins, paint one wall the lovely shade of green you see there, and get a more space-saving guest bed that i could stuff things underneath.

the cosmetic stuff couldn't happen, though, until i tamed the beast that was my collection of art and drafting supplies.

seriously, that photo is shameful. but we've all got it, don't we? the out-of-control room where everything else collects. i took one night, about $300 worth of shelving, boxes, curtains, paint, etc., and got rid of my dirty secret. i'm still working on the bed, but once it's gone, i think i'll have a room that i can actually use, and my sister won't try to stay in a hotel next time she's in town. in the next few posts, i'll work out how i did it.