Cooking on Display

Ever find yourself in a cooking rut? I find that between trying to stay on budget and trying to eat well I end up cooking the same four dishes all week. Turkey tacos, tortilla soup, quiche/ fritatta, and Schezwan green beans to be exact. Usually there is some roast veggie mixture thrown in there too. All tasty but very rarely different.

And yet, I have a ridiculous number of cook books. Cook books I've used, full of recipes I love. So I started thinking (since we have been moving the kitchen around), why don't I use them more often? That's when it hit me, I don't even know where they are. After a bit of searching I found them on a bookshelf down in the office (which you may remember the state of) and brought them up. At first they lived on my open shelving

It was better but I still didn't find myself just idly flipping through them like I used to. It got me thinking...

I had pinned this inspiration pic a while back from the Ikea catalog

but was always worried about how well the books would stay on the shelf. That's when I stumbled on this post from 6th Street Design School and thought, perfect! (and how cute for a kid's reading nook).

They are deep and clear (so no visual space) and kind of funky and modern (which is fun). I knew just the wall for them.

Before

After

Unadorned. You can barely see them.

Full!

I just fit all of my books but there is still room to add another shelf above.

See how little space they take up? Perfect!

I love how fun and bright they are. Like they are floating there just waiting to be used. I've already cooked three new recipes out of my Organic book and loved them! I ordered two 30" and one 24" from Clear Solutions to make the space look even. So far they are holding everything up great. I did end up having to put an extra screw in the middle of the shelves to support the weight of my cook books (if they leaned forward they would often jump ship when the plastic bent). I can also add more as needed and I love that they don't take up as much space as a traditional book shelf would so they don't get in the way of the door to the bedroom. Even better Daniel loves them! Maybe I can convince him that Lucite chair I've been eyeing would fit in the house somewhere... A girl can dream right?

Is it just me or does Fall just bring out the cook in all of us. I've made apricot bars, and soups, and have been dying to make something with squash. No wonder I gain so much weight in the winter.

Cheers!