Simple Kitchen/Dining Room Space Saver Ideas
I've only lived on my own for 6 years, but I feel like a small space expert. I suppose 2 years of only being able to call a bedroom and walk-in-closet your own as a family of 3 followed by 9 months in a 400 sq. ft. studio apartment will do that to a person.
My small spaces forced some creativity.
My husband bought me flowers that came in the same vase two years in a row for my birthday. Of course, I noticed; but I did not care, because, honey, if you want to get me flowers I do not care if they come in the same vase every time. I rejoice in the thought!
On a side note, the second time I got this vase, I was teaching 5th/6th grade. My husband ordered a gerber daisy flower arrangement because this girl loves the friendliness and colorfulness of the gerber daisy (I think of Meg Ryan saying in You've Got Mail "Daisies are the friendliest flower" while stuffing kleenex into her robe). So the flower delivery guy comes into my classroom and delivers my flowers. I thank him and read my note. I am one happy girl, my students are "oooh-ing" and "aw-ing" and then 2 minutes later the flower delivery guy comes back in with another arrangement, this time a single rose arrangement. My very smart husband ordered the arrangement I love, then ordered the cheapest arrangement and had them make 2 deliveries. I was surprised and felt so loved! So, if for some odd reason a man reads this blog, take note: it takes a phone call to a flower shop and $39.95 to make a woman happy and an extra $14.95 to make that happy woman uncontainably overjoyous and thinking to herself what a find she has in her husband... not to mention thinking how she can thank him back... just saying. By the way, I never cared cared that it was the cheapest arrangement; most women won't.
While my sister was helping figure out how to configure my tiny studio apartment, we stumbled across the vases while unpacking and decided to use them to put my kitchen utensils in. Pretty and Functional. Sums up this idea and sums up the way I like my living spaces.
Pretty and Functional. Yup that's pretty much it. And the vases proved to be so pretty and so functional, I decided to keep them when I got a kitchen that actually had the drawer space to contain my spatulas.
A Couple More Space Saving Freebies:
1. Place Dishes on shelves: Saves you cupboard space and keeps a small kitchen feeling open.
2. Large Cutting boards can easily turn a sink into an extra work surface. Ikea has a large one for only $10 if I remember correctly. (Pretty much, if you are going to be living in a small space, a trip to Ikea is very justifiable). This is also great if you have surprise company and dirty dishes in the sink. Plop that cutting board down over your sink, light a candle on top, and just like that your mess disappeared.
3. Think soothing and clean monocromatic color scheme with pops of color. Loved my subtle spa blue color in my apartment. I blew up some of my own pictures in black and white prints and placed them in matted frames for some personalized wall art. (Frames came from Ikea for really cheap and pictures were turned into black and white prints for really cheap at Walmart). Also, adding a couple of items in black help ground a space. (Notice what those black chairs do in the dining room picture... a couple of black items point out the ethereal-ness of the room. They actually help the room seem bigger.).
4. Kitchen Island. We refinished an old microwave table hidden in my parents garage and turned it into our island. It was perfect: storage underneath, work surface on top. We sanded the top and left it in it's wood finish (We just oiled it. You can purchase butcher block oil or just use some olive oil.) and spray painted the rest white.
5. A tall dining table that can double as a work space/island. Pull the chairs away and its an island, clear it off and add the chairs and its your dining room table.
6. The 21" oven/stove. We found ours off on craigslist for $50. Sure big meals were a little complicated (even though it has 4 burners, 4 large skillets will not fit at the same time); but it was the happy middle ground between no stove or a stove that prevented us from opening our refrigerator door.
7. Stacking Appliances. Microwaves have a great flat surface on top of them and since we had little counter space and the microwave and coffee pot were 2 appliances that we could not hide away in cupboards, we stacked them.
8. Never underestimate the power of a positive attitude! I called our small space our New York City Studio Apartment Adventure. Grant it, I could not be farther from New York City, but that attitude kept me reminded of the fact that I am not the only one hacking it out in a small space and that this really could be an adventure. No matter how thankful I was when we could leave, I absolutely cherish the time spent in that space. It was an adventure!
My small spaces forced some creativity.
 |
| My most used kitchen tools in easy reach in a pretty vase. |
My husband bought me flowers that came in the same vase two years in a row for my birthday. Of course, I noticed; but I did not care, because, honey, if you want to get me flowers I do not care if they come in the same vase every time. I rejoice in the thought!
On a side note, the second time I got this vase, I was teaching 5th/6th grade. My husband ordered a gerber daisy flower arrangement because this girl loves the friendliness and colorfulness of the gerber daisy (I think of Meg Ryan saying in You've Got Mail "Daisies are the friendliest flower" while stuffing kleenex into her robe). So the flower delivery guy comes into my classroom and delivers my flowers. I thank him and read my note. I am one happy girl, my students are "oooh-ing" and "aw-ing" and then 2 minutes later the flower delivery guy comes back in with another arrangement, this time a single rose arrangement. My very smart husband ordered the arrangement I love, then ordered the cheapest arrangement and had them make 2 deliveries. I was surprised and felt so loved! So, if for some odd reason a man reads this blog, take note: it takes a phone call to a flower shop and $39.95 to make a woman happy and an extra $14.95 to make that happy woman uncontainably overjoyous and thinking to herself what a find she has in her husband... not to mention thinking how she can thank him back... just saying. By the way, I never cared cared that it was the cheapest arrangement; most women won't.
While my sister was helping figure out how to configure my tiny studio apartment, we stumbled across the vases while unpacking and decided to use them to put my kitchen utensils in. Pretty and Functional. Sums up this idea and sums up the way I like my living spaces.
 |
| My cute little kitchen in the studio apartment we lived in. Love how the pops of color on the vases in my relatively monochromatic space make the kitchen fun and bright. |
Pretty and Functional. Yup that's pretty much it. And the vases proved to be so pretty and so functional, I decided to keep them when I got a kitchen that actually had the drawer space to contain my spatulas.
 |
| The "Dining Room" in our studio apartment. |
A Couple More Space Saving Freebies:
1. Place Dishes on shelves: Saves you cupboard space and keeps a small kitchen feeling open.
2. Large Cutting boards can easily turn a sink into an extra work surface. Ikea has a large one for only $10 if I remember correctly. (Pretty much, if you are going to be living in a small space, a trip to Ikea is very justifiable). This is also great if you have surprise company and dirty dishes in the sink. Plop that cutting board down over your sink, light a candle on top, and just like that your mess disappeared.
3. Think soothing and clean monocromatic color scheme with pops of color. Loved my subtle spa blue color in my apartment. I blew up some of my own pictures in black and white prints and placed them in matted frames for some personalized wall art. (Frames came from Ikea for really cheap and pictures were turned into black and white prints for really cheap at Walmart). Also, adding a couple of items in black help ground a space. (Notice what those black chairs do in the dining room picture... a couple of black items point out the ethereal-ness of the room. They actually help the room seem bigger.).
4. Kitchen Island. We refinished an old microwave table hidden in my parents garage and turned it into our island. It was perfect: storage underneath, work surface on top. We sanded the top and left it in it's wood finish (We just oiled it. You can purchase butcher block oil or just use some olive oil.) and spray painted the rest white.
5. A tall dining table that can double as a work space/island. Pull the chairs away and its an island, clear it off and add the chairs and its your dining room table.
6. The 21" oven/stove. We found ours off on craigslist for $50. Sure big meals were a little complicated (even though it has 4 burners, 4 large skillets will not fit at the same time); but it was the happy middle ground between no stove or a stove that prevented us from opening our refrigerator door.
7. Stacking Appliances. Microwaves have a great flat surface on top of them and since we had little counter space and the microwave and coffee pot were 2 appliances that we could not hide away in cupboards, we stacked them.
8. Never underestimate the power of a positive attitude! I called our small space our New York City Studio Apartment Adventure. Grant it, I could not be farther from New York City, but that attitude kept me reminded of the fact that I am not the only one hacking it out in a small space and that this really could be an adventure. No matter how thankful I was when we could leave, I absolutely cherish the time spent in that space. It was an adventure!