Hanging Hooks

The boyfriend and I have a rather small kitchen which can be a pain when he's cooking delicious food, so I do what I can to organize the space better and give us more storage as well as counter space. The latest project involved hanging measuring spoons and cups on the inside of the cabinet. I came across the inspiration on Pinterest.

I bought a cheap piece of wood from Lowes and cut it in half with a hand saw and then I sanded it down. I painted two coats on all sides to keep it even. I used leftover latex paint we had from the bedroom. The Pinterest version that I saw used cup hooks to hang the spoons and cups from. I didn't like these because they were too curved and it looked like it would be annoying to get them on and off. Many moons ago in shop class we used hooks that were L shaped for key holders that we made, so I went on the hunt. These were not the easiest of things to find, but I eventually tracked them down.

To put the hooks in I measured an equal distance from the edges and spaced the holes evenly for the measuring spoons. Then I drilled holes and screwed in the hooks using needle nose pliers so my fingers wouldn't get sore. The screw ends for the hooks were a little longer than the wood was so they stuck out slightly, but no one will see that. For the measuring cups I laid them out after marking the edges and I spaced them so they wouldn't hit each other. I drilled those holes as well and screwed in the hooks.

To hang the hooks I first held them in place with the measuring cups on them to make sure they wouldn't get in the way of the door closing. Then I used a level to insure they were straight and I attached them using Gorilla Super Glue. Originally I had planned on screwing them into the cabinets, but I didn't have screws short enough for our thin doors.

Side Table Makeover

A few weeks ago I stopped at a yard sale and scored a side table for $1! Unfortunately it had various obscenities carved into the top of it, but I saw potential in this table and I wasn't going to let this opportunity pass me by.

I knew I could get them out with some sanding, I just didn't realize how much sanding it would take because they were deep. Fortunately my amazing boyfriend heard my laments and bought me an orbital sander!

The sander made those offensive carvings disappear in no time. This side table was begging to be painted white, so that's just what I did! I used Rustoleum Universal Paint and Primer in a satin finish so it's easy to wipe clean. The table looked amazing, but it needed a little something more. I found scrapbook paper that had pre punched designs and I used that as a stencil on the top. I had some green spray paint left over from some plant stands I had recently brought new life to and I knew it would be perfect for this project.

I didn't want to stencil the entire top and I didn't want to center the stencil because that's too typical. So I positioned it to go off of one corner. The spray paint got under the stencil and it wasn't as crisp as I had intended it to be. I had some leftover satin finish paint from the ceilings and some small paint brushes that I used to clean up the white areas. This gave it more of a hand painted look, which added some character. Next time I'm using a foam roller and paint.

I had originally planned to use this side table on the patio, but once I was finished I thought it looked too good to be outside. It's new home is in the guest bedroom and I'm still on the hunt for a small patio table if you find one.