Pot racks are like minivans with automatic doors, once you spoil yourself with one, you can never go back to not having one.  Which is why I’ve never had a minivan with automatic doors.   I cannot imagine my future self whining and complaining about having to open a car door, how annoying I would be. Back when we moved into this house with the pre-installed hooks just begging for a pot rack I was sure I wouldn’t use them. We have an embarrassing amount of cabinet space.  More than enough to store all of our pots and pans.

But after a few months of living here, the thought of being able to just grab a pot from above instead of unstack it from a pile in a cabinet was just too enticing.  It’s been two years since I dedicated a post to all things pot rack so I thought it was time to revisit.  And my pot collection has grown.

Not only does my Ikea pot rack keep me from whining about having to reach into the dreaded cabinet to get my pots {oh the humanity} it also does something just as important for me.  We are renting and as much as I appreciate a nice newish kitchen, this kitchen is not really my style and it’s all I can do sometimes to not whip out the can of paint.  So, a pot rack is a great way for me to personalize a not so personal kitchen.  So I purposely put white and aqua on my pot rack to help spread the Nester style love.

see the empty pot rack back there?

A few months ago when I was going through one of my purging stages, I cleaned off the pot rack and took it down to see if I liked it better without all that junk hanging up over us.  I asked my husband what he thought and I’ll never forget his words, “It looks like we just moved in and we don’t know what we are doing.“  For some reason I took that as a huge compliment that somehow the fact that I had a bunch of junk hanging from our pot rack that my husband hits his head on because if I hang it higher I cannot reach it which is an even bigger annoyance for him because then he has to walk in and hand me every pot I need–made my husband feel like “we knew what we were doing”.

One of the other tricks I do with my pot rack is make sure to stagger the heights where stuff is hanging.

For me that meant digging in my junk drawer till I found some brown wrapped wire and twisting that up then hanging a hook on that.  You could do the same with ribbon or twine.  But I like that some of my pretty stuff is hanging at different heights.  I even added hooks to those awful chains that hang down.  I know I could cut those chains off but you know one of my renting mantras, if I might use it in another house soonish, why permanently altar something just so it can work better in this house?

My pot rack is still a work in progress, I need about 10 more hooks to really be able to hang everything I want and to balance stuff out~then I’ll really look like I know what I’m doing.

Pot racks….love ‘em or hate ‘em?

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

Last week when I did this wall, I could tell there was something off.  I liked it but it still needed tweaking in some way.  It wasn’t until I was miles away in Nashville posting the photos of the plate wall that it became glaringly obvious.  That long platter was messing me up and needed to be tinkered with.  There are a few more tweaks I’ll make over time but, I was surprised how quickly I could figure out a solution just by looking at a photo and not looking at the actual room.

Does something feel off in your space?

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

Alternate title:: Buffet setting up for lazy people who don’t want to think too much plus two super great giveaways

Our family is hosting Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve and maybe one more get together in the coming months and I’ll certainly be setting the table a few times but, I’ll also be setting up a buffet on our table as well.  I thought I’d share how I think about buffeting.

The buffet set up must be functional.

Clearly, we need a place to get plates, utensils, napkins and most importantly food into our guests in a rational manner.  And since a buffet is self serve, you want everything to be organized {maybe even labeled} so you can sit back and relax.

The buffet set up can be beautiful.

Here’s how I like to think about prepping a buffet::

Gather a variety of food holders. Stay away from a bunch of the same flat plates.  Think about what you have that you can use to hold food and napkins.

• I’m partial to white dishes so I start gathering all shapes and sizes from around my house and {ahem}, walls
• cutting boards, cheese boards, lazy susans~all can be used to create different levels of interest
• trays of different shapes, pizza boards, bread boards these can hold or create a boundary for food
• wooden bowls~personally, I just love the warm rusticness that wood bowls and dough bowls add
• baskets lined with a cloth or burlap for rolls or pastries

Also, think about varying heights.  I’m looking forward to using my three tiered wired stand {winners announced tomorrow} and Old Faithful {my double decker plate stand}.

And I also grab any pedestals, cloches and apothecaries and consider those.

Then I put it all on my table and play around with it. And once all my serving choices are out, I think about what I want to use to decorate.  I’d rather spend my money on things I can use all year around {like servers or candles and such} but, since I just made my coffee filter wreath and tree, I plopped those on the table too.

This buffet is just a mock up. If my mom and dad and sister’s family were coming, they would arrive and we’d make all the food here together and I’d think about what we are having and then choose the appropriate containers that look nice together.

So here’s what I came up with.  A rustic yet classy wintery table that includes various heights, shapes, colors, textures and all works together and reflect our house because it was stuff I was already using in my home.

However, I did work in two new items that I wanted to share with you–the centerpiece and the workhorse of the table.

For the centerpiece I set the Wood Pedestal from DaySpring into my huge coffee filter wreath {added note, the coffee filter tree sits perfectly on top of the pedestal too}. They sent it to me a few weeks ago and naturally, I’ve used it in 4 rooms of my house already.

It is hugenormous. and HEAVY. And it has beautiful words on it: To Live With Joy Is To See God’s Goodness.

Did I mention it was big?  In the photo where it is the centerpiece, that is a dinner plate on top of it.  They really should brag more about how big and heavy this thing is.

I can even fit my glass cake cover on top of it and it looks like a huge cloche on a stand.  So if someone in your family makes a special cake every year, this could work out really well and make them feel like a cake baking queen.

There’s a giveaway coming up so hang in there for the conclusion of the longest post in eternity…

I also mentioned the workhorse of the table.  The most practical item on my buffet.

It’s the Give Thanks Wooden Caddy. I admit, I’ve gone 15 years of wifeing and never had one of these.  It’s a luxury that I now wonder how I’ve lived without.  We’ll be using real forks or my favorite wooden forks this year because I don’t want to junk up my pretty caddy with my hillbilly plastic forks.

Then again, this is how I’ve been making use of my pretty caddy for the last 3 weeks and clearly, it’s not possible to junk it up.

Lastly, a quick idea if you are not hosting something this year. Whenever I’m invited somewhere for a major holiday I try to bring a little gift {cream cheese with green pepper jelly anyone?} and put it on a pretty plate and cover it with a thrift store glass cheese dome {you can find them at practically every thrift store for $2}.  DaySpring has the perfect plates to give as a hostess gift for the upcoming season.

Giveaway Alert :: this giveaway is closed winners announced here.

DaySpring is giving away 3 Wooden Pedestals to random commenters and for every 100 comments left, one random person will win a Wooden Caddy.

Leave a comment and tell us which you could use more, the pedestal or the caddy.

Special thanks to DaySpring for sponsoring this post and giveaway and for providing us with meaningful beauty for our homes.

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

For at least 6 years now {in 5 different houses} we’ve had a coffee cabinet.  You know how you always try to put your coffee maker right next to the sink so you can easily get water unless you are rich and have a fancy coffee maker that’s hooked up to your water in the walls?  Now, we always MUST have a cabinet dedicated for coffee paraphernalia.  In this house we couldn’t believe our luck to have an entire skinny cabinet to use for coffee and tea.  The cabinet holds the coffee, the grinder, the mugs, the filters and our disposable to go cups for guests.

And if for some crazy reason, you don’t like coffee, I bet you can apply this technique to all sorts of different things in your kitchen.  Make yourself aware of how you are using your kitchen and take note of if you can make a few adjustments that will make more sense.

I’ve become addicted to keeping charming disposable cups in my coffee cupboard. Many times guest come sometimes they need to leave early in the morning or simply want a to go cup of coffee or something hot. So, instead of sacrificing one of our coffee tumblers, I give them a to go cup and they are SO impressed.

And….LOOK at all of this adorableness?  I feel like I am playing house.  Garnish, a long time partner with Nesting Place provided me with all of these items.  And I’ve been known to order replacements a time or four.  Once a girl get used to having these items, it’s hard to live without them.  I think the ripple cups and lids and the striped paper straws are my favorite items.

See that disposable wooden cutlery? If you are hosting any type of gathering this fall or Christmas season, you’ll want to check out all of the food storage, gifting items that are available at Garnish. You can stock your coffee cabinet, get your lidded containers for handing out Brunswick Stew to your neighbors, and be the envy of your friends with your to die for paper straws.  Have I mentioned that I like the paper straws?

I even use Garnish to wrap my Christmas presents.

You can feel it, can’t you?  A giveaway.

Leave a comment telling us what you would Garnish in your home and be entered to win one of four $25 gift cards from Garnish {$25 goes a LONG way at a shop like this!}.

Be sure to visit the other 31 dayers::Life With My 3 Boybarians, Reluctant Entertainer, The Inspired Room, Remodeling This Life, Chatting at the Sky, Balancing Beauty and Bedlam, My First Kitchen,  over the next 31 days. Want to read all the Less Messy Nests posts? Click here.

Special thanks to Garnish for sponsoring this giveaway and helping us make our homes more functional.

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

Over the past few months {years?} I’ve heard myself barking the same reminders to my boys, “hang your book bag up, don’t pour too much cereal, you can’t use 18 different cups before lunch…“.  My husband and I made a few simple changes in our home and now I can save my words for better things like “can I have a hug? would you like some more cereal? flush the toilet…”

For example, we have always kept our dishes, you know, the plates and bowls, way up in the high cabinets. Our boys are in the stage where they are old enough to not break real dishes but not tall enough to reach all the higher cabinets without a stool.   We like for them to help set the table and put the dishes away so an easy solution for our family was to relocate the dishes to the lower cabinets where they can easily reach a bowl.  I consider that idea to be one of my best accomplishments as a mother.  I think simple mom would be proud.

Another issue was the poring of 8 servings of cereal into a bowl every morning.  Our solution: much smaller bowls. I know, it’s not rocket surgery but this simple change is going to really impact how often I have to buy cereal.  I found the bowls for $1 each at Big Lots.

Cup over usage was running rampant in our house.  Now each boy has his own style of clear plastic, unbreakable cup.  They each have 3 cups and those are the only ones they can use.  They use it, rinse it out and then set it on the dish rack until they need it later. I throw them in the dishwasher at night. If I see a cup laying around the house, I don’t grab it.  I leave it.  Right now one of the boys has unknowingly left two of his cups in the playroom and one half full of juice in the fridge. I can’t wait until he figures it out and has to go searching for his cups and then wash them out because he missed the nightly dishwasher run. If I really ran a tight ship I’d probably lower the cups down to one each but, I’m new at this.

Now you will roll your eyes at how I am so slow to miss the obvious.  We had book bags on the floor that seemed to multiply.  It finally hit me that I had not provided a designated spot for the book bags.  Problem solved.  Duh.  It’s from Target if you are wondering.

There is just not a good place near the boys room or bathroom for any kind of clothes basket or hamper.  The problem is, it doesn’t matter if I choose to provide a hamper or not, dirty clothes will come off and need to be put some place–I don’t walk down stairs naked just to put my clothes in the laundry room before I take a shower and I can’t expect my boys to either.  So, I went ahead and accepted the fact that I needed to put a bulky, in-the-way basket in our skinny hall.  It’s still better than a pile of clothes strewn around.

Lastly, every night we somehow had like 5 wet towels on the bathroom floor.  Even though we only have 3 boys. And of course, none of them left THEIR towel on the floor.  So my husband bought 3 different color towels {2 of each} and assigned a color to each boy.  Now, if they step out of the shower and their two towels are somehow dripping wet from the night before, they’ll have to reach into that in-the-way clothes basket and dry off with their dirty clothes or figure something out.  I have a feeling after experiencing a dripping wet towel once, they will naturally remember to hang up their towel.

None of these solutions were new, life changing or even things I hadn’t heard of before.  Just things that we failed to implement.  Now I’m on the lookout for other ways to help our house run more smoothly so I can focus more on fun things and help our boys become more responsible.

What about you?  What issues have you resolved with no duh, simple solutions?

This post is a repost but it was the post that got the most comments EVER other than a giveaway.  That response gave me the push I needed to decide to write for 31 days about less messiness.

Be sure to visit the other 31 dayers:: Reluctant Entertainer, The Inspired Room, Remodeling This LifeChatting at the Sky, Balancing Beauty and Bedlam, My First Kitchen, Life With My 3 Boybarians, over the next 31 days.

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

I’ve been in a bowling kind of mood since the last post.  Here are a few unique bowls I found on etsy.  My thoughts? Big wide bowls are expensive, add shipping and you get even more expensive.  I’m going to keep an eye out for large bowls around my area.

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

Old weathered frame for $3 from the Goodwill, white serving dish.

Have I told you how much I hate the placement of the light switches in this house?

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

Do you ever catch yourself being attracted to something simply because of the details?

Yeah, me too. I want this scrolly and dot pattern etched on to my chairs and bags and maybe I could add it to this blog’s design?

grateful for simple blessings

You can find this pattern on the Ever Grateful Collection just released by Nesting Place’s friend and Sponsor, DaySpring.  The design and message is based on Ephesians 5:4, Let there be thankfulness to God.  Not only do they offer these dishes, bowls, salad plates, mugs, trivets and vases in various colors {cue dramatic music and glistening beams of sunlight}…

always blessed, ever thankful

Somehow DaySpring snuck into my family room before I even redid it and created a pattern and perfect shade of green {called wasabi} that happens to look stunning with my current decor.  Thankyouverymuch.

As usual, I have a few items that I’m especially fond of.  Like the cake stand and the platter {remember, you can hang platters!}.

This pitcher is another one of my favorite pieces.  As much as I love to collect pretty dishes, I can’t afford to have lots of pieces hidden away that only serve one purpose.  That’s why I like to have things that I can display and use in other ways.  This pitcher doubles as a vase, the platter doubles as a tray, the cake stand is great to group candles, shells, books {not that I don’t wish I had cake every day} and any and all of the plates are pretty enough to hang on the wall or be displayed in my hutch.  When you buy dishes, you don’t want to buy them thinking they will be packed away in a cabinet 90% of the time, buy things that you can use and enjoy as much as possible.  I even use the shapely coffee cup as a vase.

The collection combines all of my favorite things, beauty, meaning and usefulness.

You can get a couple of accent pieces, or an entire place setting {which is conveniently on sale right this moment}.  Very well appointed I might add with the layering of the scrollies and dots with the squiggly edges.  I’m sure they discussed that in their meetings.

Oh, and remember that Memo Board with the easel that you all saw at my Blessings Unlimited Party?  It’s part of the Ever Grateful Collection as well!  This was one of those pieces that everyone was commenting about.  I’ll take 4 please.

The Giveaway

DaySpring is offering a choice of a Memo Board and Easel or a Cake Stand–and they are giving one away for ever 100 comments received. Contest ends Wednesday at Midnight.

Leave a comment and tell me your favorite item from the Ever Grateful Collection to enter to win.

Be careful not to check the box at the bottom of the comment section unless you want every comment emailed to you–read more about it here.

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

I can’t stop myself from hanging more and more and more. Pretty soon our garage walls will be covered with white dishes.

The big platters are hung with these extra large plate hangers.  They were 99 cents at the Goodwill.  You can probably find them online for $3 each.  I get my regular plate hangers at Hobby Lobby or Target or the Dollar store.

Here’s the smaller version of a wire plate hanger.  If it’s not tight enough, you can undo one end of the holders and twist the springs until it feels tight enough.  Don’t be afraid to bend the wires and make them work for you.

Here’s my stash of extra plate hanger parts.  As you can see, I keep them all individually packaged so as not to get them tangled into one large plate hanger nest.

I had a few extra small dishes I wanted to hang too.

I warmed up the hot glue gun and from left to right we have a safety pin, upholstery tack and a paper clip.  They’ve been up for a week and I expect them to stay holding until I move stuff around.   You could also hot glue on a coke tab or a piece of string tied in a loop or wire.  There is no excuse for not hanging something you love.

What’s your plate hanging solution?

PS for those of you wondering the paint color is Sherwin Williams Comfort Grey scroll down to see more.

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

It started with this.  Tight and symmetrical. my usual way to hang white dishes.  I thought maybe I’d keep my eyes open for more and fill the entire wall.  But I didn’t want to wait for it to be done.  So I stopped right there and placed all my white hanging dishes on the floor to see what I could come up with.

My goal was to use up what I had available at the time, keep it fun and easy–no measuring. If I get a pretty new white dish in the future that I want to show off I can easily add to the arrangement.

The sloping to the left corner works really well because is leads the eye {eyes if you have two} up to the stair case where we have our gallery of empty frames and steps that also slope up to the left.  It works well together.  But I might change it up if I feel like it. You know, since it’s so easy.

White dishes are the poor girl’s solution to wall art.  Low commitment, super thrifty, and they add a touch of class and freshness to any room.  All you need is a painted wall and some plate hangers from the dollar store.

Where do you use white dishes?

PS: don’t forget, tomorrow is our Mantel Link up–and anyone can join in if you don’t have a mantel–you can decorate any surface–a shelf, dresser, tablescape, the dashboard of your car, whatever.  The point is to inspire each other!  See you then.

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?