The kitchen counter closest to the garage door, where we all come in the house is a notorious “drop zone”. It’s a catch-all for all the bits & pieces, the flotsam of family life. Things that need to be repaired, things that need to be taken up stairs or out to the garage, all the little things. For ages, my thought was to clean it up & make it neat & tidy all the time, not allowing anything to be left on the counter. I’ve realised that this is impractical & unreasonable. There will always be bits & pieces & they will always need somewhere to rest on their way to their home. With that in mind, I redid the counter & surrounding area, allowing for the space to be used as it would no doubt be used anyway.
I found a two-tiered pull out bin on clearance at Target as my catch-all. I had a cubby bin from Ikea in the garage that wasn’t being utilised. I made tags for each drawer – things like pens, first aid, rubber bands, pins, make up, etc. I put another basket that had been sitting in the garage on top of the microwave that holds my running gear – watch, gloves, Yak Trax.
I also hung a shoe organiser on the back of the hall closet to hold other things that we might need on the way out the door – gloves, sunglasses, etc.
I’ve had it set up for about a week & so far it’s working great.
Here’s what it looked like before:
And here are the Afters:
Overall, I’m very satisfied. There will probably be some tweeking required, but so far it’s a great system!
Lamppostings 