My favorite do it yourself project my brother did

     I love watching home design shows as well as remodel and home makeover shows. Why? Am I inspired by the programs to try something myself? Am I motivated to tackle new projects? Sometimes yes. But more than that I like to watch these shows because I like to see people create.  To come up with fresh new ideas,  revamp old ideas and try the extraordinary.

     And admittedly,  because I don't have to do the work or front the money.  It can be fun to watch others do projects and come up with solutions to lower costs.  I know it is not as fulfilling as seeing the end result of something you have done yourself,  nor do I use it to replace the actual doing or achieving, but rather as a form of recreation. And I like to laugh when I see unrealistically low budgets transform entire living spaces in the course of one weekend. Do producers really think that I believe that all the hand tooled cabinets were put in by two amateurs and one carpenter? Seriously, I could probably achieve some great results if major retailers offered me some of the discounts and freebies given to the shows I have watched.

     Getting past the fiction of reality shows, need and creativity can produce some fantastic results. One of those remarkable results resides in my kitchen. It was inspired by a kitchen make over program, Ikea and my need to store my spices in a semi organized manner with limited space options. And the fact that I was totally broke and had no budget. Did I mention I have little carpentry skills?

     What I did have was a narrow space between my refrigerator and the wall, leftover lumber bits hanging out in the garage, paint from some completed project and my brother. All the elements added up to nifty, thrifty and practical. 

     I had been toying with the idea of using the space for some time, but nothing pre-manufactured fit in the narrow confines, which was wide enough to comfortably house soup cans, but not much in the line of racks to put the cans on or hardware to make it work. Mom and I looked at stuff to mount to the walls, track systems and racks, but nothing was quite right. So my brother asked if he could take the project.  And a few days later he came up with a free standing system that would roll out as I needed it and roll back when not in use. We had the lumber and the tools, and he had the time and was pretty sure he could make it work.

     Okay, worse that could happen was we make long pieces of lumber into short pieces of lumber.  About two days later I bought a handle and some wheels and my brother mounted them to the new spice rack. With little tweaking, it was installed and has become one of my favorite fixtures in my kitchen!

      I do love my brother.