Smart Kitchen Updates, Organizational Ideas to Steal, & Holiday Home Favorites!

Hey everyone! I took a little breather from posting last week to go full-throttle on my daughter’s bedroom makeover (I’ll be sharing that soon – so happy with how it turned out!) and in that short time it seems we’ve gone directly from summer to winter! I flew out from Connecticut Friday morning and they actually had to de-ice the plane first which seems pretty crazy for mid October. So maybe my lateness to decorating for fall is a good thing in the end because other than a few small fall touches I added, I’m just going to hold off and get an early jump on my holiday decorating for once.

I’ve already found a bunch of great home decor pieces for the holidays and thought I’d share those and more in today’s “View It, Do It, You It!”. I’m sharing a super smart kitchen makeover that has so many great ideas for those of you wanting to make a few upgrades without a full kitchen remodel (“View It”), some easy organizational projects you can knock out in your kitchen to make it more organized and efficient for the holidays (“Do It”), and the holiday and sale favorites I think you’ll love (“You It”). Let’s go… (this post includes some affiliate links – see my full disclosure statement {here}) 

This weekend I’m actually staying in the home that I’m featuring for “View It”! Kelley and I became friends over Instagram about three years ago, met in person for the first time at a blogging conference about 2 1/2 years ago, and have so much in common that we’ve kept in touch almost daily since. Kelley, Sarah (of Life on Virginia Street) and I met up for a conference earlier this year in Austin and had such a great time together that we decided an end-of-the-year meet-up at one of our houses was in order! We landed at Kelley’s house in Atlanta and it’s been so much fun to hang out with her and Sarah and see Kelley’s house in real life! She recently redid her kitchen and I wanted to share it with you because unlike my kitchen that was a down-to-the-studs full remodel (you can check that out {here} if you missed it), Kelley’s kitchen makeover involved only a few smart changes but they made such a huge difference! It’s great inspiration for those of you who don’t want/need a full kitchen remodel but are looking to upgrade the look of your space! Here’s a little peak:

Hop over to Kelley’s kitchen reveal post {HERE} for a ton more pics and all the details on the changes she made from new cabinet hardware to a huge side drain sink (I didn’t even know such a thing existed) to her new favorite gray paint color she used on the walls. So good!

Like it or not, the holidays are coming at us fast! If you’re going to be spending more time in the kitchen cooking for big meals like Thanksgiving and prepping for holiday parties, now’s the time to add a few simple organizational items that will make your kitchen more organized and efficient. I was lucky enough to have these features come as part of my new kitchen cabinets (you can see more of my cabinet organization {here}) but I sleuthed out some inexpensive add-on pieces that you can add to your existing cabinets for the same effect! 

One of my favorites is also one of the simplest – these dividers in my base cabinet keep my cookie sheets, cutting boards, and muffin trays organized and easy to grab without an avalanche when you pull one out to use:

You can do this to one of your cabinets by (1) getting chrome dividers similar to mine that you install with brackets screwed into on the bottom and back of the cabinet – these take a little more time but the plus is that you can choose the distance between the dividers – you find that type of divider {here} (2) for a super quick and easy solution, you can grab one of {these free-standing racks} and just throw it into your cabinet! I had this exact one in my old kitchen and it worked great:

I also love the lighting on the inside of my sink cabinet! It’s motion-activated so whenever I open the cabinet it lights up and lets me see all of the way to the back of it – no more dark hole! 

Again, my lighting came with my MasterBrand cabinets but I found {these battery powered LED lights} that you can stick anywhere (including the back of dark cabinets) to add similar lighting! They’re both motion and light activated – a few reviews mentioned issues with the light sensor that they solved by covering it up with tape to disable that feature but overall the reviews are excellent. And if you look at the listing images, you’ll see all sorts of other uses for them from lighting the way on dark stairs to inside of cabinets and more. I just ordered several myself to try out in some of the dark storage spaces in our basement! 
And last but not least  is my lazy Susan turntable (found {here}) that is a lifesaver in our pantry! There are a lot of lazy Susan options out there but I like this one best because there are no dividers (so you can fit more on it) and the sides of it are high enough that nothing ever falls off. We used two in our old pantry:

And have kept them in our new, bigger pantry (you can check that out {here}). They’re also super handy to have in your refrigerator so nothing remains buried in the back where you can’t easily grab it. For the refrigerator, having one without sides is helpful since you have less height for lifting things off of it – I have {this one} that you’ll see more of in an upcoming post when I’m sharing all of my refrigerator organization solutions. 

Like I mentioned, I’m planning to get my holiday decorating done a little earlier than usual this year so I spent several hours this week searching for pretty holiday home decor finds. I’m scheming on plans for my fireplace mantel and think I’m going to do a faux eucalyptus garland and mix in some faux succulents – I ordered two of {these eucalyptus garlands} that are 20% off this weekend plus ship free with code FALL – exactly what I was looking for!

I also got several stems of {these faux branches} and two sizes of {these super cute lit faux pine trees} that run off of batteries – darling and definitely keepers that I can see myself using year after year. And they’re all 20% off plus free shipping with code FALL:

The rest of my holiday greenery will be branch clippings from my yard – I absolutely love being able to go out with a pair of clippers and add greenery to every room of my home! After Halloween I’ll throw together my annual greenery swag for our front door – I always use {these bells} that are a steal and so so pretty!

On the pillow front, I haven’t yet pulled the trigger on anything but these are the ones I’m eyeing:

I’ve also seen a few things on the fashion front that would be so cute for the holidays – I LOVE {this dress} (on big sale with code REFRESH) because I can see myself dressing it up for the holidays and also wearing it for more casual occasions year-round:

And these mules (found {here}) would look so cute with it when I don’t want to be suffering in heels (which is most of the time…)

And one last thing to mention – Target has 25% off one furniture item today only! I recently bought this rattan side table (found {here}) for my daughter’s room makeover! Looks so much more expensive than it is and is a steal with the extra 25% off!

You can also check my Shop page {here} where I’ve added other favorites on sale!

Thanks as always for stopping by everyone! Enjoy your weekend and I’ll see you back here soon with my latest room reveal!