A Room with a View

Finally.  The spirit moved me today and I finished the pantry re-do here in the cabin.  I guess the arrival of warmer weather is giving me a little more energy.  It was warm enough today that I was also able to have the door to the cabin open for a few hours. That was good and bad.  It made me feel as if I had more space in which to operate, but at one point I had three dogs going in and out.  A bit hairy. 

This is what the pantry looked like when I decided to make it more visually pleasing.  It served its purpose for a summer cabin that a person visited for a week once a year during which you were outside most of the time, but it was getting on my nerves since I was living here full time.

 

I had already started the re-do after I started painting last Thanksgiving.  Can't believe it was that long ago.

Today, I started by moving things off the top shelf--that I thought I'd placed where I wanted them last fall--to make space for the "new" bread box that I found at Goodwill

I'd cleaned it thoroughly several weeks ago but the outside was showing some fingerprints so I used Windex for a final shine.  I can see it's going to be an issue.  Maybe that's why its original owner donated it.

Then I transferred all the spices, teas, emergency candles and matches from the old bread box to the new bread box.



One reason we've kept some of these things in a bread box over the years was to keep the mice out of them when the cabin was closed up for most months of the year.  I haven't seen or heard any sign of mice since I've been living here and, in fact, got rid of the poison wheat my sister had put out.  I can't stand the thought of anything dying the kind of hemorrhagic death that results from the ingestion of this poison and believe if one of the foxes or another animal ate a rodent that had eaten poison wheat, it, too, would die.  I keep meaning to ask my neighbor who is a Buddhist, how she deals with rodents.  I digress.

Next, I had to clean at least the tops of all of the containers, which had become covered with what I call "kitchen gluck," a combination of dust, grease and, in this case, blow-back ash from the wood stove.  It accumulates in a much shorter period of time because I burn wood.  So lots of dish washing.

I had purchased more plate hangers many weeks ago and wanted to hang more of my porcelain plates and saucers.  One was so tiny, even the smallest plate hanger was too big so I had to fashion one to fit by replacing the springs with wire. 

I also spent some time cleaning and polishing some silver pieces I wanted to incorporate into the mix. 

I decanted some vinegars and generally moved things around and tweaked them to make space for this old scale I bought at Goodwill several months ago.

I think it looks interesting with these beautiful tequila bottles I also found at Goodwill.  I'm using them for vinegar and oil.  Good thing I have labels on both sides.  I can turn this one bottle around so the split in the band is in the back.  Does that sort of thing drive you crazy?

I also wanted to use this lamp.  It's always been dark in the kitchen end of the cabin and I have to admit my choice of paint has not helped that situation, but this little lamp, another Goodwill find, really puts out a lot of light.  It was tall enough it had to go on the top shelf. 

 

After I got the lamp up, I could see I needed to paint the cord black.  The little details make all the difference.  So I've been waiting for three coats of paint to dry in order to get it back in place so I could take photos.



I had already incorporated this tiny "mood" lamp.  I thought it was interesting that the reclaimed lumber my Dad used to build these shelves back in 1939 had holes in it that accommodated the cord perfectly even though there was no electricity then and not until about five years ago.

I decided I needed to "fake" a curtain for the window just west of the shelves in case it showed in the photos.  I really dislike sewing.  It is so precise.  I didn't like it when I took home ec in high school and it never got any better, but I've had the fabric since last fall.  At least two months ago I  laundered it in case it shrunk.  Today I got out a little portable ironing board and equally small travel iron, both Goodwill finds, and ironed enough to cover the window.

Right now it's just pinned on and, in fact, I cropped it out of all the photos.  I hope my energy level continues and I'm able to get myself to get my sewing machine out, set it up, load the bobbin, thread the needle and get the curtains for all four windows done next week.  I'm not too bad with straight seams.

So, this is it.

It pleases my eye and is the first thing I see of a morning and the last thing I see at night, so that's important. 

Have you done something recently to improve your outlook?  Teddee