You all know that I love small spaces.  So when Joanne showed me her old 20 square foot kitchen, I just couldn’t stop smiling.  Well that and wondering how the heck she managed!  I mean, our 36 square feet I can handle.  But 20?  Too incredible.

So I’m pulling out a pen and paper and taking a few notes.  Joanne’s kitchen is absolute genius, and here’s what she has to say…

I love small spaces.  If I won a gazillion dollars tomorrow, I’d still live in a small space (but I’d get a puppy!).   Small spaces don’t cost much to heat or cool and take 5 minutes to clean. Small spaces force you to keep what is the most important in life. I used to live in a 280 sq foot bachelor apartment. The kitchen, at best, was 5′ x 4′.

So how the heck do you function in a 5 x 4 kitchen? Pretty darn well. The only glitch was you could not open the fridge and oven at the same time. The doors banged into each other. I like to make bread and I had no problem with my friend Tyler and I standing side by side as I taught him to make bread (without a bread maker). My friend Sarah and I cooked a meal together in that kitchen, and we had been drinking too. So yes, this kitchen was very functioning even if totally intoxicated – which we were.

The secret to my tiny kitchen was the use of vertical space. I made shelves (all from scrap MDF from the garbage), hooks, giant magnets, little magnets and velcro. All these items held my cooking tools. Most of these things were purchased at thrift stores or the Dollarama (if you are Canadian, you are well aware of the awesomeness of the Dollarama!). The main ones were in the ‘prep’ area. Some tools that were specifically used at the stove (like the spatulas) were located by the stove.

Also you really don’t need a lot of kitcheny gadgets. I have 6 mixing bowls and to be honest, I probably will be giving some of them away. I got them for free so it’s no big deal. I have 4 pots – 2 big, 2 small. I have 2 frying pans and a skillet.  Almost all of  these items fit in the bottom drawer of my stove.

I cook from scratch as it is much healthier and cheaper than prepared foods. All the tools are there for me to reach out and grab. I never had any problems chopping, marinading, kneeding anything in that 3 ft x 2.5 ft section of countertop. If anything, a small work space forces you to put away stuff and clean as you go. Even in a small space like my tiny kitchen, I could stockpile some items.

I am really not super smart in design education.  Most of my ideas I learned from IKEA as well as looking of pictures of RVs and boat galleys.  If you are wondering, I DID NOT use the oven as a storage method.

Is that not the coolest pile of jems from Joanne?  I’m so impressed with that homemade bread and use of vertical space. That house was only 280 square feet; now Joanne has a bigger place (450 sf!)… a 61 sf kitchen… and a dining room.  Go Joanne!

What about the rest of you?  Any teeny spaces you have tucked away in your houses?  We’d love a little peek.

Craving for more small space strategies?  Check out our double-burner stove and pull-out pantry tricks.

Back when you all helped us decide which of our two paintings to hang above the couch, I sort of mentioned that I was transforming the frames from looking like this:

to this:

So now I’m back with an extra-easy tutorial on how you can reshape a piece of banged up wood furniture into a work of art.  Or in our case, something worth holding a work of art.

After I got Martin out of the house and the sawdust settled from our kitchen remodel, I got to work.

How to Restore Old Furniture

Step 1.  Get handy. Remove any pieces that you don’t want to paint (like hinges, knobs, and paintings), and mask off things that won’t come off.

Step 2. Sand ‘er down. Sand the wood with 80-grit sandpaper by hand.  Your material will be gone if you use an electric sander.  We’re not trying to remove old paint and varnish anyway; we just want the next coat to stick to the stuff that’s already there.  So rough that puppy up.  The glossier the old paint, the more you want to make sure you rough up every edge.

Step 3.  Hose it down. Then take a wet cloth and wipe it down really well.  If you skip this step or don’t do a thorough job, I’m afraid to report that you’ll get nasty little lumps in your fresh coat of paint.  You’ll be starting all over.

Step 4.  Apply paint. No, no, I didn’t forget about the wood putty.  I have found that it’s easier to see where the putty needs to go after you have your first coat of paint down.  It’s an accurate representation of how your finished piece is going to look, so you can decide which gashes and seams should be filled.  Also, if you’ve done your sanding homework, you don’t need a coat of primer.  The glossier the paint, the easier it is to clean down the road, too.  We tend to pick latex paint for things like door frames and oil-based paint for furniture.  These frames have three coats of high gloss, white oil-based paint.

Step 5.  Fill ‘er up. When the paint dries, take your wood putty and begin filling holes.  Experiment with the tools that work best for you.  My favorites are 1 inch scrapers, my fingertips, and screwdrivers because they’re so small.  Try to get the putty level with the wood, which may take multiple coats, especially when you’re filling things like nail holes.  It takes a bit of practice, though there’s one thing I know for sure:  never use any old putty, joint compound, plaster, or whatever you’ve got in the house.  You have to use wood putty because it is specifically made to match the movability of wood.  Use anything else and you’ll be repeating this project again in a couple of years, I am very sad to say.

Step 6.  Sand ‘er down again.  Sand your putty holes so that they’re smooth.  You probably shouldn’t use 80-grit sandpaper.  Reach for something finer like 120 or even 240-grit.  Easy peasy so far, right?

Step 7.  Get beautiful. Apply second coat of paint to get the desired look.  White paints may even need a third.  (You may want to do a second little putty/sand job between coats for a smoother surface.)

Step 8.  Strut your stuff. Display that lovely restored piece and invite people over to see it at a little party.

So go ahead and make something ehh into something amazing.  Don’t forget to let me know about any of your artsy creations, either.  I love restorations, and there are only so many gashes that I can fill in my own little place.

For a sanding and varnishing tutorial, check out this post:  How To Refurbish Wood Furniture.  It’s the tips and tricks we used to restore our old table and finish our entire kitchen.

(Image by Katie for Making This Home)

Getting rid of things has got to be one of the most liberating things we can do.  It’s also a great way to start the new year.  When your space is clean, you aren’t feeling identified by your stuff.  You aren’t distracted by things, and you really get the chance to feel creative.  Many of you told me clutter is the biggest deterrent to your inspiration, and it’s easy to see why.  

I don’t know about you, but the hardest thing to control at our house is paper.  It’s a project that Never Ends.  Piles seem to grow themselves like weeds.  That’s why we have a simple motto to try to keep things under control:  

Don’t bring stuff into the house in the first place.

It’s a New Year’s Resolutions that does double duty to keep that paper under control.  It makes your life simpler and, by total default, greener.  Shall we get started?

1. Get Off of Mailing Lists for Junk Mail

How many catalogues and fliers do you and I get in the mail?  All we have to do is order one thing and we’re on the company mailing list forever.  It’s annoying.  You glance at some of the catalogues and requests for donations.  You toss most of them.  Why not keep that clutter from entering your house? 

Call and get your name off mailing lists.  I started about two years ago.  Now when we come back to the US, our waiting mail pile is small and tidy.  We’re helping the environment because those ads that we’d just toss aren’t coming to our house.  One less ad is produced with virgin trees and nasty chemicals, shipped with fossil fuel, and tossed in our trash pile.  And, umm… it’s a really great project to work on when things get slow at the office.

2. Avoid Generic Junk Mail

In Berlin, students are often hired to go to apartment buildings and put advertisements in everyone’s mailboxes.  We got at least an ad or two a day until we put this sign on our box:

(Meaning: Please No Junk Mail!)

Stickers like these are pretty common in Berlin.  I imagine there’s got to be a solution for keeping ads out of your mailbox in places that don’t speak German, too.  (This is where you come in.)  Any ideas for reducing junk mail that enters your house?  One company, Catalog Choice, supposedly helps people in the US.  Do you know any other tricks?

There’s no better time than today to start bringing a little peace into our lives, and one less advertisement would certainly do it.

 Santa was good to us this year.  Err.. technically last year?  He made sure that we will have no problem maxing out on our luggage limit when we return to Germany.  (I think it’s because I ate all of my carp on Christmas Eve.)  

The general theme at our house seemed to be Fill Up the 36 Foot Kitchen.  It’s working.

My sister and her husband gave us A Baker’s Odyssey.  It’s a beautiful cookbook I’ve been eyeing since, well, I gave it to my sister at her bridal shower last year.  It’s filled  with recipes from American immigrants, which is perfect.  I’m fast becoming the Alton Brown of international pastry cooking around our house.

But you know what the problem is with international cooking?  Measuring cups.  You can’t find them in Germany.  Most people in Europe measure ingredients with a metric scale, which means I have to bring my own measuring cups from the US if I want to follow my favorite cookbooks.  We walked into an Anthropology for the first time just before Christmas, and Martin managed to sneak these European beauties under the tree.  They’re measuring cups and Russian dolls in one, which will make them just perfect for our German kitchen:

Naturally, I had to return the favor.  A candy thermometer wasn’t very accurate when we made ice cream outside.  We needed something better.  Martin also NEEDED a way to measure the temperature of our fingers (mine are six degrees colder than his).  And the walls.  And every other thing in the house.  He NEEDED a way to measure his elaborate electronics projects.  And he’d let me borrow it for the kitchen since he doesn’t really cook.  

I surprised him with his must-have Fluke Mini Infared Thermometer of his very own.  Just like his dad’s.  (You can see where Martin’s Must Have reasoning came from now, huh?).  It measures from -30 to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.

What wonderful gifts.  We can’t wait to take them to Germany.  (Martin can’t wait to measure the temperature of the concrete walls.)  Of course, we sent paperless thank you notes for everything.

What about you?  What did Santa leave for you and your family?

(images from Amazon and Anthropology)