Project: Turn your kitchen window into a spice rack!

Before I get into this how-to I just want to say thank you to everyone who voiced their love and concern about my previous blog post. I appreciate the support of everyone around me and feel very loved and very thankful. I know things will get better.

Okay, with that out of the way, I'd like to share this SUPER simple tutorial with all of you!

When we first moved into our house I was so excited about how much more room I had in my new kitchen, but there was one major problem - I had absolutely no wall space for a spice rack. At first I thought I'd just put them in one of my cupboards, but I've tried that before and it just doesn't work; spices get pushed to the back or knocked over and it takes forever to find what I need. I cook a lot and use a lot of different spices, so I need them to be out and easily accessible.

My husband and I brainstormed about it for a while, then realized that we could utilize the kitchen window over our sink! We took a quick trip to the home improvement store and after wandering around forever trying to find something that would work we came across pre-painted pine boards that were just the right size - about 2 inches deep and 3/4 of an inch thick - just perfect for spices. We bought one board and cut it down to make two shelves that were the dimension of the window.

Now to decide on how to mount them to the wall. I needed the shelves to be easily removable so I can take them down when I need to wash the window, and I wanted something as inconspicuous as possible. Sean came up with something pretty ingenious. He bought a pack of little metal shelf brackets - the kind with a peg that you'd put in an adjustable bookshelf. He mounted the brackets to the wall with screws, then drilled holes in the shelves that the pegs could rest in. It worked perfectly! It holds really well and if I need to take the shelves down I just have to lift them off the pegs.

Moral of the story: You can always find the extra space you need if you get creative!