We need more pictures up here

By: Melanie

As part of my clean-stravaganza last week, I scrubbed the kitchen to within an inch of its life. Might have even rubbed some paint off of the walls. But my proudest achievement was finally decluttering that pesky shelf that runs over the impossibly small countertop. It's also the most photogenic, as I refuse to show you pictures of my dust bunnies, before and after. Although the task was merely to clean, and I'm trying to save major reorganization for future weeks, I became inspired and, well, if I'm going to be inspired to clean it's probably a good idea to run with it. You can see the shelf from this shot, which is in the Photo Gallery.

And now, behold the new shelf:

There's even a "coffee corner"! Okay, it's not in the corner, but the alliteration is nice.

So there you have it. Photographic evidence of my toiling. Now go ahead and tell me what a great job I did. Mom and dad, I know that at least you are out there...

Talk about small spaces!

By: Melanie

Living in New York City has it's perks. And it has its limitations. Like space, for example. We live in a one bedroom plus den, classic brownstone apartment. And while it is quite a bit more spacious than some closets out there, it has been an ongoing challenge to keep all of our belongings contained inside its four walls, let alone maintain any kind of order about the place. Most problematic are our space-deprived kitchen and bathroom (see Photo Gallery). I am particularly excited to find solutions to make these impossibly small rooms work for our family.

Speaking of which, here's a space that's actually smaller than our kitchen but much, much cooler...