When Life Gives You Lemons...

Clean the kitchen!  

Okay, I know this isn't exactly a living large in small spaces thing, but I figure it's helpful, and it's been far too long since I posted!  Plus, part of keeping sane in a small space is keeping it clean.

I love the smell of fresh lemons, and have found that frozen lemons can do fabulous things for cleaning.  I like to take a lemon and slice it into quarters, then each quarter into half, and then thirds.  I drop the pieces into an ice-cube tray, squeeze some of the juice into all the compartments, then fill them up with water.  

Once frozen, they are great for a variety of uses.  I just keep 'em in a plastic baggie in the freezer door.  

For the sink disposal: toss two or three lemon cubes in to grind up and clean, sharpen and deodorize the blades and disposal.

For the microwave: drop one or two into a microwave-safe bowl, add water, and microwave for 2-5 minutes (depending on the wattage) on high power.  Let sit for another 5 minutes, and then wipe microwave down immediately.

You can also do something similar to this to help with the oven cleaning.

For hard water stains/boil marks in pots and pans: fill pot or pan with water, bring to almost boiling, let simmer and add a handful of the lemon cubes.  Cover with lid, turn off heat, and let steam.  This doesn't completely remove the stains, but it helps when it comes to elbow grease time.

And as a bonus, the lemon juice is good for freshening up your wooden cutting board, and if you really want to get all Martha-Stewarty, the lemon cubes make a "fabulous addition to any afternoon get-together" (insert creepy chuckle here).  

Adding on Rooms DIY fabulous UPDATE

I saw THE COOLEST thing on RachaelRayShow.com.  Don't laugh. You watch her show, too; don't deny it...

One of her gurus did some armoire makeovers that were amazing! Check out the videos here and here.  

They transformed basic armoires into several creative things:

a home office (I had seen the IKEA version of this, but it was cool to see them using an existing piece of furniture, especially to keep stuff out of landfills when folks upgrade their TV to a flat screen)

a murphy bed for guests in a living room or a child's room (holy crap! We can raise several kids in just a couple of rooms someday!  Whoo hoo!)

a changing station for a nursery (heck, with the space we've got, that will be the entire nursery)

and even a bar for keeping and serving drinks at a party.  

I also thought it would be cool to turn an armoire into a few other things:

a game room (room to store games, a fold out table, maybe a dartboard at the back)

a laundry room (minus the washer and dryer, obviously, but a nice way to disguise laundry room clutter and a fold-down ironing board)

or even a bowling alley, complete with a fold-out lanes and snack bar!

I was just kidding about that last one.  Mostly. 

I would love to hear your ideas or even what you have already used an armoire or similar furniture for.  Brag away!

Adding on Rooms DIY

"What?!?" you say.  "I thought this was all about living well in the space you already have!  I live in an apartment--I can't add on!"

Oh, but you can, my friend.  In a sense.

If you ever come over to dinner, my hubby will give you an entertaining tour.  It starts with the "foyer" (Ha!  That would be the rug in front of the door...) and ends with the "Master Bedroom" where apparently "the magic happens."  But I'll spare you that.

Yes, living in a small space requires a sense of humor and creativity when giving the grand tour.  We have a "map room," "library," "china room," and "formal dining room" all within the 10' x 10' space that houses two bookshelves and our dining room table.  Miraculously, the nook that holds the washer and dryer also contains the "game room" (shelf with boardgames), "cat room" (litterbox, food and water dishes), and "tool shed" (shelf with a toolbox).  It gets more wonderfully and ridiculously grandiose everytime he gives the tour.  

But what about actually carving out space for a new baby, home office, craft corner, etc.?  For my new office, it was amazing what we managed to pull off with some bookshelves, an IKEA folding desk, a file cabinet, a folding screen, and some "L" brackets...

Basically, we took over 20 square feet from the existing dining room area, and partitioned it off with two bookshelves.  We moved the two existing tall bookshelves (remember the library and the china room?) out of the back corners of the dining room and set them at right angles to the side walls, about two feet away from the back wall and three feet apart.  The handy hubby anchored them into the wall with the "L" brackets for safety, and voila!  I had a little nook of my very own.  The backs of the bookshelves are now my "walls", upon which I put some pegboards and pictures.  

We then squeezed tall bookshelf in, perpendicular to the back wall, on one side, and a short bookshelf with a little file cabinet on top, on the other side.  On the back wall (the real structural one), opposite my open "doorway" between the two shelves that face into the dining room, we installed a drop down IKEA desk (actually a dinette) that I can fold down out of the way to allow access to my tall bookshelf.  As a finishing touch, a friend gave us a folding screen that I can use to block the open "doorway," allowing me to shut my work from view come dinnertime (since the dining room table is about a foot away from all this ingenuity.

It's tiny, and certainly doesn't have much room to maneuver.  But it's mine (no more squabbling with the hubby about who gets what shelf space in our current office nook or in the living room), and it really does feel like another room... ish.  :)

I would think something like this would also work well for partioning off the back of a bedroom for a nursery area (make sure those shelves are really well anchored into the wall!), or part of a living room for a craft area, etc.  It makes the existing room that much smaller, but I've noticed that unless things get partioned off, they migrate into the main areas, anyway (remember Rules to Live By #5.  When things don't have a home, they get everywhere).  

Nook Sweet Nook, I say.  Just don't try to come visit me in my office. There's only room for one of us in there!   

Rules to Live By #5: Compartmentalize, compartmentalize, compartmentalize.

One of my favorite scenes from the movie Happy Gilmore is when he's trying to learn how to putt and it's going badly. After several desperate attempts, he kneels down and screams at the golf ball, "Why won't you go to your home? Are you too good for your home?!?" Mayhem and hilarity ensue.

Whenever I see clutter around our house (does it breed when we turn the lights out?), that's what I find myself saying--"Go to your home!" I've found that if everybody has an easily accessible home, then instead of just dropping the hammer, pencil, remote, etc. wherever, there is a better chance that we'll put it back neatly where it belongs.

I think a fancy-schmancy garage with lots of storage space (what is this "storage space" of which you speak?) has a lot for a small home dweller to learn from, despite the dissimilarities in size. Particularly, the tool part of the garage. Because most people want to leave room for their cars, there can be some great examples of Rules to Live By #2: Think vertically as well as compartmentalization. I love the pegboard tool holder. Especially when it has outlines drawn on it to show which tool goes where. It looks a bit like a crime scene for a tool mass murderer, but it sure is handy to have all the tools laid out where they're easy to get to, with all their little homes, but vertically, so they don't make a large "footprint."

We have lots of hooks all over the place for hanging flashlights, keys, ponytail holders, potholders, etc. This means that they don't just get tossed anywhere and then get lost. No outlines, just hung in specific places (the potholders over the stove) that make sense and in some sort of order for multiple items (the flashlights in descending order, largest to smallest). Especially since we have very little drawer space, this is great.

But what to do with the drawers we do have? How to keep them from getting cluttered and useless? It's really frustrating to have to rummage through a drawer for 5 minutes just looking for the can-opener. The answer I've found is lots of smaller trays. Most people have a silverware divider that keeps the spoons from fraternizing with the forks. I like to apply this to other drawers, and shelves as well.

They have clever subdividers in stores that expand and lock into place to keep your kitchen utensil drawer in neat segments. They're expensive, however, and I've found that the shallow plastic trays that you can get at the dollar store and other chain stores (for pretty cheap) work well, too. And there's an actual bonus that you can pull out one subdivided section to get to one that is further back, somewhat like the way the top part of a handheld toolbox comes out to reveal the space beneath. This makes it nice to have homes for the less-used gadgets and such that are still easily accessible. A drawer within a drawer, if you will.

There is a caution I've found in subdividing, and that is not to go too crazy. Some personalities may be different, but I can get overwhelmed by too much subdividing if I can't remember where things are supposed to go. If the spaghetti holder, the spatula, the whisk, etc. etc. all have their own homes, it might work, but it might also get confusing. I like to group like items and let them hang out together. What would be an easy way to split up kitchen utensils to narrow down the choices when it comes time to fish something out? A good way to categorize could be bladed/sharp (can opener, veggie peeler, cheese grater--a bit dangerous but well-organized) vs. "heavy" (rolling pin, meat tenderizer, potato masher, etc.). Or, if your utensils--like ours--were added over time and don't all match, categorize them by material (metal utensils vs. plastic. ), color or even brand.

The point is to find what works for you and this may take quite a bit of experimenting. Try one way of compartmentalizing a kitchen drawer. Be faithful to use that system for a week. If at the end of the week, it's still driving you nuts and doesn't seem to be helping, try something else. Eventually, you'll find a system that is easy to use, efficient, and keeps the utensils from getting all tangled up. It's amazing how a whisk, a potato masher and a spaghetti scoop can all form a new creature that is of no use and keeps the drawer from closing!

Give everybody a nice home and be diligent to help them get back there after they get used. Clutter, be gone!

Rules to Live By #4: But sort through stuff often!

This goes hand-in-hand with Rules to Live By #1 and #3, but I think it's good for it to have its own post. Because there's a certain strategy that I've found to sorting through things that doesn't land me too badly in overwhelm, feeling like de-cluttering is a never-ending, impossible task.

Lately, I've really been re-learning the value of scheduling things. Everything from vacuuming behind the sofa to spending time with my husband. I schedule monthly calls with my grandmother, bi-weekly trims of the cats' claws (good times!), and daily going through at least one chunk of our STUFF to see what can be weeded out, given away, used more efficiently, or quietly returned to its little home.

Some tasks I actually put on the calendar, like calling my parents and date night with my hubby. Other things I go with standard practice (spring and fall deep-cleaning just makes sense, and I can't believe I'm just now getting that!) or I do because there is an actual link (such as sorting through our games, etc. at the beginning of every football season when I go to find the football). These are good triggers that keep me feeling efficient, not burdened.

I'm still developing my routines for cleaning and clearing. New things get purchased, old things get given away, habits change and needs change. Until we have a baby living in the house, I don't need to develop a routine for disinfecting the diaper pail or sorting through clothes to see what the little one outgrew in the last five minutes. And once we have saved up for a new entertainment center (oh, I dream of the day), keeping our DVDs and other multimedia equipment clean and tidy will be much easier. So I won't have to be quite as vigilant about dusting and tidying as often.

For now, we have our little schedules. The cat box gets scooped every other day, our closets get sorted through when the seasons change, and the schmutz on the fridge door gets weeded out before we have people over for Thanksgiving, 4th of July, etc.

And don't let this post fool you. I forget, often, about when I'm supposed to sort through this or take out that. Our house is not pristine (anyone who's been over knows this, and is laughing). But I find that having goals means they at least get done most of the time, and keeps the clutter at a bare minimum.

Rules to Live By #3: Find creative hiding places...

In a small apartment, you have to get creative. And I've realized that there is actually a lot of unused space lurking around, if you know how to use it.

Caveats:
--Remember Rules to Live By #4: But sort through stuff often!
--Keep track of what you hide where. Otherwise, you'll be frustrated when you know you have something that you can't find, as well as forgetting about a lot of what you have and then ending up buying more.
--This is not a license to be a packrat. I have to tell myself this often.
--This is not a license to be a packrat. I'm reminding myself again.
--Only hide things you use once in a blue moon! Efficiency is key. If I have to go through hoops to get to items I need more often, I get frustrated and give up.

One place that I've found to be especially handy is at the back of bookshelves. Most books aren't as deep as the bookshelf, which leaves a nice space for seasonal stuff, non-decorative but special occasion items, old paperwork that you only keep in case of audit, etc.

Another good option is behind any furniture items that are at a diagonal (thus creating a little triangle of space). Specialty boxes for your jewelry box, china, specific breakable items, etc. can all fit behind a tall bookshelf. You won't need these items until you move, so it doesn't matter that you can't access them until you move the bookshelf.

For other, shorter furniture, like sofas, chairs, or entertainment centers, the little triangular nook can be great for larger items (that won't fit at the back of a bookshelf) that you only need occasionally, such as extension cords, board games, and extra packs of soap, tp, etc.

Again, keep a note on the fridge, bulletin board, etc. that tells you where everything is. It is truly maddening to buy a huge pack of paper towels from Costco because you thought you were out, only to discover the rolls you already had stashed away but had forgotten about.

And make sure things are stacked neatly, in good, dust-proof containers, wherever you hide them. This will make it easier to vacuum and dust, and keep these nooks from becoming dumping grounds.

Rules to Live By #2: Think vertically.

Both of us grew up with pretty large backyards and floorplans. Houses, businesses, farms and ranches, all were free to spread out into the high plains. (Yes, we had lots of tumbleweeds.)

Horizontal space wasn't an issue, so nobody worried much about thinking vertically. The tallest things in our hometown were the grain silos.

Contrast that with New York City, where space is at a premium. Almost everything goes up because it has to. When your city is on an island, you can only sprawl so far.

Atlanta sort of has more room, so things aren't as vertical. It's sprawled pretty badly over the years. But here in Midtown, we're still pretty cozy. And with gas prices on the rise, traffic congestion on the interstates being horrific, and new condos springing up everywhere, folks are a little more willing to think vertically.

We're in a converted house that was pretty big and fabulous once (somewhat in length and width, but primarily in height) and has now been "carved up" into apartments. Being tucked away in the terrace-level apartment--which sounds so much more hip than "basement apartment"--our floor plan is pretty sparse. We affectionately refer to it as "Our Shoebox."

I've found the way to maximize our minimal space is to think of the apartment as New York City, and all of our furniture as buildings. The living room, with the sofas and main walkway, is like Central Park. There's not much you can do there except stretch your legs and enjoy. And you don't want it to be cluttered, so that you can enjoy the skyline. The bookshelves, desks, appliances, and even the walls are all fair game for turning into "skyscrapers." They are (mostly) around the perimeter, have lots of vertical room, and are of varying heights for visual interest.

Basically, they have to be tall, slim, efficient, and structurally sound. Good thing my husband is an engineer.

Onward and upward, friends!