Uncommon Grounds

Don't you hate when you go to make a cup of coffee, only to open the cupboard to a terrifying mountainous view of K-cups?! You attempt to pick the one out that can be  easily reached. Unfortunately, due to the Jenga-like qualities of the coffee cabinet, the flavors that have been pushed to the back have to stay there. You know they must stay there, otherwise you might accidentally brush your hand against another flavor, only to start an avalanche of individual coffee packs that end up all over the kitchen floor. 

No? This doesn't happen to you? Is this just me?!

The newly cleaned and "organized" coffee cupboard.

The first step to solving the problem was admitting that I had one...so the bf and I cleaned out and reorganized the coffee/tea cabinet. This helped a little, but only a very little. I decided the next step was to go on the hunt for something that we could use as a display for the available flavors in the house; to be hung in the kitchen, for EASY access to the coffees and teas.

At the same "barn sale" where I purchased the Hawkeye clock, I also ran across a decoration that I thought might be just the thing to solve the Jenga problem. 

It's a wooden, uh, decoration...I guess. It comprised of wooden blocks that spell out the word 'Welcome' (or 'Country' if you flip it around) all housed within a wooden framework. Each section where a block is sitting, is just enough room for me to insert one single K-cup. 

To get started, I tried to remove the blocks from the framework; unfortunately, this was beyond my skill set. I had to employ the amazing services of my bf who removed each of the wooden letter blocks (which were securely glued down). I'm not sure why one would need THAT much glue on each block but with a little elbow grease, he was able to get them all unstuck. 

No more blocks. Phew!

Next came sanding...sanding...and more sanding. I didn't really think about how difficult it would be to sand it all without taking it apart. Trying to sand inside each section proved to be super fun, but I made it with out too many troubles. One of the ends was loose and came undone, but otherwise, it was just time consuming.

Oops.

I originally wanted to stain the new shelf in a dark stain, but somewhere during its life it must have gotten wet. Unfortunately, there's a few watermarks on one of the long outer pieces so plan B is to paint it instead. 

The faulty piece was glued today and should be dry enough to paint by tomorrow. Stay tuned for more details!!