If you’ve ever moved from a smaller space to a larger one (from a childhood home to your first apartment, from there to your first house), you probably started out with lots of extra room to grow that somehow (inevitably) ended up filled with stuff.
When Roland and I first moved in together, I pulled up with a U-haul with all my stuff. And there he was, standing with some bags of clothes and a dresser. When we unpacked everything we had between us, our little place looked pretty barren. We thought we had the basics, but you quickly realize all the things you take for granted at home. Like when we went to throw away some moving boxes and realized we had no trash can…or trash bags. When we went to shower because we were all sweaty from moving, guess what we discovered? No one had a shower curtain. I think we had one towel. I wanted to make some sweet tea to cool off with—no pitcher. The dollar store saved us that night.
But over the year, we filled up our little apartment. When we moved into our house, it felt like starting over again. What were we gonna put in these two other rooms? Our dinky corner computer desk looked lonely and creepy sitting in an otherwise empty room with no curtains at night. We legit were too scared to go to *that* side of the house once it got dark. Fast-forward seven years, and every space is filled plus we have a tiny being taking up residence for the next 18+ years.
Crazy how that happens.
So segue to talking about our kitchen: Even though our house isn’t massive at 1,075 square feet, I feel like our kitchen is HUGE in comparison to everything else. I mean just look at all this counter space:
Coming from a 1 bed/ 1 bath apartment with barely enough space to set out a cutting board, this was a major upgrade! I remember putting our cups and bowls in a cabinet, filling a silverware drawer, and creating a designated pots/pans cabinet. Then I looked around and thought, ‘what the heck am I gonna put in all these drawers and cabinets?’ Spoiler alert: they got filled with stuff.
And as awesome as the expanse of counter space is, I have to be vigilant about not letting this happen:
(If you can look past all the stuff, you’ll notice we painted the kitchen walls! One step toward a full kitchen redo 🙂 )
So I’m always on the lookout for any little trick I can find to keep clutter off the counter. Once again folks, the dollar store saves the day:
This little thing is so versatile! You can use it as a cute cupcake display for birthdays or parties. You can also use it as a fruit stand (like I am currently):
Coffee connoisseurs could organize mugs, sweeteners, and other coffee goodies with this. Use it near the sink for your sponges and hand soap…
This little craft only costs $4 in materials (plus the spray paint if you have to go buy some. I have so much left over from other projects).
Materials:
I used a set of stove burner covers, a small round tin with a lid, and two short glass candle stick holders. If you want the stand to have a larger base, buy a pizza pan instead of the small round tin.
Make it:
I spray painted the burner covers, the lid from the tin, and the candle sticks. Once completely dry, I used liquid nails to glue the pieces together. You could also buy an additional candle holder if you want the base to be elevated, but I was fine with it being flat. I glued googly eyes to the bottom to make it move more easily. It’s called being resourceful y’all. Could I have gone to Home Depot and purchased cute little bitty wooden feet for it? Yes. Was I patient enough for that? Clearly not. You can’t see them anyway, so it’ll be our secret.
And that’s it! If you guys make one, send me a picture so I can see how it turned out 🙂
