metamorphasis tea

.: BEFORE :.

So, imagine, if you will, three kitchen cabinet shelves full of boxes and tins of tea, stacked and crammed in whatever way they can fit, haphazardly shoved in wherever there's room.... well, that was my cabinet. I didn't get to take a photo, unfortunately, but trust me, it was ugly!

.: AFTER :.

What you now see before you (well, below, really) is our newly revamped kitchen cabinet! We have a TON of tea. Both DH and I love us some tea, pretty much every kind of tea too, so between us, we have a boatload of tea. So, let me take you on a tour....

Yup, that's our cabinet! I'm a bit proud, I'll be honest :) And it's been that way for over a month now, so I'm quite pleased that it's withstood the test of time. I think that's the real organizational test... if you can actually maintain the organization, then that's a pretty good bet that it's a GOOD organization method :)

Anyhoo... I started by emptying out the cabinet. It covered about half of our counter, and we have a fair amount of counter space! I'd been saving the clear plastic containers that we get our bulk foods in, and they came in quite handy when redoing this space. Our very top shelf (only pictured above) has our surplus boxes of tea {usually I'll grab one of those boxes when we travel and toss it in my bag} and our hot chocolate tins. Then the middle shelf....
We have four plastic containers that fit perfectly around the lil white wire shelf. The top two containers hold my green and black teabags. The bottom two containers hold my white and red tea bags. Then there's two tea tins {please note the "Official Unbirthday Tea"- it's an Alice in Wonderland themed tin from Disney, hehe, it's a green tea, love it!}. You can see in the first photo that there's also some more tins and boxes off to the right. They're less frequently used and stacked nicely, so I decided to leave them be.... then we move to the bottom shelf....

I've had these lil containers floating around doing various jobs throughout the years. They're per-fect for holding tea bags! Just the right size- love it! The left two containers are all DH's teas. The right container has "our teas" {ones that we both like}- Numi's puerh teas and Tazo's Passion tea, an herbal fruity tea.

My favorite tea? Well it's actually in a tin on the counter. It's Wegman's loose leaf decaf British Breakfast. I usually have a least one {if not a few cups} a day, so it gets a special place of prominence outside of the cabinet.... ok, so it's not really a "special" place, it's wedged in between the sugar canisters and the utensil holder, but point being, it's out all the time since I use it so much ;) Anyhoo, I hope you enjoyed our journey along my tea cabinet. Thanks for reading, hehe!

.: linking up here :.

Metamorphasis Monday @ Between Naps on the Front Porch

Whatever Goes Wednesday @ Someday Crafts

All Things Inspired @ All Things Heart And Home

Get Organized Party: Kitchen @ Domestically Speaking

Operation Organization @ Sassy Sites

Simplify for the New Year @ A Home Made by Kiki

a spring tea

so this is my first take on a tablescape! I just picked up a bunch of new jars and glasses at Goodwill, saw {THIS} contest over on Maddycakes Muse and decided it would be a fun way to try out my new wares :D Figured I'd join in on the fun whilst I was at it ;)

So I went for the theme of a high tea. Being Irish, and Saint Patrick's Day is fast approaching, and well since DH and I have a lush supply of tea, I thought it would be fun to do a tea time! Not to mention I had just made some maple buckwheat scones, which made the perfect centerpiece! I was originally going to add in some flowers or namecards or something, but decided instead to keep it simple, just a few white candles, so that the focus was rather on the tea and yummy scones! I also went with spring colors- using the light spring green table covering, which plays well with our green ladderback chairs and pairing with natural, neutral tans and browns. Unfortunately we live in an apartment {hazard of Army life}, so we only have one table and one room to play with, so you get some of the wall hangings and maroon curtains in the photos- not to mention variable lighting at best, but we work with it! Enjoy :)

{above you'll find some white chocolate chips, cracker assortment, and dark chocolate wafers in the jar}
{below are some honey lemon sticks and a chest of Numi tea}

{above you will find a tray of sugars- your standard white granulated, turbinado, and natural cane sugar}

{below you will find an assortment of various teas- Stash, Celestial Seasonings, and Republic of Tea}

{above is the cream and sugar accompanied by a Numi flowering tea}

{below is our Nikko "Moonstone" china, which I l-o-v-e!}

Thank you SO much for joining me on my first journey in tablescaping {is that a word? well.. now it is!} and I do hope you'll come back soon as I begin this fun journey on my homemaking blog.
God bless- Shauna