Storage Project For My Kitchen Wall

I just completed this little kitchen project. As most of you know, I don't use my kitchen drawers or cabinets due to previous rodent problems.

Rather than worry about this, though I haven't had problems in months, I have chosen to just bypass these normal ways to store food and dinnerware altogether. 

Instead I use free standing furniture and vertical storage. 

I'm cooking chicken breasts and stuffing (my friend Marty's recipe that I often use) in the crock pot.

Marty, of A Stroll Thru Life, is a great cook. So check out her blog. She just moved to a new-to-her house and is busy decorating it.

Back to the kitchen project...

Vertical storage is vital to living in a small space. I implement vertical storage in every way I can. 

How I Did It:

I chose one of my old vintage wash boards, and decided to add the box to it to store my frequently used kitchen items like Saran Wrap and aluminum foil. 

After I chose a wash board that I thought would work best, I chose one of my nesting herb boxes that I've had for years. 

I put both on the floor and tapped a nail in toward the top of the wash board.

Then I put a couple of nails in the wall to hang the wash board, and hung the lip of the wash board over the nails.

I don't like things that move about, so I used putty I usually get at Hobby Lobby that is for keeping framed paintings in place on the wall. 

I rolled up a bit of the putty and placed it behind the nesting box on either side. And also on either side of the back of the wash board to keep things from moving when I reach up for, say, aluminum foil.

It was so easy and was done in 5-10 minutes once I figured out what I wanted to do. 

Then I took another one of my wash boards, a smaller one, from the closet (my storage space for all my unused decor) and added it underneath the other one. 

Because this corner is where my European-style washer/dryer is, I felt it appropriate to decorate with the old wash boards. 

And also utilize that wall to store the kitchen items where they're always close at hand. 

Hey, when you live in small digs, it's important to use multi-purpose items to decorate as well as use for storage. 

Another kitchen tip: I used to have all kinds of spices in jars in my spice arsenal. But I really didn't use very many of them in my cooking. 

So I now keep the ones I really need in this little basket close to where I prepare food on the counter. Because keeping all those spices was really wasteful and eventually they got old and were essentially unusable.

What you would need for this project:

  1. wash board
  2. nesting box (if yours is not like mine, and doesn't have   hook, then you'd need to somehow attach the box to the wash board.
  3. nails
  4. putty to hold items to the wall 

Here's another storage project I recently added to my kitchen... 

And another...

And another...

All of the above photos show you ways to implement vertical storage in your kitchen.

Most of you know that I do not have a kitchen stove in my apartment. Three years next month when I moved in, I had them take it out to make room for my washer, which has to be hooked up to the kitchen sink for water. 

I wrote about what small appliances I use here. And I cook anything I want. You just have to look outside of the box.

Do you like to repurpose beloved items for storage? I'd love to know about it.