my house: Open Sesame.

Aaargh! Shut that door!!!!!

It used to be that a cupboard had two purposes. One to store the other to hide. When we moved into our house seven years ago now, we inherited a kitchen that had only recently been installed and whilst it would never have been my choice, cash flow was such that my fantasy of hand crafted free standing units, mixed up with some more contemporary additions was never going to be an option. Despite that we have managed to shunt things around enough, making it a little more accomodating of the expansive brood but it has never quashed my desire to have a complete makeover job done. The only problem is my present flirtation for an open shelf look. Jars of conserves and preserves, crates of fresh veg and fruit. Interesting herbs and spices all stacked in an organised chaos kind of a way. Realistically this is a disaster but if you were prepared to spend precious time in your day, wrestling shelves with their eternal quest to turn order upside down and inside out, this could be a great option. Evidence of our present larder type cupboard suggests I should stay well away but I would argue that such exposure might shame my mess into a delectable order of home grown,stewed and pickled order.

On a smaller, more achievable scale, I am presently collecting old wine crates for our eight year olds bedroom, covering some in cartoon strips inside and out and nailing them to his bedroom walls. He uses them to store and display his obsessive collection of all things miniature. Unfortunately, he has a three year old fizz bomb for a brother who takes great pleasure in exacting any revenge by destroying order in these little cases of lovliness and the old muggins of a design die-hard mum ends up repeatedly tidying up the devastation wreaked. To be honest, if I can sustain the continual barage of attacks from Caspar that kitchen will be no challenge for me. Bring it on.