Posts Tagged ‘organize’

Every Kitchen Needs A Good Spring Cleaning

Monday, March 22nd, 2010
Spring is blooming and once again warm air breezes through our homes calming our winter worries.  That comforting breeze sends us the neighborhood sounds of children laughing and dogs barking.  Unfortunately, that same breeze also sends us the sound of someone who opened a kitchen cabinet and watched as its contents fell onto the floor.  Has this ever happened to you?  Have you ever had your pots, pans or even your Tupperware come flying out at you?  Well, if you have, you are not alone.  In fact, all over the world sounds of frustration are heard when any unorganized kitchen cabinet or drawer is opened.  The key to alleviating this frustration is to find great kitchen storage products that make you feel at home in your kitchen.  After all, the kitchen is where family and friends tend to gather the most.  So give it the spring cleaning it deserves by organizing it with some easy to use products from Sidelines.   
Deluxe Spice and Can Rack shown in Oil Rubbed Bronze

Deluxe Spice and Can Rack shown in Oil Rubbed Bronze

Let’s start with your cans and spices.  Are you always looking for the family’s favorite steak seasoning or wondering if you need to pick up more pasta sauce for dinner?  Well wonder no more with the Sidelines Deluxe Spice and Can Rack.  Sliding out into view on ball bearing slides, this rack allows you to see all your pantry goods in once glance.  Always knowing what you have in stock will eliminate those last minute grocery runs for good!

Signature Baskets in Oil Rubbed Bronze

Signature Baskets in Oil Rubbed Bronze

Our favorite storage accessory for the pantry would have to be our Deluxe Baskets.  Available in different sizes, these baskets are great for organizing anything from pasta to fruit or even those annoying plastic Tupperware containers!  And for after school, make those healthy snack foods easily accessible to the kids.  With no end to their storage capability, our deluxe baskets do it all and they look good doing it! For an added touch of warmth to your kitchen or pantry, try using our Rattan Baskets.   

Pull Out Pantry Rack

Pull Out Pantry Rack

For some people the luxury of having a kitchen pantry may not be an option.  They may be forced to use kitchen cabinets as a pantry and unfortunately these cabinets can come in all different shapes and sizes depending on the home.  Luckily, Sidelines has a remedy for all of those situations.  Available in different height and width options, our Pull Out Pantry Rack is just what the doctor ordered.  The easy to use pantry rack glides silently in and out on soft closing slides, allowing its user to see the contents on every shelf. Great for storage of any kind, you will not have a problem finding anything with this must have kitchen accessory! 

 

 

 

 

Now that you see how easy it is to have the kitchen storage of your dreams, what are you waiting for?  Life gets complicated enough without us making it worse, so don’t let your unorganized kitchen get the best of you.  Find your problem areas and fix them! The sooner you do, the sooner you will be enjoying your next barbeque.  After all, a happy and organized kitchen makes for an even happier cook! – SC

To see all of Sidelines’ Kitchen and Pantry products click here.

Getting Organized Is No Longer On The Sidelines In The New Year

Monday, January 4th, 2010

With all the gift giving and receiving at year end, now is the perfect time to clear out clutter to make room for the new items in  your life at the beginning of a New Year. Where to start? It doesn’t really matter because each person and each home is different. Your home’s living room may look like a disaster after the long weekend of college football games, with memorabilia and dishes still strewn around the furniture. On the other hand, your guest room may have been Ground Zero for organizing festivities, with wrapping paper, gift tags and shopping bags piled in every corner. The key to feeling better about kicking off the New Year right is to jump in as quickly as possible so that you feel you’re getting control of your life…and home.

Start with sorting tools closest at hand. Whether that’s leftover empty boxes or garbage bags, designate three places or containers to begin the sorting: one for throwing away, one for keeping, and one for the undecided junk. (You can sift through those belongings a bit later to decide if they’re keepers or not.) If you can designate a fourth bag or box for charity giveaways, all the better.

Dig in! Where does your eye land first? Just begin grabbing whatever is within reach. At this time of year, many of us feel overwhelmed and have a sense that we’re still too far behind getting things done for the previous year that it’s hard to get a clean start for the New Year. Our feelings of drowning in clutter and disorganization practically stop us in our tracks, like deer in headlights, preventing us from simply jumping in and kicking off a great New Year.

Just do it! It doesn’t even matter how far you get into the project. Over the next several days and a couple of weeks, we’ll post lots of organizational tips and tricks – for the mind and body – to help you get off the sidelines and up to the scrimmage line, where all the action is, to help kick off your New Year clutter-free.

For now, just grab everything you’re sure is trash and get it out of the house. Then sort through the “definitely stays” and “not sure” items. If you know where the “definitely stays” stuff is stored, put it away. If it may need a new home, we’ll have lots of tips on designating new, permanent storage locations for your belongings.

You need as much peace of mind to start the New Year off right as you can create. And ‘peace of mind’ truly is a state of mind you must create for yourself by doing all the things – including clearing clutter – that get you to that place. It may take five minutes or five hours. But once you get on the road to a little peace, you’ll begin to feel like you’re starting off the New Year with a fresh attitude and a fresh space.

You can’t do it all at once, but if you keep chiseling away at it, bit by bit, room by room, project by project, you’ll be completely organized in just a couple of weeks. Get started! — MM

Organizing for Thanksgiving

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

With Thanksgiving Day just around the corner, we thought we’d offer a couple of suggestions to help ease the stress of preparing the Big Meal. Getting organized in advance for the big day can ensure you’ll enjoy this Slow Food day and savor the time spent with family and friends.

  • If your menu isn’t fully solidified yet, now’s the time to choose your final dishes. There will be a mad dash at the grocery store for the next few days, so stock up now!
  • Buy your bird now. Remember: it takes a couple of days to defrost frozen turkeys of significant size. The longer you wait to buy, the fewer choices you will have regarding available bird weight options for the number of guests attending.
  • Plan, plan, plan ahead. Make extra room in your fridge and freezer for all your ingredients as well as Aunt Bess’ special cranberry dish that has to remain cool up to serving time.
  • Re-read all your recipes in advance. Determine which dishes can be prepared a day or two ahead of time and get them made. This will vastly reduce your pre-turkey stress.
  • For the day of: Write out a timeline of events, from setting the table to preparing the gravy from the drippings. Knowing when your schedule is tight will aid in planning which family members you can recruit at certain times to help with various tasks. Most importantly, know exactly how many minutes to allow per pound of turkey and its needed rest time after it comes out of the oven. You want all your dishes to be ready at just about the same time before you sit down at the table.

Seasonal squashes, gourds and other fall harvest items make excellent table centerpieces (not to mention some make great soups as well). Stock up early on these funny-looking and colorful fall bounties to make the most creative presentation. We’ve even got a great way to stash them when not in use:

Baskets, Natural Rattan in White Pantry Cabinetry, 3 Sizes

Our rattan baskets are an elegant accessory to include in any kitchen or pantry. Add them between storage sections in the pantry or under a counter for easy and attractive access to your produce. But our solid rattan baskets (shown in natural finish above) are also ideal for storage of pantry items that don’t do well on a shelf such as bags of potato chips, pet food and snacks. Whether you need shallow baskets to store your placemats or extra deep ones for a supply of potatoes and Golden Delicious apples, we’ve got them in a size and finish that will fit your needs.

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!