Your kitchen
One of the biggest problems with kitchens is that they become a catch-all place. It is the one room that most family members are guaranteed to enter during the day. I know it is almost a requirement that the fridge holds a great deal of information but if there was one piece of decorating advice that you followed, I wish this were it. Get rid of the fridge magnets. Now. If you absolutely must, you can leave one item attached to your fridge. If the fridge bristles with recipes, put them in a big brown envelope and stash them in your recipe drawer or shelf. If it is covered with jokes, look at the jokes and dump the old stale ones. If you absolutely must keep the jokes, find another place for them. I have seen them mounted in a collage and framed.
The next thing to do is to take everything out of the top shelves and off the top of the fridge and put it on the table. Be brutal. If you have not use any of these things for a year, get rid of them. Sell them on eBay. Give them away. Anything but put them back in the cupboards. They are taking up valuable space. Set aside the things you think you need to keep and if any of them do not belong in the kitchen, send them off to the room where they do belong. Put the rest of them back on one of the empty top shelves. Now clean out all the non food items that are under the counters and in the stove drawer and do the same thing. It is almost certain that you will have things that you never use stashed away. Do the same thing with these items. Get rid of the ones that are useless to you, put the non-kitchen items in the proper rooms and put the rest of them away.
Next attack the countertops. Take everything off the countertops and stack it all on the table. Wipe down the counter and then put back the things you use everyday — coffeemaker, toaster, microwave. If you do not have a utensil jar, find something that you can use — a vase or a jug that is rarely used and put your spatulas and mixing spoons and other utensils in it. Then be brutal with the rest of it. Could some of this stuff really be stashed away in one of the newly empty shelves under the counter?
Take down the curtains, round up the decorative towels, oven mitts, potholders — anything washable and toss it in the laundry.
If you are really enjoying it, you can go through the dishes in your cupboards as well and get rid of the ones you never use. Stash them with the holiday china or give them away.All it took was a little time and no money. Instant transformation.
