“Remoted” Workday 194 / Day 295 (Tuesday)

The nesting activity continues and the only reasonable explanation is that I've been invaded by an extraterrestrial or the house is now inhabited by sprites, fairies, or domestically inclined spirits. The latest visitation was some sort of goddess of organization, and the result is the tidying up of the counter where the coffee maker lives.

Months ago, there was an online search for a shelf for the small counter are near the coffee maker. The coffee maker lives there because it’s the only spot in the kitchen that is close to an outlet and the water supply, and has enough clearance to flip up the lid of the coffee maker without crashing into the underside of the wall-mounted cabinet.

There are still at least three shelves on the Amazon “save for later” lists, and searches of Kohl’s and Bed, Bath, and Beyond websites and a couple brick and mortar stores came up empty. Challenges to the small area include the placement of the electrical outlet and the light/garbage disposal switch. Measurements were taken and it seems that most of the shelves found would block access to one or both of these important features, or are too tall relative to the cabinet to allow for anything on the shelf.

Awkwardly placed light switches and other oddities are a theme throughout the house. One of the behind/above the toilet cabinets would be great in the bathroom, but the placement of the light switch is twice as far from the door frame as every other switch in the house, and would be blocked by the cabinet and impossible to access. Next to the toilet is the vanity, which boasts an off-center light fixture over the medicine cabinet. Basically, one entire wall of the bathroom is a source of daily angst. The switch plate near the front door is so close to the doorframe that someone trimmed the edge of the switch plate cover to fit the space. 

Organized coffee setup!

The wine rack that lived in the kitchen until being moved to the dining room buffet sat atop a wood shelf thing with sliding doors which, until very recently, held tap shoes that my sister gave me a couple years ago. The tap shoes were used with a piece of plywood that, for lack of a better place, has been shoved between the  refrigerator and the wall since redoing the floors in 2016. It's easy to access and set down to tap dance on without wrecking the floor. Both times I did it anyway.

Emptied of the taps, the wood shelf thing now contains two travel coffee cups, coffee filters, cinnamon, and coffee creamers inside, with cannisters of coffee and sugar packets and a sugar bowl on top. No more walking the length of the counter each morning to get a coffee filter from the drawer on the other side of the sink. It looks so tidy. I feel so organized. This repurposing stuff already in the house is kind of fun, and certainly budget friendly.