I had the sudden and energetic urge to redo the entire house this morning after my second cup of coffee. After about ten minutes I regained my sanity and settled my sights on something slightly more achievable. I moved everything off the front porch/entryway, swept, and rearranged it (mostly the plants). I put a bunch of random shells we had brought back from the beach last October along the garden border – the bucket of shells had been sitting there ever since we arrived home.

When I came back inside I took a good look at the small bookcase by the kitchen which holds all of the cookbooks. It had gotten terribly disorganized and dusty and was an eyesore. I took everything off and Amelia helped me dust while I tightened the screws. The bookcase itself has been heavily used since I bought from Pier 1 it in 1992 to take to college. I will say we got our money’s worth and then some. It’s still hanging in there despite being moved at least 12 times.

By rearranging everything I was able to display some mismatched old family silverware that had come from our family beach house plus a vintage flour sifter I’ve had forever. I feel guilty for not having used some of those cookbooks more (I don’t have a cookbook-buying problem; 80% of them were gifts) but now the area looks nice enough that I won’t mind picking out a book to leaf through.

I’ve done some other serious cleaning/putting away/throwing out today, but this was the most dramatic change and the most photogenic, so I’m sharing photos of this one.