ta da!

This is not a "ta da – look what I painted" post – this is more of a "ta da – I had an idea that actually worked out and I didn't get distracted and quit halfway through!".

The vision has come to life! With some serious help from a crafty hubby, my oh-so-delicious red storage is already at work helping me keep some order in our teeny kitchen.

I started with this piece a couple weeks ago, in a creamy-white color. Nice, but boring. Especially in a rental unit where EVERYthing is a shade of white or tan or taupe. Before I even had the piece in the kitchen door, I was envisioning red…

After SEVERAL patience-testing coats of primer, paint, and polyacrylic (with some serious muscle-building sanding in between!), the finish is exactly as I had envisioned. And Page's genius idea to add a couple pieces of dense pine (hastily painted a quick coat of red, as you can see here!) to the underside worked beautifully for installing the under-cabinet chrome grids for stemware.

Voila! In addition to the three drawers that hold a variety of aprons, several utensils, and our collection of "junk drawer" goodies, we now have increased storage space for many of our glasses – all six white wine glasses, eight red wine glasses, and eight champagne flutes…they ALL fit under here quite comfortably!

Ahhh storage-induced bliss. Stay tuned for a tour de kitchen post…the cucinca organization is complete and I've compiled a little list of tips and tricks for corralling a lot of stuff into a tiny kitchen.