My Sister's Suitcase - Packed with Creativity

Packed with Creativity

Too Many Cups!! {How we finally organized the chaos on our kitchen counter}

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Does your kitchen counter ever look like this??

Well, mine does ALL THE TIME!! There are only 4 of us home during the day, and by dinner time no one can seem to find their cup, yet there are about 15 cups sitting next to the sink 🙂 I’ve been trying to think of a way to organize our cups that works for our limited counter space {and looks cute too!}
The other day, I found this on clearance at TJ Maxx for $12…
Does anyone know what this is? I was thinking either an old milk bottle carrier, or something for wine bottles?
I don’t know, but either way, I knew it was perfect 🙂 The brown metal was kinda blah, and didn’t look great on my brown counters/backsplash. It just blended in too much.
I chose a nice color of grayish-blue from Martha Stewart {Cloud}, and painted the entire metal frame {except the handle.} I thought it would look more “vintage” to keep that part original.
You can’t really tell from the pictures so far, but I decided I needed to add a removeable “base” to go under the cups so they would be raised up enough for my kids to grab them easily. To create this, I grabbed 2 birch plywood boards from Michaels {1/8 inch thick, 4×12 inches in size}. I sanded them a little, then painted one coat of the same color on the top and sides of the boards.
I added a Matte finish spray coat to protect everything from spills and lots of little fingerprints 🙂
Here’s how it turned out:
I added some wooden monograms with magnets on the back so I can remove them,
or switch them around as needed.
To make these, I purchased 4″ wooden letters at Michaels, then painted them with white craft paint and added a little black glaze. For the back, I just used the cheap magnets you get by the roll.
Once the magnets were in place, I added our new cups {have you seen these in all the stores recently?}
And our cup organizer was complete!
I had a vase of flowers out in the kitchen and as I was taking pictures, I realized that the openings were the perfect size to fit those round glass vases everyone has! So I thought I would see what it looked like…
Ooooh, now I had to see how many of these vases I could round up in my cupboard. This would be such a fun way to display fresh flowers for a party!
And if you added the tray back in, with some mini trifle dishes – voila! You could create a candy bar, ice cream toppings, or serve snack food for your guests in a unique way. OK, my last idea is streching a little 🙂 But if you have older kids and keeping track of your cups is no longer a problem, use it as a media/cell phone charging station…
The tray is really nice for smaller cups too, and right now we’ll be using it for my baby’s sippy cup 🙂
Here is one more Before and After:
Happy Friday!

Linking to:
I'm Lovin' It at TidyMom Chic on a Shoestring Decorating The Shabby Nest shabby creek cottage Thirty Hand Made Days Bubbly Nature Tip Junkie handmade projects  Home Stories A2Z Momma Hens Coop Positively Splendid Visit thecsiproject.com

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  2. I LOVE projects like these. TJ Maxx is the best! You created something so fun and practical. Thanks so much for linking up to my Pity Party. I just pinned/tweeted this. Happy weekend!

    Reply

  9. Cute! But you know what? If it was where the kiddos could reach it, the magnetic letters would disappear in my house, because the 2-year-old would steal them, lol!

    Our solution to the cup thing is each child (we have 4) have their own cup color. I know at a glance whose cup is whose. ;0)

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  10. Love it! I’ve been looking for something like this for awhile now. Guess I know where to go now! I love that you made it over to work with your style and colors. Great job!

    Reply

  13. Hi Holly, it looks like something the milkman would use many years ago to carry the bottles of milk from house to house. You did a lovely job in transforming it. Thanks for sharing. I have recently found your blog and am now following you, and will visit often. Please stop by my blog and perhaps you would like to follow me also. Have a wonderful day. Hugs, Chris
    http://chelencarter-retiredandlovingit.blogspot.com/

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  19. Have got to find one for my van!! when it was modified for the wheelchair they removed the center consol and the middle seats,so there is only 1 in the front and the ones in the very back. this would work great for road trips. Now to find one online! thanks

    Reply

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