I have spent pretty much this whole week mapping out my fall projects. It’s going to be fall soon, and with marching band competitions drawing near, I need to crank up projects/things to do to occupy my time. John is a percussion instructor and a band director by trade. This is the busiest time for him. And while he is away and I am not traveling to competitions or parades with him, I work on the house.

A few weeks ago, we wrapped up the last of our summer projects. We turned our unused and very inefficient utility closet into an appliance garage. What is that, you ask? Check out the photo below to know what it is. Look at the whole process here.

So do I still feel the same way I did with the appliance garage?

We STILL love love love it! It is functioning like it I want it to and that’s really all that matters. I enjoy the fact that I don’t have to dig my kitchen electrics out when I need them. The best thing about it is when I send John to get something for me, he finds them. The appliance garage isn’t just for appliances, I’m also storing my endless collection of glass and stone bowls in here, pitchers, paper towel supply, my interior paints and some supplies, baking pans I rarely use, and the booze needed for John’s Margaritaville.

At some point during the back and forth process of putting this closet together, I considered turning it into a pantry. Yet, I had to rethink that because I don’t go on huge grocery shopping trips… Ever! I get stuff as I need them. Although I did try planning meals a week at a time, but it did not work for us. John and I decide on dinner around a little after noon every single day. When he is home, we talk about supper over coffee in the morning. When he is at work, like right now, we text back and forth after he eats lunch… then I go to the store and pick up what I need. Believe it or not, I am able to stick to the budget this way, no food or groceries get wasted or unused or shoved all the way back in the pantry cabinet.  I also don’t use a lot of canned goods. If I can make it myself at home, I will make it. I even make my own marinara sauce and spaghetti sauce, my own salad dressing, and mostly vegetable, chicken and beef broth. The only four things I get in bigger proportions at the store are: flour, baking chocolate, sugar and butter. I bake a lot. I cook meals every single night of the week. We rarely go out to eat, and we have not eaten fast food in over a year now.

So, back to the utility closet…

It is pretty. I dreamed this whole thing up for a good six or so months. I wanted it to be pretty so I can leave the doors open, I wanted a nice, bright happy color in it so we don’t have to replace the lights in there.

It is efficient. Not only is it easy to find what I need, the space is also low maintenance because it is all on a single layer. There is a place for every piece that’s in there. No digging necessary. I also organized everything according to how frequently I use them. Obviously the ones on the very top I don’t use all the time like my big round baking pans, the booze, and my seasonal supplies.  Everything that is visible at a glance are being used regularly. I love my kitchen electrics as much as John loves his wood working tools. We use and work our tools to death.

Here is a very recent photo of the Utility Closet/Appliance Garage, I took this yesterday.

I did realize that in the original blog post here that I didn’t show what was going on on the floor. So here it is:

The closet goes beyond where the Margaritaville bag is. In the far corner are my left over interior paints and some painting supplies. I don’t like storing interior paints in the garage, they seem to go bad faster when they are exposed to the elements.

I am not too worried about the linoleum floor because IT IS a utility room. We may replace it if we live here long enough to have to… but for now, it is not on the list of stuff  to be replaced. 🙂

So there you go. 🙂